La Tribu perdue

THE LOST TRIBE (Columbia, 1949), directed by William Berke, returns Johnny Weissmuller of Tarzan movie fame (1932-1948) to his newfound role as Jungle Jim. Based on the comic strip character created by Alex Raymond, this second installment, though slightly better than the series opener, JUNGLE JIM (1948), is typically formula stuff. For the Saturday matinée crowd pleaser, there's non-stop action as hero matches wits against villains trespassing on a hidden city of people people somewhere beyond the mountain.

Starting off with African scenery and stock footage of various animals, a voice-over narrative reads off passages such as, "This is the jungle ... the kingdom of the animals where the savage lion rules ... and home of the tribesman ...it is not the leopard's fangs nor the lion's claws that he fears,these are the dangers they can cope with, it is no longer a problem of survival, it is now a question of greed." The greed the narrator is pertaining to is the greed of white men. The next scene finds two native men shot by Sam Weklen (John Melton) and his partner, Avery (George DeNormand), who, by orders of Captain Rawlins (Ralph Dunn), is to follow the trail that leads to a secret city. Witnessed by a crow named Caw-Caw, the bird flies over to the camp of Jungle Jim and warns him (in crow lingo) of the dangers ahead. Sensing something wrong, Jim (Johnny Weissmuller), accompanied by his dog, Skipper, follow the crow to the other side of the jungle where he finds the intruders have already been killed by a lion now after a native girl, Li-Wanna (Elena Verdugo) whom Jim saves. He learns Li-Wanna has been sent by her patriarch father, Chief Zoron (Nelson Leigh) to locate him for help. In fear of possible invasion in their sacred city, Zoron believes that, through the offering of a small pouch of diamonds to the white men, might satisfy them enough to go away. Chot (Paul Marion), son of Zoron, turns out to be the one responsible for the news about the hidden city by earlier leaving the territory, encountering and becoming infatuated with Norina (Myrna Dell), and through the course of time, treasuring her with gifts of diamonds and crystals. Although Chot believes she cares for him, Norina, associated with Calhoun (Joseph Vitale), posing as her uncle, and Captain Rawlins, uses this young naive native for their own purpose. After Jim comes on the vessel to offer the men a pouch of diamonds as a peace offering, Rawlins accepts the gift and "promises" to leave. However, the promise is proved false, no doubt. As Norina's methods of acquiring information needed from Jim fails, Rawlins' men overpower, abduct and hold him prisoner on board the captain's vessel where Jim is subjected to beatings while helplessly strung up.

The basic element of outside intruders stirring up trouble is hardly new but always good basic screen material. Somewhat compared to James Hilton's LOST HORIZON (Columbia, 1937), the city of Dzamm may not be a Shangri-La, but a paradise haven headed by a bearded white haired man looking more like Moses than Chang. Dzamm doesn't offer eternal youth, only eternal richness of gold to turn ordinary people into greedy thieves. Anyone familiar with Weissmuller's early screen offerings of TARZAN'S SECRET TREASURE (MGM, 1941) and TARZAN AND THE AMAZONS (RKO, 1945), can't help but notice such similarities THE LOST TRIBE has to offer, particularly AMAZONS where the principal players have to journey long distance to enter the hidden city. Though AMAZONS has the presence of Barton MacLane as the ruthless villain, a pity he didn't assumed a similar portrayal here since he's a better known and stronger presence than Ralph Dunn. Myrna Dell provides some uplifting moments as the bad girl trying to gather information from Jim (who prefers drinking coconut milk) by flirting with him, while Elena Verdugo offers whatever possible as an attractive figure in a sarong.

Reportedly produced on a "shoe-string" budget, production values for THE LOST TRIBE is of higher caliber than one would expect. The basic situations are laughable at times indicating it's not to be taken very seriously. One of the basic flaws is the continuity. The initial 15 minutes of has Jungle Jim in short pants and undershirt going through a long journey. After being invited to the city of Dzamm, the next scene finds him in safari clothes, boots and white hat. What a quick change artist he is.

So not to be a disappointment to fans of his Tarzan series, Weissmuller, having put on additional pounds since last seen in loincloth, goes through his traditional moments diving into the water (fully clothed), facing great danger wrestling a (plastic) crocodile and shark (though not at the same time), and saving a giant gorilla protecting its young from the claws of a dangerous lion. Obviously a man in a gorilla suit, the petite King Kong acts more human than humans do. However, this ape called Simba becomes an important part of the film's climax. In closing, amusing moments in this photo-play come from the animals, namely the dog, Skipper. One scene early in the story has Skipper getting cat licked early by a raccoon. In later episodes, the dog would appropriately be substituted by a chimpanzee similar to Cheta's duties of the Tarzan movies.

