View allAll Photos Tagged behavior
Explore: #424 1/23/07
Hold the phones!
Weird behaviour by local Pacifican photographers now explained. Local photographer WelshBaloney witnessed one such abduction and subsequent induction, presumably after alien alteration (speculation acknowledged).
This photograph, taken shortly after the abductee had been sucked into an alien craft confirms what we have all feared for so long...
Be afraid...be VERY afraid. Watch these people (Lattimore, Azzaro, Curley...) closely and report any odd behavior.
Best viewed reflected
9/52
This is what happens when I can't think of a concept for an entire week. SOZZ. "Patterns" as a theme was the hardest one yet, I think.
Insect Behavior authors, Bob and Jan Matthews.
I was contacted some time back by Jan Matthews, asking me if my dung beetle photo could be used for a collegate text book she and her husband were authoring.
I was thrilled that I had such a great photo of a dung beetle with a dung ball,
and the bonus of the fly landing on it... truly a great (day before my) birthday present for me.
I gave permission and sent the original photo, happy to share my treasure.
Jan Matthews contacted me via email to let me know the photo was used and that she would be sending me a copy of the book.
I really dig insects and have always marveled at their behavior and certainly will enjoy this book.
as usual - no blinking glitter'y graphics - thanks a bunch
Missed shot! Myrmarachne sp. (ant mimicry). This genus of jumping spiders imitate ants in behavior and movements. Photos of the back in the comments.
French postcard by J.G., Paris, no. 628/5. Caption: Troublante Ivresse. Plus près de toi toujours en transports amoureux. Chaque instant de plaisir est un présage heureux. (Troubling drunkenness. Still closer to you bringing love. Each moment of pleasure is a happy omen).
Follow us at Tumblr or Pinterest. Or take a look in our albums Va-Va-Va-Voom Vintage Pin-ups and Beautiful Bikini Beach Babes.
This photo and the one that follows form a set. The first photo shows (center left) a nest the little fuzz-ball of a wren has built high above the street. Carolina Wrens like to build nests in all sorts of man-made objects from hubcaps to cardboard boxes to watering cans to this, a tangle of electrical and telephonic wires under a big aluminum drum.
Thank you for coming. Your visit is much appreciated.
Two Wild Horse (Equus ferus) paints have a third white stallion sandwiched between them as they lean on the middle one in dominance behavior. Image taken in the McCullough Peaks area of Wyoming.
Barbie Glam Vacation Doll
________________________
she is my new Natalie…(which made to move body does she match) got her today at toys r us
So close were they to her, kissing sweet at first, frantically later, that she would almost feel she was part of the scene more than she would have ever wanted...
What would you scream in your mind.... "Get a room!" or "Good for you!"?
Subway car. A Line
New York City
Taken with a 3Gs iPhone and processed with Camera+ app and CameraBag app (Mono)
Editorial design for The Exchange. The magazine for the College of Business & Behavioral Science at Clemson University.
(designed by Peter Loomis and Joshua Thomas)
366-The 2016 Edition-Repulsion!
Flickr Bingo 4-Obscenity
Pop was appalled by the girl's language and behavior! He tried to break them up but he was totally out of his league!
Pussy Riot - Straight Outta Vagina
Right-click link. Select "Open in New Window"
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bp-KeVBNz0A
ok - here's the deal:
2019 Time Is The Enemy v.1
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ends today - discount coupons change almost daily and can range from 20% to as much as 60%
2019 Time Is The Enemy v.2
www.zazzle.com/2019_photographic_art_calendar_by_manuel_b...
60% off with code TOPPICKSZAZZ
ends today
that's only $13.16 for an 11 x 14 inch HD glorious 2019 calendar. if you enjoy my work you will love the calendar. it's very handsome. most of the images in these 2 version are recent with a mix of abstractions and typical photographs of my usual grunge and debris.
Merry Christmas Cowboys and Cowgirls
This parent-to-be sat on top of two little eggs throughout Saturday's snowstorm. And some people think animals don't have a soul! (Don't even get me started on the squirrel in my backyard that goes down the birdfeeder pole like a stripper...)
