Jungle Jim

USA 1948
produced by
Sam Katzman for Columbia
directed by William Berke
starring Johnny Weissmuller, Virginia Grey, George Reeves, Lita Baron, Rick Vallin, Holmes Herbert, Tex Mooney
screeenplay by Carroll Young, based on a comic strip by Alex Raymond, musical direction by Mischa Bakaleinikoff

Jungle Jim, Jungle Jim (Johnny Weissmuller)

review by
Mike Haberfelner

Jungle Jim (Johnny Weissmuller), his friend Kolu (Rick Vallin), chief of the Masai, and Kolu's sister Zia (Lita Baron) all accompany Dr Hilary Parker (Virginia Grey) on their expedition to find the lost temple of Zimbalu. The whole trip is spent by Jim and Hilary bickering, Jim saving her life from the usual perils of the jungle (crocodiles, elephant stampedes), and Hilary and Zia vying for Jim's attention. But along the way, several attempts on Jim's life are made ...

Eventually, Jim and company stumble upon photographer Edwards (George Reeves) who at one point decided to join the expedition but makes the impression of being a big klutz ... until Jim and company are captured by the witchdoctors, the inhabitants of the temple of Zimbalu, and it turns out that Edwards has made friends with them because of his camera - it seems the natives are very vain. But Edwards is far from freeing his companions, he actually couldn't care less about them ... but he's all the more interested in the treasure of Zimbalu, which he intends to steal when the natives aren't looking.

Then though Jim's trusted friend the crow steals the lense of Edwards' camera, and without his ability to take pictures, Edwards immediately falls from grace with the natives. In the meantime, Jim has managed to free himself and his friends, and together, they manage to kill most of the devildoctors - and Edwards as well.

If you like cheap and silly jungle flicks like I do, you will probably find this kind of amusing ... if you don't you will probably regard this as utter trash: The pacing of this film is totally off, the jungle stock footage hardly matches the newly shot footage, Johnny Weissmuller appears to be more wooden than most of the trees in the jungle he crosses, the natives seem to be awfully mixed in race though I'm not sure if there are any blacks among them, and then there are endless animal scenes featuring a doggie and a crow - both not your typical jungle animals. As I said, utter trash ... but then again, kind of hilarious.

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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