''The Tiger Woman'' (1944) is a 12-chapter

film serial A serial film, film serial (or just serial), movie serial, or chapter play, is a motion picture form popular during the first half of the 20th century, consisting of a series of short subjects exhibited in consecutive order at one theater, gene ...

by Republic Pictures starring

Allan Lane Allan "Rocky" Lane (born Harry Leonard Albershardt; September 22, 1909 – October 27, 1973) was an American studio leading man and the star of many cowboy B-movies in the 1940s and 1950s. He appeared in more than 125 films and TV show ...

and

Linda Stirling Linda Stirling (born Louise Schultz; October 11, 1921 – July 20, 1997) was an American showgirl, model, and actress. In her later years, she had a second career as a college English professor for more than two decades. She is most famous ...

(her serial debut). The serial was re-released in 1951 under the title ''Perils of the Darkest Jungle'' and, in 1966, it was edited into the 100-minute Century-66 film ''Jungle Gold''. Stirling was immediately popular in ''The Tiger Woman''. Due to her impact, ''

Zorro's Black Whip ''Zorro's Black Whip'' is a 1944 12-chapter film serial by Republic Pictures starring Linda Stirling. The film was made after the 1940 20th Century-Fox remake of '' The Mark of Zorro'' in order to capitalize on it. Republic was not able to u ...

'' was quickly put into production with her as the main star. Linda Stirling is a

jungle girl A jungle girl (so-called, but usually adult woman) is an archetype or stock character, often used in popular fiction, of a female adventurer, superhero or even a damsel in distress living in a jungle or rainforest setting. An alternate depiction i ...

lost in the South American rainforest and ruling a native tribe. The serial's plot is a variant on the common serial and

B-Western The B movie, whose roots trace to the silent film era, was a significant contributor to Hollywood's Golden Age of the 1930s and 1940s. As the Hollywood studios made the transition to sound film in the late 1920s, many independent exhibitors began ...

"land grab" plot - in this case, the villains attempt to run the natives off the land so that they can claim its valuable oil reserves.

Premise

Evil oil speculators in

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...

attempt to drive away a native tribe and their leader, the Tiger Woman. The Tiger Woman, a white woman, might be the lost heiress to a vast fortune, and later plotlines in the serial are built around determining her true identity.

Cast

as Tiger Woman/Rita Arnold *

as Allen Saunders *

Duncan Renaldo Renault Renaldo Duncan (April 23, 1904 – September 3, 1980), better known as Duncan Renaldo, was a Romanian-born American actor best remembered for his portrayal of The Cisco Kid in films and on the 1950–1956 American TV series ''The Cisco Ki ...

as José Delgado * George J. Lewis as Morgan *

LeRoy Mason LeRoy Franklin Mason (July 2, 1903 – October 13, 1947) was an American film actor who worked primarily in Westerns in both the silent and sound film eras. Mason was born in Larimore, North Dakota on July 2, 1903. Career 1920s Mason's fi ...

as Fletcher Walton *Crane Whitley as Tom Dagget * Robert Frazer as Ramgah, High Priest *Rico De Montez as Tegula *

Stanley Price Stanley Price (December 31, 1892July 13, 1955) was an American film supporting actor who appeared in over 200 films between 1922 and 1956. He was a charter member of the Screen Actors Guild. Career Price was an actor whose artistic career sp ...

as Mack, Dagget's Clerk

Production

''The Tiger Woman'' was budgeted at $180,292 although the final

negative cost Negative cost is the net expense to produce and shoot a film, excluding such expenditures as distribution and promotion. Low-budget movies, for example ''The Blair Witch Project ''The Blair Witch Project'' is a 1999 American supernatural ho ...

was $206,191 (a $25,899, or 14.4%, overspend). It was the most expensive Republic serial of 1944. This serial had the third biggest budget of the sixty-six Republic serials (exceeded only by '' Captain America'' (1944) at $182,623 and '' The Lone Ranger Rides Again'' (1939) at $193,878) although it is only the fifth most expensive in terms of the actual production cost. The other four, however, were all 15-chapters long, compared to ''Tiger Woman's'' 12-chapters, so this is, per chapter, the most expensive of all Republic serials. It was filmed at

Lake Sherwood, California Lake Sherwood is an unincorporated community in the Santa Monica Mountains, in Ventura County, California overlooking Lake Sherwood reservoir. It is a body contact lake, swimming, fishing, SUP and boating allowed, located south of the Conejo Val ...

locations between 20 January and 25 February 1944 under the

working title A working title, which may be abbreviated and styled in trade publications after a putative title as (wt), also called a production title or a tentative title, is the temporary title of a product or project used during its development, usually ...