Model behavior #CovetFashion t.co/IK1p9zDyjO (via Twitter twitter.com/doll_book/status/736673954094559233)
Please Don't Use My Photos On Websites , Blogs Or Other Media Without My Explicit Permission. © All rights reserved ©
I found this book in a bag of stuff my mom gave me to mess around with for my 365. It was mostly full of reallly old men's ties (which should be fun) and at the bottom of the bag were two books about behavior disorders. I have no idea why the books were there, my mom had never seen them before, but I thought that it would be an interesting subject o incorporate in a photo.
When I started looking at everything that could be labeled as a behavior disorder I realized that most of us probably have at least one!
This is one of several photos that I took in the 96th Street subway station in Dec 2013, and I'm embarrassed to admit that I did almost no editing at all before deciding to upload it to the restricted set of "friends and family" photos on Flickr, ear the end of an exhausting multi-week project to upload some 40,000 photos that I had archived on my computer but never uploaded anywhere else ...
All I did with this batch of photos was to make a preliminary pass to eliminate about half of the images that were blurred, out of focus, or blocked by someone who decided to walk in front of my camera just as I was pushing the shutter button. So this particular photo (and all of its brethren uploaded to the "NYC Subways, 2013" set) were merely 1-star "candidate" photos that should have gotten several more passes of critical reviews before any decision was made to upload them. I had not done any cropping, adjustments for white-balance errors (though this one was reasonably okay in that respect) or other color adjustments ... I've now done so, so you're looking at a slightly more respectable version of the original image.
But having looked at it a little more closely now, I doubt that it would have made it past the stage of "3-star" candidate-photos. The woman's concentration is impressive, and her isolation on the subway bench is "interesting," I guess ... but aside from that, it's pretty boring. She's not interacting with anyone, and she's not really doing anything that would make you stop, go back, and take a second look.
Nevertheless, one of my loyal Flickr friends did me the honor, sometime last night, of marking the photo as a "favorite." Under the circumstances, I've decided to make it a "public" photo. Who knows ... maybe it will grow on me if I keep looking at it. But probably not; I think I still have to put it in the "loser" set on Flickr, among other losers for the year 2013...
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This is a continuation of a series of subway photos that I began in the spring of 2009, and which you can find here. I created another Flickr set here in 2010, with photos from IRT subway stations at 96th Street, 42nd Street (Times Square), and Christopher Street/Sheridan Square (in Greenwich Village). This Flickr set contains additional subway images taken in calendar year 2012.
And this Flickr set contains subway images that I've taken in calendar year 2013.
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Over the years, I've seen various photos of the NYC subway "scene," usually in a relatively grim, dark, black-and-white format. But during a spring 2009 class on street photography that I took at the NYC International Center of Photography (ICP), I saw lots and lots of terrific subway shots taken by my fellow classmates ... so I was inspired to start taking some myself.
One of the reasons I rarely, if ever, took subway photos before 2009 is that virtually every such photo I ever saw was in black-and-white. I know that some people are fanatics about B/W photography as a medium; and I respect their choice. And I took quite a lot of B/W photographs of my own in the late 60s and early 70s, especially when I had my own little makeshift darkroom for printing my own photos, and when home-processing of color photographs was completely out of the question for me.
But for most of the past 40 years, I've focused mostly on color photography. As for photos of subways, I don't feel any need to make the scene look darker and grimier than it already is, by restricting it to B/W. Indeed, one of the things I find quite intriguing is that there is a lot of color in this environment, and it's not too hard to give some warmth and liveliness to the scene...
To avoid disruption, and to avoid drawing attention to myself, I don't use a flash when taking these photos; but because of the relatively low level of lighting, I, generally forced to use an ISO setting of 3200 or 6400, depending on which camera I'm using. As a result, some of the shots are a little grainy - but it's a compromise that I'm willing to make.
