An expedition in the Mideast seeks Tablets of Hippocrates with medical secrets. It is not much of a spoiler to say it is the cure for cancer-kind of amusing in giving a modern twist to Hippocrates. The expedition is led by Professor Campbell (Forbes Murray) and Dr. Larry Grayson (Clayton Moore). Nyoka Gordon (Kay Aldridge) is roped in; like her father, she can translate the papyrus giving its location, but her father was lost on a previous expedition (and there are twists). They are opposed by the sexy villainess Vultura (Lorna Gray), who has Arab sidekicks in Cassib (Charles Middleton) and his brigands, all with selfish ambitions. They are played by white actors. Also among the good guys is an Italian double agent, Count Torrini (Tristram Coffin), pretending to be one of them but working for Vultura.
Having the plot focused on a tablet, a papyrus, translation of ancient languages, and treasure gives this serial a real aura of Arabic mystery and intrigue. There are temples, tents, and wide open spaces, with frequent horseback and car (even chariot) chases, enough to give a sense of limited dialogue. Black and white embellish the mystical atmosphere.
As each chapter ends, one or more protagonists are in danger, which they get out of at the beginning of the next one. In contrast to a close sporting event, this movie is a cliffhanger literally-many scenes have people dangling from cliffs or threatened by or threatened inside them. People constantly face up against the fire of guns and of flames, wind, falls into pits, spikes, dynamite, bridge sabotage, and falling boulders or concrete. Nyoka in particular is often tied up by the bad guys. There are many daring escapes.
Whereas the gun firing can involve the good guys more broadly, the many fight scenes (fists, swords, throwing, jumping, grabbing, rolling) mostly involve Larry and Nyoka mixing it up with the villains; they are the central focus, the prime movers. Moore may be no Bruce Lee, but he often fights many at one time. The viewer will wonder if he has more fistfights here than in all the episodes of The Lone Ranger series put together, or maybe all his films? With lots of deft strikes, dodging, rolling around, and rendering unsuccessful the villains' efforts to grab and capture her, Nyoka holds her own and Larry rescues her when she is in trouble.
Nyoka and Vultura are both very pretty. Nyoka is more noteworthy for her athleticism and Vultura for her evil sexiness. As a femme fatale villainess, Vultura is up there with Fiona Volpe in Thunderball in my book (and the pronunciation on Vol and Vul is the same!) Beautiful face combined with sexy legs and a turban. Nyoka and Vultura have a number of good catfights for viewers to enjoy.
Not to forget, Nyoka is assisted by her capable German Shepherd Fang and Vultura by her menacing gorilla Satan. Aside from Fang, Red Davis's (Billy Benedict) monkey Jitters also performs heroic actions for the good guys.
Nyoka and the Tigermen is action-packed, exotic, fast-moving, captivating, and without any dull moments. I highly recommend it.
