Bomba and the Jungle Girl (1952)

Memorable, crazy movie

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

BOMBA AND THE JUNGLE GIRL (Monogram, 1952), written and directed by Ford Beebe, based upon the character by Roy Rockwood in the "Bomba" Books, stars Johnny Sheffield in the title role in the eighth installment of this "second feature" adventure series. While title leaves impression of Bomba meeting a displaced jungle girl, helping her find her family by assisting her through long journey and adventure before reaching some obscure village, no such thing occurs. A somewhat misleading title actually revolves more on the displaced jungle boy wanting to know more about himself and whom his people are. The story gets underway as Bomba (Johnny Sheffield) observes the animals around him. He thinks to himself, "Every animal in the jungle has a mother and father but me. I don't even know who I am." This sets the pattern of what's to come. Bomba finds a book inside a cave that could lead to his true identity. By taking it over to his friend, Deputy Andy Barnes (Leonard Mudie) for translation, it is revealed the book to be a diary written by Cody Casson, a man now deceased, who found and raised Bomba when he was three. It is learned that Bomba's parents are John and Laura Hastings (possibly Hawkins), and that his father was a mapmaker living among the native tribe. Since Bomba, who likes the surname of "Hastings" best, wants to know more about his family, he decides to travel to the village where it all began many years ago. Along the way Bomba sees and rescues Linda Ward (Karen Sharpe) from an crocodile attack, who in turn shoots the crocodile as Bomba gets overpowered by it. Through a twist of fate, Bomba finds that Linda's father, Lawrence (Walter Sande) is a government agent inspecting living conditions of that same tribal village where he's headed. During his quest for information, Bomba discovers his parents were murdered, and intends on finding out who's responsible. To prevent Bomba from learning the truth from Linasi (Amanda Randolph), a blind woman who was once his native nurse, Gamboso (Martin Wilkins), the tribal leader, and Boru (Suzette Harbin), his daughter, arrange to have the woman killed by a poisoned dart from a blow gun, and placing Bomba under arrest for her murder. Set free by Linda, Bomba later makes every effort to save father and daughter from whatever danger lies ahead, at the same time, getting to the main source to his family mystery without getting himself targeted by death.Based on the plot summary, there's no jungle girl, unless one counts the Linda character, who's never seen in jungle clothes. As much as BOMBA AND THE JUNGLE GIRL is often dismissed as one of the lesser entries, it is, in fact, a satisfactory one. Contrary, the summary used in this edition is one that would have served best for the first in the series, BOMBA THE JUNGLE BOY (1949) rather than the plot used, consisting more time on the supporting safari players and hardly anything on Bomba's origin and how he came to be a lone jungle boy with a sphere. By this time, Ford Beebe, who scripted the entire "Bomba" adventures, slightly broke away from traditional "Bomba" stories by setting the pattern more towards Bomba's unknown heritage. By doing this, he adds further excitement placing Bomba's life in peril. Playing more like a murder mystery set in the jungle, it gets by on the material and limited production values it has. Below average acting from newcomer Karen Sharpe, along with a not-so-convincing demise of one of the villains, can be contributed towards the film's weakness, but overall, a passable 72 minutes. Others members of the cast include Morris Buchanan in notable support as Kokoli, a native who risks his life assisting Bomba; Don Blackman, Bruce Carruther, Roy Glenn, and Bomba's pet monkey, N'Kimba, doing what Cheta of the "Tarzan" movie series did best, attracting whatever attention in the "comedy relief" department.Being the last "Bomba" adventure produced by Monogram, in fact, the last Monogram film ever release, the duration of the "Bomba" series (1949-1955) were distributed by Allied Artists. Unseen on cable television since Turner Network Television's broadcast in 1992 and 1993, BOMBA AND THE JUNGLE GIRL has joined forces, along with other "Bomba" adventures, as worthy presentations on Turner Classic Movies (TCM premiere January 21, 2012). Next in the series: SAFARI DRUMS (1953). (**)

Bomba and the Jungle Girl (1952) * 1/2 (out of 4) The eighth film in Monogram's series once again has Johnny Sheffield playing Bomba, the jungle boy who in this adventure meets a jungle girl (Karen Sharpe) and the two try to figure out who his parents were. With the help of a partial diary, the two set out to learn the truth yet you know there are going to be complications. Having been watching the Bomba series in the order that they were made, I have no idea what the last four films will hold but there's no question that it appears everyone involved were running out of ideas. There's really not too much to say about this film that I haven't said about previous entries. This one here features a pretty boring story where not much happens except that our hero has a new female lead and we get countless scenes where they talk about things that they're going to do. Every ten minutes or so we get an action scene that is full of silly gunshots and every once in a while we get stock footage to go with it. The start of the film has our female swimming in a river for no reason other than a crocodile to show up and she of course will need Bomba to save her. I think the croc used here is different than the previous couple films as was the stock footage showing the real one. The story itself is pretty bland because after the first few minutes you realize that you really don't care what happened to Bomba's parents and your only main goal is getting through all the madness.

Writer-director Ford Beebe surprisingly didn't lose steam helming this, the eighth picture in Monogram's "Bomba" serial; rather, Beebe comes through with one of his meatiest scripts for the low-budget franchise, allowing Bomba to have normal thoughts, questions and emotions about his own history. It's springtime in the Congo, with Bomba taking notice of the circle of life happening all around him, yet feeling saddened by his own lack of family. After saving the daughter of a government agent from an alligator attack, Bomba learns his parents were killed many years ago and that a native nurse (presumed dead as well) knew the secret behind their mysterious fate. Like the previous "Bomba" movies, this installment's charm is of a strictly modest variety--only nostalgic grown-ups need apply--however, the film's villainess (the daughter of a phony village chief) is amusingly intimidating, and Johnny Sheffield's Bomba thinks clearly and acts cleverly. The production is predictably crude, though the stock footage is kept to a minimum and the dialogue (strong this time) carries the plot ably without being chopped up into staccato bits and pieces. **1/2 from ****

This little feature is not better or worse than the other Bomba movies. I think they were made for sunny - or rainy - Sunday afternoons. All directed by Ford Beebe, they are all the same. When you have seen one, you have seen all of them. But they are not charmless. I won't explain the topic of this one, it is already exposed in the tag line. I only write this comment because this film has not been commented yet. That's all. If you watch all Bomba features in a row, you'll forget this one. For sure. I recommend to see the Bomba films one each week. That's the best to appreciate them.