Adventure Girl
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Herman Raymaker
Joan Lowell
Captain Nicholas Wagner
William Sawyer
Otto Siegler
Gustav Brock
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Adventurer Joan Lowell, with her father, Nicholas Wagner, and two crew members, William Sawyer and Otto Siegler, sails from New York to the Caribbean in her 48-foot schooner Black Hawk . Soon after their departure, Joan and the crew battle a hurricane, which damages their mast and casts them to a shipwreck graveyard. As Bill and Otto lay claim to the mast of one of these abandoned boats, Joan and her father board an old gunrunner, where Joan discovers a one-hundred-year-old map to a lost jungle city and the hiding place of a giant sacred emerald. Afraid her superstitious sailor father will disapprove of her tampering with a dead man's belongings, Joan says nothing about her find but steers the schooner toward the lost city. Shortly afterward, however, she discovers that the boat's entire water supply was drained by the hurricane. Dying of thirst, Joan and Bill drift in a rowboat to an island where a native gives them life-saving water. When they reach the village near the lost city, Joan lies about her intentions to the local matriarch, Princess Maya, in order to obtain permission to explore. Maya reluctantly gives her consent but threatens Joan with death if she betrays her trust. Trailed by head villager Manola and his men, Joan, Bill and Maya use the old map to locate the Mayan ruins and the temple that houses the coveted emerald. With Bill's help, Joan diverts Maya and begins to scour for the emerald but is caught in the act. Captured and sentenced to burn alive for her misdeed, Joan is rescued at the last moment by Bill. As Manola and his men chase the escaping adventurers to their boat, Joan confesses her greed and vows never to be tempted by material wealth again.
Director
Herman Raymaker
Cast
Joan Lowell
Captain Nicholas Wagner
William Sawyer
Otto Siegler
Crew
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
An onscreen foreword describes the film as a "reenactment of Miss Lowells' fantastic journeyings." The foreword acknowledges General Jorge Ubico, President of the Republic of Guatemala, without whose cooperation "this picture could not have been filmed; especially that fictional portion displaying the artistry of the untrained natives, none of whom had ever before faced a camera." It is not clear from viewing the film exactly which portions of the story were fictional. The film appears to have been shot without sound, with sound effects added in post-production. Intercut with the narrative are scenes showing native fauna, such as snakes, mongooses and weaver birds. Reviewers also mentioned Joan Lowell's battles with an octupus and shots of shark hunting, but these scenes were not seen in the viewed print. According to a Film Daily news item, Gustav Brock hand-colored the fire sequence to give it more "realism."