Shown irregularly on commercial television from the 1960s to early 70s, American Movie Classics picked up its option by airing the Jungle Jim series (1997-2000) before making its Turner Classic Movies premiere August 3, 2012. Weissmuller has seen better days during his years playing Tarzan, but at least the "Jungle Jim" series kept his career going for a few more years. Next installment: MARK OF THE GORILLA (1950)(**)

The Lost Tribe (1949)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

The second film in the Columbia series has a group of white folks showing up in the jungle to do whatever it takes to locate a hidden city where an unnumbered amount of diamonds are. Of course things take a violent turn so Jungle Jim (Johnny Weissmuller) must step in and put a stop to it. I'm viewing this series out of order but to date this here is without a question the worst I've seen and that's saying quite a bit because in all honesty the entire series has been pretty bad. I'm really not sure where to start but we could discuss the poor acting, the laughable rubber crocodiles or perhaps we could discuss the really bad stock footage. We could discuss all of the horrible things but what would be the point of that? Instead I'll bring up the one classic thing that makes the film worth sitting through and that's a scene towards the middle of the picture where we get a lion going up against a gorilla, which is of course just a man inside an outfit. The fight between the two was pretty exciting and I must say that it had such a campy feel to it that I couldn't help but think that the entire film should be better known to fans of bad cinema. While watching the fight I had to wonder what the guy inside the outfit was thinking. Sure, the lion was trained to work with actors but if I was inside that suit I'd be worried that the lion would think he was going up against something real. Either way, thankfully both the lion and gorilla give the best performances in the film and they keep it from being a complete bomb. Good job boys!

With the exception of CAPTIVE GIRL, this may be the worst film in the entire "Jungle Jim" series. This film is below average even for a Jungle Jim movie, and the average was pretty low to begin with. The plot is a rehash of the previous film, JUNGLE JIM (1948); bad guys from the outside want to pillage a lost city in the jungle. The city is supposed to be in some far off remote region of Africa, but judging from the film, its about an hours walk from a populated port town. This film is loaded with all kinds of plot contrivances and elements that don't ring true, even for a Jungle Jim movie. The only thing of interest is the exciting ( and pretty bizarre) final confrontation with the bad guys.

I have only seen one Jungle Jim movie, long ago, and I hope the rest aren't as awful as "The Lost Tribe". It has all the elements I hate in a third-rate jungle film...lots of bad stock footage which often features animals that aren't even African, a guy in a gorilla suit and Jim's friends...a raccoon and a doggy! Later, there even are clips of Polynesians and a shark!! None of this makes sense in Africa and the film is just a sad imitation of the old Tarzan films with Johnny Weissmuller. Now, Johnny looks a lot older and slower...and he's just going through the motions. The only action he does is swim...and since Weissmuller was a gold medal swimmer, this is no surprise. He seems to go swimming practically all the time in this picture!

The kingdom of Zaam has remained hidden for many, many years. They are a peaceful white people(?) and want to live in peace...but with a kingdom filled with diamonds, you know sooner or later greedy outsiders will strike. So, one of their people comes to Jungle Jim for help, as they have no stomach for war and just want to be left alone. Perhaps he can help and he'll be needed to take action because a dumbbell from Zaa has fallen for an outsider and she's just using him for the diamonds and her real boyfriend hopes to follow the dummy back to his hidden city.

So is it any good? Not really. It's pretty much the same as dozens of other films with greedy outsiders coming to the jungle and Jim/Tarzan coming to the rescue. A cheap and cynical excuse for entertainment.

Jungle Jim rescues a beautiful native girl, Li Wanna, who is being chased by two sailors. She comes from a hidden village and the men were using her to find it. She had been sent on an errand to meet Jim by her elder. Jim visits the village and learns they are rich in diamonds. The village elder gives Jim a bag of diamonds which he wants delivered to the men looking for them.

A bag of diamonds will not satisfy them however. Along the way, Jungle Jim faces several challenges ...

Like battling lions, sharks, crocodile and the diamonds hunters! The plot is quite busy with plenty of peril thrown at you. There's the usual animal interludes - including a fake gorilla suit - but it's not too lengthy like the first jungle Jim film. It obviously aimed more the juvenile crowd and it's quite entertaining - cheesy and fun. Elena Verdugo and Myrna Dell adds some glamour quotient amidst the monkey business.