''Tiger Woman of the Amazon''. The serial's production number was 1298. ''The Tiger Woman'' was Republic's attempt to create a new

Pearl White Pearl Fay White (March 4, 1889 – August 4, 1938) was an American stage and film actress. She began her career on the stage at the age of six, and later moved on to silent films appearing in a number of popular serials. Dubbed the "Queen of ...

with their recent discovery of Linda Stirling. Stedman notes several errors in the production: The Tiger Woman costume is made from leopard fur. When outside, the natives are dressed as Navaho but, when inside, they are dressed as Aztecs. The chorus girl line, and their "harem-girl" costume, during an execution is frowned on. The men in the serial do not remove their hats whether inside or out. However, in South America "Tiger" refers to any big cat.

Stunts

*Babe DeFreest as Tiger Woman/Rita Arnold (doubling Linda Stirling) * Tom Steele as Allen Saunders/Tunnel Thug/Road Block Thug/Ambusher (doubling Allan Lane) *

Ken Terrell Kenneth Jones Terrell (April 29, 1904 – March 8, 1966) was an American western and action film actor and stuntman best known for playing Joe Marcelli in the 1956 film ''Indestructible Man ''Indestructible Man'' is a 1956 American cri ...

as José Delgado/Morgan/Mack/Fletcher Walton/Bolton/Depot Thug/Oil Truck Driver (doubling Duncan Renaldo, George J. Lewis, Stanley Price & LeRoy Mason) * Eddie Parker as Tom Dagget/Office Thug/Depot Thug/Trooper/Travis/Oil Truck Thug (doubling Crane Whitley) *Duke Greene as Gentry/Steward-Thug/Motor Boat Thug/Truck Driver/Shack Heavy/Ambusher (doubling Kenne Duncan) *Carey Loftin as Thug

Special effects

The special model effects were produced by Theodore Lydecker.

Release

Theatrical

''The Tiger Womans official release date is 27 May 1944, although this is actually the date the sixth chapter was made available to film exchanges. The serial was re-released on 17 January 1951, under the new title ''Perils of the Darkest Jungle'', between the first runs of '' Flying Disc Man from Mars'' and '' Don Daredevil Rides Again''.

Television

''The Tiger Woman'' was one of twenty-six Republic serials re-released as a Century-66 film on television in 1966. The title of the film was changed to ''Jungle Gold''. This version was cut down to 100-minutes in length.

Critical reception

Stedman believes that, when compared to the earlier Witney-English serials, ''The Tiger Woman'' is a poor serial.

Chapter titles

#The Temple of Terror (24min 52s) #Doorway to Death (15min 33s) #Cathedral of Carnage (15min 32s) #Echo of Eternity (15min 34s) #Two Shall Die (15min 34s) #Dungeon of the Doomed (15min 33s) #Mile-a-Minute Murder (15min 33s) #Passage to Peril (15min 33s) #Cruise to Cremation (15min 33s) #Target for Murder (15min 33s) #The House of Horror (15min 33s) #Triumph Over Treachery (15min 34s) _Source: This was one of the two 12-chapter serials produced by Republic Pictures in 1944. The other, also starring Linda Stirling, was ''

''. As was customary for Republic, two 15-chapter serials were also released in this year.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tiger Woman, The 1944 films 1944 adventure films American black-and-white films 1940s English-language films Films directed by Spencer Gordon Bennet Films set in South America Jungle girls Republic Pictures film serials American adventure films Films with screenplays by Joseph F. Poland 1940s American films