I occasionally use a small, compact "pocket" camera like the Canon G-12 or Nikon P7100, but most of my photos have been taken with a larger, bulkier DSLR such as the Nikon D5100 or Sony Alpha A65. If I'm photographing people on the other side of the tracks in a subway station, there's no problem holding up the camera, composing the shot, and taking it in full view of everyone. But if I'm taking photos inside a subway car, I normally set the camera lens to a wide angle (18mm or 24mm) setting, point it in the general direction of the subject(s), and shoot without framing or composing.
What I find most interesting about the subway scenes I've photographed these past few years is how isolated most people seem to be. Of course, there are sometimes couples, or families, or groups of school-children; but by far the most common scene is an individual standing alone, waiting for a train to arrive. He or she may be reading a book, or listening to music, or (occasionally) talking to someone on a cellphone; but often they just stare into space, lost in their own thoughts. Some look happy, some look sad; but the most common expression is a blank face and a vacant stare. It's almost as if people go into a state of suspended animation when they descend underground into the subway -- and they don't resume their normal expression, behavior, and mannerisms until they emerge back above-ground at the end of their ride.
Anyway, this is what it looks like down underground in 2013 ... or at least, this is what it's like in the stations I've visited and photographed so far...
The natural behavior for all Whitetail Bucks (Odocoileus virginianus) is to establish a hierarchy in dominance. One of the main purposes of White-tailed deer antlers is to attract female deer for mating. During mating season (rut) Bucks display their antlers to does and use them to become the dominant male. The bucks will spar with each other using their antlers to establish dominance to claim females. Buck sparring starts as soon as the antlers have shed their velvet and become hard. However, most fighting/sparring before rut is each buck testing one another and sharpening their fighting skills in preparation for the fight for dominance. It may look like a shoving match early in rut, or it can look like a serious antler grudge match the closer to full rut they get. If a younger or smaller buck is beaten in a battle, then he will most likely not become a dominant buck for another year or two and possibly never. During this time, he will move to areas avoiding conformations with the dominant buck. These two young bucks get ready to spar during the Texas pre-rut. They were photographed near Fredericksburg in the Texas Hill Country.
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I witnessed some strange behavior today at the lake. The Mallard drake was swimming with the American Pekins (Domesticated duck). Suddenly, one of the ducks got on top of the Mallard and started pushing it under water. At first I thought the duck must have thought the drake was a female. lol. But then it turned violent and the Pekin looked like it was actually trying to drown the Mallard. Then two more Pekins joined in and held the Mallard underwater for almost a minute. Luckily the Mallard got away. It was quite a frenzy!
Colombia
I took this picture while on a photo tour led by Jeff Munoz of Rainforest Photo Tours (rainforestphototours.com).
The colorful facades of Nyhavn, a 17th century fishermen's district located along a canal in Copenhagen. It was originally dug by Swedish prisoners to bring goods into the center of the city. It became an area synonymous with all sorts of illicit behavior. Ironically, it is now the main tourist attraction in Denmark--a crowded gathering place amidst numerous bars, entertainment venues and restaurants.
Nyhavn. Copenhagen, Denmark.
Chapter 3 --"Devil's Crucible,"
Perils of Nyoka (Republic, 1942). Starring Kay Aldridge, Clayton Moore, Lorna Gray, Charles Middleton, William Benedict. Directed by William Witney. Wonderful Republic-style artwork of Aldridge
From 1942, this is still another great Republic classic. (I suppose I could have started these reviews with tired, lifeless serials like PANTHER GIRL OF THE KONGO, but why not have fun first?) It has a terrific cast with a half dozen of my all-time favorite actors, a credible storyline, some really impressive sets and imaginative 'Perils', and finally, an epic-sounding main theme by Mort Glickman. This would go in the top dozen serials on my list.
PERILS OF NYOKA deals with the struggle for possession of another hot potato that everyone covets-- in this case, the Golden Tablets of Hippocrates, on which the ancient physician recorded his great medical secrets (including a cure for cancer). Not only are gold tablets valuable for their knowledge and the metal itself, they were hidden with a treasure. So it's not surprising to find the sinister Vultura and her gang of renegade Arbabs trying to seize the darn things. Vultura is played by the exotic Lorna Gray, who is a bit ripe looking for my taste but her sneering performance and long long legs have must have gotten many young boys in the audience a bit hot and bothered. (There's something about a Bad Girl...)
