Kongo is a 1932 American pre-Code film directed by William J. Cowen and starring Walter Huston, Lupe Vélez, Conrad Nagel, and Virginia Bruce. It is an adaptation of the 1926 Broadway play of the same name that starred Huston as well. The film is also a remake of the 1928 silent film West of Zanzibar, which was based too on the 1926 play. That earlier film was directed by Tod Browning and stars Lon Chaney and Lionel Barrymore.
Kongo has rarely been seen in theaters since its original release, but in recent years it has been presented on television by Turner Classic Movies. On May 3, 2011, a DVD version of the film was released as part of the Warner Archive Collection series .
Plot
"Deadlegs" Flint, an embittered paraplegic living in the Congo, controls local natives by dispensing to them small quantities of sugar and liquor (sometimes substituting the latter with kerosene). He also astonishes and frightens the natives by performing staged magic tricks, which create the illusion that he has supernatural powers. Assisting him with those tricks are his fiancée Tula, two thugs—Hogan and Cookie—and a loyal native, Fuzzy. Flint has spent the last 18 years plotting revenge against Gregg, a man who had crushed his spine in a fight before he ran away with Flint's wife. The crippled man since then has built an "80-mile circle" around his jungle compound, an area patrolled by his henchmen and where no one can enter or leave without Flint's consent. As part of his revenge plan, he also arranged years ago to have the infant daughter of Gregg and his former wife raised by nuns to be "clean in body and mind" within the safety and seclusion of a convent in Cape Town. Flint sends his man Hogan there to bring the daughter, Ann, to him. In Cape Town, Hogan disguises himself as a missionary and convinces Ann, now a young woman, to go with him to see her father Gregg.
By the time Ann arrives at Flint's compound, she has become a hardened alcoholic after being confined for months in a brothel in Zanzibar and forced to work as a prostitute. She continues to be held captive at the Kongo camp and does Flint's bidding for the daily servings of brandy he allows her to have. Each day too he takes sadistic delight in degrading and physically abusing the daughter of his archenemy. Later, a cynical, drug-addicted doctor named Kingsland arrives, and soon he and Ann fall in love. Flint needs Kingsland to be sober to operate on him to relieve the constant pain caused by his paralysis. To hasten his sobriety, Flint has the doctor bound with ropes, taken to the nearby swamp, and placed up to his neck in the leech-infested water so the parasites can suck the drugs or "poisons" out of his system. Flint also tolerates Ann's relationship with Kingsland because of its purifying effect on the doctor; nevertheless, he continues to ridicule her.
After Kingsland operates on Flint, Gregg arrives at the camp, summoned by Flint, who has stolen shipments of ivory from him. Flint hopes to have the ultimate revenge against Gregg by showing him his degraded daughter, having him killed, and then having Ann sacrificed as part of the natives' funeral ritual. Flint taunts Gregg until Gregg finally recognizes him as the person he once knew as Rutledge. The crippled man reminds him about running away with his wife after kicking Flint in the back and causing his paralysis. Flint then reveals how he has abused Gregg's daughter as part of his revenge plot, but Gregg proves that Ann is actually Flint's own daughter. Flint is stunned. After this revelation, Flint begs Gregg not to leave the compound or he will be killed by Fuzzy, who is patrolling the surrounding jungle and under orders to shoot Gregg if he sees him. Gregg ignores his old enemy's warning, departs, and Fuzzy kills him.
Now desperate to save Ann from the natives' sacrificial fire, Flint has Fuzzy guide her, Kingsland, Tula, and Cookie through an escape tunnel to the swamp. Flint remains behind and dies trying to keep angry natives at bay. Just before he is killed, he desperately prays that Ann will get away safely with Kingsland. Some time later, Flint's pet chimpanzee is shown finding the crippled man's necklace within the ashes of a pyre. Meanwhile, Ann and Kingsland are aboard a riverboat sailing downriver. As the couple waits to be married by the boat's captain, the film ends with Kingsland describing to her their destination, his small home in Sicily.