review for Golden Dawn on AllMovie

Mere words can only fail to describe the sheer horror that awaits the unsuspecting viewer in Golden Dawn, but contemporary critic Lucius Beebe, nevertheless made a valiant attempt. "Reason," Beebe declared, "totters at the thought that anyone could have conceived in seriousness such a definitive catalogue of vulgarity, witlessness, and utterly pathetic and preposterous nonsense." Pathetic, preposterous nonsense Golden Dawn certainly is -- it is also perhaps one of the most racist films ever made. The "Dawn" of the title is believed to be a native girl so favored by the East African God Muhunghu that she is spared the indignity of having been born black. She is singled out as good and pure and a worthy bride for her god. Dawn's presumed mother, Mooda (Alice Gentle), is a little more dusky and Noah Beery, his face literally dripping with dark pancake makeup, is downright villainous, cracking a big whip, and speaking like a Hollywood screenwriter's idea of a ghetto black. Amos 'n' Andy's Kingfish has nothing on Beery, whose "Whip Song" must be heard to be believed. Yet, here is hapless Vivienne Segal, who certainly deserved better, warbling a lilting waltz entitled "My Bwana" while wooden leading man Walter Woolf King takes care of a couple of forgettable selections, all done in front of a stubbornly stationary camera. And here is Nigel de Brulier, done up as a witch doctor out of an Edgar Rice Burroughs nightmare. For once, the loss of the original two-strip Technicolor may actually be a blessing. Only British music hall entertainer turned two-reel comedy star Lupino Lane emerges somewhat unscathed from this disaster, performing "In a Jungle Bungalow," in his inimitable limber manner. Making narrow escapes, meanwhile, were Sojin and former Follies star Julanne Johnston, who both found the majority of their scenes deleted prior to the film's release.