Vultura's main henchman is Cassib, played by the same Charles Middleton who made life interesting for Flash Gordon and Dick Tracy. Middleton has that sour, unhappy expression that makes his villainy as believable as the sort of old man who chases kids off his lawn. As if that's not enough, there's also the treacherous Torrini who poses as an ally of Nyoka. Tristram Coffin as Torrini gives an okay performance, just showing enough shiftiness to make his loyalty obviously doubtful to the kids in the audience. As good as Coffin was as a villain, I always wished he had done more heroic roles like his Jeff King in KING OF THE ROCKETMEN.
And as if THAT wasn't enough trouble for Nyoka to deal with, Vultura has a pet ape named Satan, who had never heard Diane Fossey's findings that gorillas are peaceful, gentle vegetarians. Satan was played by Emil Van Horn in a rather weak portrayal that doesn't seem to give much effort into moving like a real gorilla. And although you have to give 1940s film makers some slack with their robot and apes costumes, the way Satan's chest skin looks like shiny black rubber detracts from its credibility. This is where you have to crank your
suspension of disbelief up a few notches.
Whew! What a crew. Luckily, not only can Nyoka handle herself perfectly well, she has a partner in Dr Larry Grayson who is (for a physician) an astonishingly tough two-fisted sword-fighting gunslinger. My doctor's not like that. Clayton Moore is always convincing as hero or thug, and he seems agile and energetic enough to have been a stunt man himself. (At first, it seems a bit odd to hear that wonderful, familiar Lone Ranger voice coming from this character.) Moore goes through the serial in the classic Doc Savage outfit of riding boots, jodphurs and heavy white shirt, although this does not end up torn into tatters with the right cuff still attached.
Finally, Nyoka herself is completely likeable as a cliffhanger heroine. ("That Nyoka gal's got plenty of moxie.." one character explains.) Daughter of the missing Professor Gordon, she is well educated (one of the few who can translate the Tablets) but also completely at home in the saddle or jumping on a gorilla's back with a knife in her hand. I love Kay Aldridge's performance as Nyoka. She's serious when in danger, taking the 'perils' straight-faced but at the same time, she's obviously having a lot of fun when things are going well. It's very believable, not a grim warrior-woman sort of portrayal. Aldridge herself is appealing and gorgeous in her 1940s pin-up girl way-- her clunky culottes are not flattering at all (although admittedly practical for the situation) and she seems to be notably gifted under that big-game hunter blouse. Nyoka also seems to have two different accents going on, for some reason.
My copy of PERILS OF NYOKA is a re-issue titled NYOKA AND THE TIGERMEN, apparently because some of the Arab raiders wear striped robes. C'mon, that's stretching things a bit, Republic.Nyoka Gordon (Kay Aldridge) leads an expedition into the most remote part of the Libyan desert in search of her father, Professor Henry Gordon (Robert Strange), who disappeared while seeking out the long-lost golden tablets of Hippocrates. The tablets, among other attributes, are reputed to contain the cures for any number of deadly diseases that still plague mankind. Nyoka and her father are the only two people in the world who can translate the papyrus giving directions to the hiding place of the tablets. Her allies in her search include: Dr. Larry Grayson (Clayton Moore), a young physician; Torrini (Tristram Coffin), an Italian adventurer; Professor Campbell (Forbes Murray), a colleague of her father's; and Red Davis (Billy Benedict), their driver. Opposing them is Vultura (Lorna Gray), the leader of a deadly desert cult, who regard the tablets as sacred and will do anything -- including committing murder -- to prevent their discovery and removal. Aided by her ally, Cassib (Charles B. Middleton), and the Taureg tribesmen, Vultura and her cultists lay all manner of deadly traps, involving everything from burning pits of fire and tunnels filled with hurricane-like winds to just plain getting crushed by the embrace of Vultura's trained gorilla, Satan (Emil Van Horn). Meanwhile, Nyoka and her expedition also face the danger of treachery from within. Nyoka must first secure the papyrus and avenge the murder of Major Reynolds in the opening chapter, and then get past the opposing Taureg tribesmen -- and little does she realize that the leader of the Tauregs is far closer to her than she ever could have guessed.
