I watched Ingagi (1930) and I feel like I was scammed by a ghost

Is this worth watching today? Only if you are a film nerd who likes weird history or if you want to see how easy it was to trick people in 1930. If you want a real story or a movie that actually makes sense, you are going to hate this. 🦍

Honestly, Ingagi is a total scam. It pretends to be a serious documentary about 'Sir' Hubert Winstead going into the Congo. But it’s mostly just random nature footage and guys in cheap gorilla suits running around a park in California.

The movie starts out so slow. You get minutes of just... birds. And some lizards. It’s like watching a nature channel but with terrible grain and no color. It feels even more aimless than Forbidden at times, which is saying a lot.

Then they find the 'gorilla-worshipping' tribe. This is where it gets really strange and honestly pretty uncomfortable. The movie claims these people sacrifice 'virgins' to the gorillas.

The acting is just... people standing there. They look like they are waiting for the director to tell them to move. It’s not like the energy you see in Miami where people are actually trying to perform. Here, they just sort of exist in the frame.

The 'gorilla' shows up and it is so obviously a man in a suit. You can see the fabric bunching up at the elbows. I think I even saw a zipper? Maybe not, but it looked like it. Charles Gemora is the guy in the suit, and he tries his best to hop around, but it just looks like a guy who’s had too much coffee.

There is a scene where a woman is taken away by the gorilla. The camera just lingers on the bushes for a long time. It’s supposed to be scary, but it’s just awkward. The silence in these old films can be really heavy sometimes. 🎥

The narrator, who I think is Hilton Phillips, talks in this very stiff, fake-important voice. He explains things that are clearly not true. Like, he calls a regular orangutan a 'missing link' or something. It’s hilariously bad science.

One thing that really got me was the pacing. It’s all over the place. One second they are talking about a dangerous trek, and the next, they are just staring at a tortoise for 30 seconds. Why the tortoise? No idea. It didn't add anything to the plot.

I wonder if the people in 1930 actually believed this? Apparently, they did. It made a ton of money. It’s like the first 'found footage' movie but without the found footage. Just a bunch of lies and a guy in a rug.

If you’ve seen A Texas Steer, you know that old movies can be pretty goofy. But Ingagi is goofy in a way that feels a bit grimy. It’s trying to be shocking but it just feels cheap.

The 'expedition' doesn't even seem to have any equipment half the time. They just walk around with sticks. Sir Hubert Winstead looks like he’d rather be anywhere else. Maybe at a nice restaurant. Not in a fake jungle.

I noticed a dog in the background of one scene that definitely looked like a Golden Retriever. I’m pretty sure they don't have those running wild in the deep Congo. It’s little mistakes like that that make the movie fun to pick apart.

The ending is just... it just stops. They don't really 'save' anyone in a satisfying way. They just leave. The movie ran out of film or maybe the actors wanted to go home.

I wouldn't say this is a 'good' movie. It’s actually pretty bad. But it is fascinating as a piece of trashy history. It’s a reminder that people have always loved being lied to if the lie is 'exciting' enough.

Don't go into this expecting King Kong. This is more like King Wrong. 🐒

The way they edited the animal footage is so clunky. You can tell the light is different in every shot. One shot is bright sun, the next is cloudy, then it’s bright again. It’s a mess.

I think the writer, Adam Shirk, just wrote 'Gorilla does something' on a napkin and called it a day. There is no real character arc. No one changes. They just walk, look at a monkey, and walk back.

It’s a weird vibe, for sure. If you’re bored and want to see a 90-year-old prank, give it a look. Otherwise, maybe just watch a real documentary about actual gorillas. They are much more interesting than the guys in suits here.