Bomba on Panther Island (1949)

Better Late Then Never

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

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

The highlight of this Bomba film is certainly Lita Baron. She was the sexiest of Bomba's female admirers and had a lot of the sensuality of Acquanetta from "Tarzan and the Leopard Woman". As a matter of fact she took Acquanetta's place in Weissmuller's "Jungle JIm"(1948) as member of his safari with an eye for JIm. She also performs a sexy but hilarious dance-compared to Elaine's dance in Seinfeld. She had talent-sang with Xavier Cugart and was married to Rory Calhoun. A VerySexy and Petite(4'11) Jungle Girl!

This second of the dozen films made in the Bomba series focuses on the search for an evil black panther believed through superstition to be an evil spirit. It's all because the white man is there, cutting down trees, angering the alleged jungle gods and bringing one to earth to possess the wildcat and get revenge. Another father and daughter team have come along to replace Onslow Stevens and Peggy Ann Garner, making this series quite different than the MGM Tarzan series which had started with an ensemble cast. Other than Johnny Sheffield and his pet monkey, the only other actor returning is Smoki Whitfield as the African native who continues to work along side the white man as guide and protector. Allene Roberts is the female lead here, the daughter of Harry Lewis whose desire for the lumber brings about the alleged curse. While Sheffield was busy protecting Garner in the first film, here he is much closer to his distant "cousin" Tarzan, once again swinging from trees and doing much more physically than he did in the plot heavy first film. This entry is enjoyable but standard B jungle fare, entertaining as far as Saturday matinees go, but often stagnant and definitely about a reel too long. It's obvious how this will end, and just barely passes muster as a minor diversion. The continued usage of stock footage provides thrills, but a bit of it was an obvious repeat of what was already used in the first film.

Bomba on Panther Island (1949) ** (out of 4) The second film in Monogram's series finds Bomba (Johnny Sheffield) trying to track down a killer black panther who is causing all sorts of trouble in the jungle. He must also help a young woman (Allene Roberts) and her brother (Harry Lewis) who are doing special experiments in the jungle but their mysterious helper (Lita Baron) has the natives thinking she might be evil. After a decent start, this second entry quickly loses steam and in the end it's just another cheap, low-budget jungle movie that is nothing more than a rip-off of the Tarzan series. Of course, the biggest difference is that Sheffield played 'Boy' in those MGM films so it was natural that he'd be offered his own series. Sadly, the end results are rather weak but then again this is actually one of the best I've seen from the series so take that as you will. I think the opening scene where a monkey friend of Bomba is killed was rather effective but as soon as this is over the cheapness quickly kicks in. The majority of the panther attacks features stock footage of a panther "stalking" and then we cut away to the results and this is just a human (or animal) on the ground dead. At first I laughed at how cheap this effect was but by the end of the movie I understood because when the "fake" leopard does attack Bomba the results is so laughable that you can understand why the producers didn't want to use it too much. At one point it seems as if Bomba is fighting a cloth toy! Sheffield looks the part of a jungle boy and he's actually not too bad in the part. Roberts makes for a good love interest and Baron certainly has the looks and sexuality for her part. At 76-minutes the film is way too sluggish for its own good but the performances and a few scenes of the wildlife at least give it a little life.

Fairly weak follow-up to 1949's "Bomba, the Jungle Boy" has a better production (with much-improved nature footage from stock), but a terribly nonsensical script to contend with. Johnny Sheffield returns as Bomba, a teenage Tarzan complete with loincloth and stunted English, here tracking a killer black panther through the jungle; meanwhile, an American architect and his kid-sister (in matching pith helmets!) try persuading the jungle natives to chop down the trees to make room for their experimental farm, but the workers are scared off by the marauding beast who represents an ancient taboo. Also frightening the men is Lita Baron, a glinty-eyed French maid who may be possessed by the soul of a cat (paging Simone Simon!). Bomba certainly isn't afraid of the bewitching lass, taking momentary delight in her frisky caresses and excitable hands! Sheffield, with his thickly-sculpted physique and junior high school grin, is still a charmer...but what good can be said about a jungle adventure in which most of the action comes courtesy of the second-unit add-ons? (a buffalo fighting an alligator, for example). Monogram Pictures did keep the series going after this, but were already running low on fresh ideas. *1/2 from ****