The action in Nyoka and the Tigermen moves at a breakneck pace across 15 chapters, most of which are as exciting as anything in Raiders of the Lost Ark and its sequels (each of which drew a lot of their inspiration from this and one other Republic serial, Secret Service in Darkest Africa). Beyond its genuinely exciting plot, which intersects with reality just enough to keep even adults interested (there really are a North African people called the Tauregs), Nyoka and the Tigermen contains some delightful twists in its casting, production, and writing. Nyoka Gordon, as played by Kay Aldridge, is no typical movie heroine. She's beautiful, athletic, and resourceful, enough so that in the first chapter, she rides down Arab horsemen. She's perfectly capable of fighting, climbing, or diving her way out of trouble, a kind of 1940s American precursor to Emma Peel. Additionally, Lorna Gray's Vultura was, if anything, even more beautiful, and they make an enchanting pair of antagonists, especially when they mix it up physically. Both put 100 percent effort into their work here, assisted by one of the best directors and some of the best stuntmen in the business. Clayton Moore looked, if anything, better here than he did as the Lone Ranger at the other end of the decade and he made a dashing hero in his own right. Watch him in action here and see if he doesn't look like he would've been the perfect Bruce Wayne/Batman of his era. Even Emil Van Horn, in the silliest role in the movie -- as the gorilla Satan -- has a kind of visceral impact as this constantly menacing beast. Working from one of the best scripts that the studio ever devised for one of its serials, director William Witney and a crew of top stuntmen (including David Sharpe and a young Jay Silverheels), made this one of the most exciting serials ever to come out of Hollywood. More than that, the resulting chapterplay has an appeal that cuts
across the ages, as demonstrated by the debt owed to it by the Indiana Jones movies.
Another take on Nyoka and additional back ground info.
Perils of Nyoka aka Nyoka and the Tigermen
Republic, 15 Chapters, 1942. Starring Kay Aldridge, Clayton Moore, Billy Benedict, Lorna Gray, Charles Middleton, Tristram Coffin, Robert Strange, Forbes Murray, George Pembroke.
As Perils of Nyoka opens, Prof. Douglas Campbell (Forbes Murray) and his expedition arrive in the small North African town of Wadi Bartha; they are seeking an ancient treasure trove that contains–among other priceless artifacts–the Tablets of Hippocrates, on which are inscribed ”the only cure for cancer the world has ever known.” Campbell and his colleagues, including Dr. Larry Grayson (Clayton Moore), are principally interested in the Tablets’ value to humanity, but Count Benito Torrini (Tristram Coffin), the Italian colonial official attached to the expedition, has more mercenary ideas in mind and is conspiring with the devious Arab queen Vultura (Lorna Gray) to seize the treasure. After being joined by Nyoka Gordon (Kay Aldridge), the daughter of an archeologist who vanished years ago looking for the Tablets, the expedition sets out in search of the Tablets and Nyoka’s missing father, journeying into the hidden valley of the sun-worshipping Tuareg tribe while fighting Vultura and her ally Cassib (Charles Middleton) every step of the way.
Well-written, well-directed, and well-cast, Perils of Nyoka represents Republic serial-making at its absolute peak. Writers Ronald Davidson, Norman Hall, William Lively, Joseph O’Donnell, and Joseph Poland utilize a “quest” structure for their screenplay, one which keeps the characters on the move from one location to the next. The heroes must first translate an important papyrus before beginning their journey to the Tuaregs’ valley, where, upon arrival, they have to deal with the hostile natives and their chief–Nyoka’s amnesic father Professor Gordon (Robert Strange). Then, they must rescue Gordon from Vultura and restore his memory, unmask Torrini’s treachery, return to the Tuaregs’ valley for another important clue, locate the treasure, and recover it in a final showdown after it’s stolen by Vultura. This storyline not only provides plenty of opportunities for action scenes, but also gives the serial a strong sense of steadily focused progression towards a definite goal, making its overall narrative much more interesting than the loosely connected plots of many other Republic serials.
