The filmed record of an expedition to the African interior, with scenes of animal life and native customs and practices.The filmed record of an expedition to the African interior, with scenes of animal life and native customs and practices.The filmed record of an expedition to the African interior, with scenes of animal life and native customs and practices.
- Director
- Writer
Photos
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaA practicing dentist in Tacoma, WA, in 1951 [William B. Treutle] was diagnosed with a terminal illness and given only six months to live. He closed his practice, dispensed with most of his possessions and, with his wife, traveled to Karamoja, a remote region of northern Uganda, where the natives still lived very primitively. Treutle used a 16mm Bolex camera to document the tribe's activities, including bloodletting, body piercing, and mutilation. Soon it became clear that he had been misdiagnosed and in the summer of 1952, he and his wife returned to America and he resumed his dental practice, this time in Sebastopol, CA. In order to help pay for the cost of the expedition, he sold everything he shot to exploitation movie producer Kroger Babb. Babb was impressed with the nudity of the natives, as well as the circumcision that Treutle had captured on film. The footage was quickly edited with the nudity intact and released to theaters, with press material claiming that the tribe was the descendants of Ham, a son of Noah. Although some questioned if the events were staged, Babb dismissed them in the accompanying press book with the statement, "When a stupid jerk tries to outsmart proven facts, he should be in an asylum, not a theater." Babb's instincts were successful and "Karamoja!" led to the creation of the "mondo" genre of exploitation documentaries, best exemplified later by A Dog's Life (1962) and several similar films that followed.
Featured review
Early Mondo
A real vacation travelogue later gets entered into the 'Mondo Cane' clone sweepstakes.
Most of the scenes here pre-dated Mondo Magic for their grossness. I found a lot of this hard to watch. And remember, this was vintage early 50's.
The rites and rituals were actually real. But I wondered if the good dentist passed some loot around to give him a front row filming. It didn't seem too staged, but the camera work was a little TOO perfect.
One tends to find this one buried with the Faces Of Death and Mondo copies in a large video warehouse. It's worth a check, but don't pay too much.
Most of the scenes here pre-dated Mondo Magic for their grossness. I found a lot of this hard to watch. And remember, this was vintage early 50's.
The rites and rituals were actually real. But I wondered if the good dentist passed some loot around to give him a front row filming. It didn't seem too staged, but the camera work was a little TOO perfect.
One tends to find this one buried with the Faces Of Death and Mondo copies in a large video warehouse. It's worth a check, but don't pay too much.
helpful•20
- haildevilman
- Jun 19, 2006
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Wang, Wang
- Filming locations
- Uganda(location)
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour 3 minutes
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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