The Lost Tribe

Beware, I don't say it's a good JUNGLE JIM flick, but only a not so bad, compared to the other ones. This one is fast paced, action packed in the second part, it nearly - I insist on nearly - looks like a TARZAN from the RK0 Pictures era - TARZAN AND THE AMAZONS - for instance. It's a great fun, lousy of course, but more exciting than most of the other films of this series about the Tarzan wearing clothes TV show. The William Berke directing is still on automatic pilot mode, more than ever, but it's OK. Johnny Weissmuller does his job, gets his check to pay his booze and bills and everyone is satisfied. For once, Sam Katzman seemed to have put som dol in this movie. So rare....

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!

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.

Johnny Weissmuller's second appearance of Jungle Jim concerns him protecting the secret and treasures of an ancient civilized tribe called Zhamm who have built a hidden city. The son of the chief has been paying court to a girl in another place giving her trinkets made of precious metal. That gets the antenna treasure of Joseph Vitale and Ralph Dunn raised.

Fortunately for the good guys Jungle Jim performed an intervention when he takes sides against a lion attacking a gorilla and her baby. He also takes out a crocodile and a shark as well during the course of the film. That wins him the gratitude of the gorilla community and in the climax they prove to be of invaluable help.

The Lost Tribe is high camp all the way, gloriously bad cinema, but kind of fun.

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.