This well-paced narrative plays out in an impressive variety of indoor sets and outdoor locations–the honeycomb of tunnels in the Tuareg valley, Vultura’s mammoth palace and the cliffs nearby, numerous caverns, and various rocky hillsides. Of all Republic’s serials set in foreign realms, Nyoka manages to be the most successful in creating a believably exotic atmosphere; it helps that arid Californian locales like Iverson’s Movie Ranch and Corriganville can more convincingly double for the North African hills than they could for other African locales, like the sub-equatorial jungles or the Sahara desert.
The serial’s action scenes are handled with gusto by William Witney and his star stuntman David Sharpe. One of the many action highlights is Nyoka and Larry’s invasion of Vultura’s palace in Chapter One, which has Clayton Moore’s Larry (doubled by Sharpe) practically flying around the throne room in a combination swordfight/fistfight and eventually being attacked by Vultura’s pet gorilla Satan (Emil Van Horn), who pulls down several stone pillars on our hero and heroine. The pursuit of Nyoka by Cassib’s horsemen in Chapter Two is another memorable action sequence, as is her subsequent chariot escape from Vultura’s camp following a fight with the evil queen. There are far too many additional standout scenes for me to describe them all, but among them are the fight in the lava caves, Larry’s battle with hostile Tuaregs in their cavern temple, Nyoka trying to escape down a cliff on a rope while Satan tugs on the other end, the Tuaregs’ primitive hand-grenade attack on the expedition, and the final showdown in which Larry fights Cassib and his men while Nyoka grapples with Vultura.
The cliffhanger sequences are consistently imaginative and include one of the best-known chapter endings in the Republic canon, the sequence that has Kay Aldridge dangling over a Tuareg fire pit. Equally memorable chapter endings have Aldridge and Forbes Murray being forced towards a ceiling of spikes by an ascending floor, Aldridge about to be sliced in two by a lethal pendulum, and Aldridge being inexorably blown towards the edge of a cliff in an impressive wind tunnel.
Dave Sharpe not only doubles Clayton Moore, but also fills in for Kay Aldridge on all the really dangerous stunts. Stuntwoman Babe DeFreest doubles the heroine in other sequences, with Helen Thurston filling in for Lorna Gray; Tom Steele performs most of Charles Middleton’s stunts, while Ken Terrell, Duke Green, Duke Taylor, Henry Wills, Bud Wolfe, and Johnny Daheim make many contributions as well. Most of these stuntmen, of course, also do acting duty as various Arabs throughout the serial.
Perils of Nyoka’s action is complemented beautifully by Mort Glickman’s score, which is distinctive, memorable, and very well-suited to the setting, with a persistent but not overdone “Arabian” motif dominating both its fast-paced “action” theme and its slower opening-credits music.
The serial’s cast is filled with appealing performers, although its ostensible star, Kay Aldridge, is probably the weakest thespian in the group. Her line delivery is very energetic but awkward at times, and her face is frequently expressionless during dialogue scenes–although she does a fine job registering alarm in cliffhanger sequences. Still, Aldridge is so beautiful, and so likable despite her stiffness, that her presence really has no negative impact on the serial.
Clayton Moore contributes an enormous amount of energy to his part, continually taking the lead in both dialogue and action scenes. He delivers his lines with both seriousness and a certain swashbuckling enthusiasm, and rides and runs with an admirable athleticism that matches well with the dynamism of his double Dave Sharpe in the fight scenes. He, far more than Aldridge, comes off as the actual star of the serial.
Lorna Gray is haughty, viciously bad-tempered, and gleefully evil by turns, but never hammy or over-the-top. Her good looks contrast so startlingly with her convincingly appalling behavior that she commands attention when on-screen; her Vultura is probably the most memorable of all female serial heavies.
