Adventure Girl (1934)

Stars:

Joan Lowell, Ula Holt, Bill Sawyer

Adventure Girl was described by the press books as a "fact and fiction" affair. Joan Lowell, a globe-trotting explorer, skilled mariner and expert deep-sea diver, plays herself in this combination of documentary footage and self-promotional silliness. While sailing to an undesignated Carribean isle in her 48-foot yacht, she is (a) buffetted by a hurricane, (b) forced to battle a boa constrictor and an octopus, and (c) nearly burned at the stake by hostile natives. It's all worth it, however, when she uncovers a buried treasure. Few but her most devoted fans were convinced by the fanciful chronicles of Joan Lowell, especially after it was revealed that she'd based her "eyewitness" best-selling book Cradle of the Deep on second- , third-, and even fourth-hand information. Still, the budget was low enough on Adventure Girl to allow RKO to realize a profit on the film.