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Bomba number 2:
The African jungle: A friend (Bill Walker) of jungle boy Bomba (Johnny
Sheffield) is almost killed by a panther, so Bomba makes it his
mission to track down and kill the panther that could be a threat for
others too. Eventually, Bomba bumps into his friend Andy Barnes (Charles
Irwin), who helps Robbie Maitland (Harry Lewis) set up a plantation in the
jungle - but Robbie just can't come to terms with the African continent as
such, he can't understand the natives with their logic and their
superstitions, can't understand that nobody around here gives much of a
heed about money and timetables, and even can't understand why the killer
panther, a constant threat to his enterprise, is sacred and taboo to the
natives.
Robbie tries to hire Bomba as panther hunter, but Bomba, not
understanding the first thing about work or money, initially declines ...
until he sees Judy (Allene Roberts), Robbie's sister, whom he immediately
falls for, and she feels attracted to him as well - as does Losana (Lita
Baron), Judy's maid who does everything to spend some quality time
(you know what I mean) with Bomba. The natives though only find more
reason to complain, they now don't want Bomba the panther killer nor
Losana, who's supposed to have the evil eye, around.
Bomba takes Judy on a little expedition through the jungle, and at the
same time, Robbie decides to burn down the jungle because the natives'
progress is much to slow for his liking (and is almost killed when doing
so), and at the same time a hurricane breaks out ... and all of a sudden,
Bomba's and Judy's life is in danger and they just make it to a nearby
cave - where the panther attacks ... but of course everything has a happy
ending, Bomba manages to kill the panther, the forest fire loses breath
pretty quickly, and the hurricane moves on. And Judy starts to actually
like the place as well while Robbie finally starts to understand Africa
and the natives.
And Bomba ?
He has accomplished his mission and killed the panther so he moves on,
much to the dismay of both Judy and Losana.
The good news first: Just like Bomba,
the Jungle Boy, Bomba on Panther Island makes a real effort
to understand and respect Africa and its people when contemporary movies
of both the Tarzan-
and the Jungle
Jim-series don't even acknowledge the existence of black
natives in Africa. In this respect, Bomba on Panther Island is
almost realistic (apart from having a white jungle boy as its lead, of
course). The bad news though is that Bomba on Panther Island is
rather boring, there's not too much happening along the way and some plot
elements - especially the whole subplot about Losana - are gravely
underdeveloped.
Still, not an entirely bad film, just not too good either.
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