Charles Middleton has less time in the spotlight than in his 1930s serials, but his Cassib is still an intimidating figure, glowering grimly at Vultura’s enemies and infusing his Arabian-Nights-style dialogue with both menace (“If you let her escape, you will find death a pleasant relief from your punishment”) and dignity (“What brings you to this humble huddle of tents, Gracious One?”)
Billy Benedict, as the Campbell expedition’s driver and mechanic Red, provides low-key but amusing comic relief, stealing scenes with a single facial expression or a bit of incongruous slang. His scenes with his pet Capuchin monkey Jitters (played by “Professor”) are much more appealing than most such animal-sidekick interchanges; the monkey is not only cute but genuinely helpful to the good guys more than once, and Benedict seems to have a genuine rapport with the little creature.
One of the additional joys of Perils of Nyoka is the unusually large cast of interesting supporting characters; in sharp contrast to many Republic outings, Nyoka features meaty speaking parts for characters besides the hero, heroine, villain, action heavy, and sidekick. Robert Strange, as Nyoka’s amnesic father, has the most important supporting role and does an excellent job in both aspects of his part, dropping his grim, slow-talking, and crafty Tuareg-chieftain personality for a more kindly, upright, and brisk manner when his character’s memory is restored.
Forbes Murray is authoritative but genially avuncular as Campbell, the expedition head, and surprisingly gets in on quite a bit of action. George Pembroke, as a British expedition named Spencer, also takes part in many fights and shootouts, and provides some mild but entertaining comic relief through his verbal interchanges with Billy Benedict’s Red, in which the English scientist and the American mechanic confuse each other with their very different approaches to their common language.
Tristram Coffin, as the treacherous Torrini, is given high billing but has relatively little screen time; however, he handles his interactions with the unsuspecting heroes with the same slickness and smoothness he displayed in his similar part in Spy Smasher. Distinguished Herbert Rawlinson is killed off far too early as Major Reynolds, another expedition member, while the enjoyably hammy John Davidson has a much larger role as Lobar, the fanatical Tuareg sub-chief. Davidson rolls out each line in his inimitably resonant voice and manages to look positively pop-eyed with rage at times, particularly when defying the recovered Professor Gordon as the latter vainly tries to exercise his old authority over the Tuaregs.
Kenne Duncan has a good role as Nyoka’s tough and loyal follower Abou, while George Lewis is noticeably sinister in his small role as Cassib’s lieutenant Batan. George Renavent is enjoyably hammy in his few scenes as Vultura’s oily major-domo, Forrest Taylor pops up as a translator in Chapter Fourteen, John Bagni plays another one of Nyoka’s Bedouin friends, and John Bleifer has a brief but vivid turn as a villainous Arab street merchant in the first chapter. Jay Silverheels, star Clayton Moore’s eventual companion on the Lone Ranger show, is frequently credited as playing one of the Tuaregs, but I’ve never been able to spot him under the tribe’s burnouses and face-paint.
Ace the Wonder Dog, who also played Devil in Columbia’s The Phantom, adds a nice touch to the serial as Nyoka’s faithful dog Fang, going through some clever paces as he assists the heroine–particularly in Chapter One, when he tips over a basket, barks at two Arab guards, and then ducks inside the basket while the guards run past. Vultura’s gorilla Satan, played as an unruly and barely controllable beast by Emil Van Horn, also brings additional color to the proceedings; Van Horn’s rowdy anthropoid antics are great fun to watch.
Just as William Witney’s Spy Smasher–made the same year–represented the acme of Republic’s crime-fighting serials, so does Witney’s Perils of Nyoka represent the acme of Republic’s far-flung adventure serials. Later chapterplays like Secret Service in Darkest Africa or The Tiger Woman would try to recapture some of Perils of Nyoka’s glory, but few of them could match Nyoka’s large and interesting cast of players or its varied assortment of action scenes–and none of them boasted a story that could compete with the appeal of Nyoka‘s archetypal but enthralling treasure hunt.