Mystery of the Black Jungle

Perhaps the original color, Italian-language version of this film is superior to the black&white, English-dubbed version released in the USA by Medallion Pictures that I'm reviewing. I hope so. THIS version, which clearly was shot in color and then developed in black and white,looks flat and has poor contrast. And there is intrusive narration telling us the plot throughout. I don't know if this was in the original, or was added to keep the amount of dubbing down, with scenes of Italian expository dialogue simply cut out of this version and never dubbed. What dubbing there is seems minimal and flat, as many early 50s films seem to be. Lex Barker looks handsome throughout, although with the turban he's wearing, only his face visible through much of the film. What a change from a few years earlier when he was Tarzan and nearly naked through an entire film! All in all, the film is not very interesting. As I said above, perhaps in color on a big screen the location photography would be impressive, and perhaps in the original language the film would play more dramatically, but this b&w English-language version is only recommended to the most devout of Lex Barker's fans. Almost any Barker European film is better than this.