Jungle Girl

I was a grammar school student (grades 1-6) when this serial," Jungle Girl", was shown on Saturday afternoons in our neighborhood Fairfax Theater in Jacksonville, Florida. My friend Stewart and I loved this serial and we also were enthralled by the "The Batman" serial. A "Dick Tracy" serial was also shown around the same period. But Jungle Girl was the best of them all. Every adventure story needs a good villain and Slick Latimer, played by Gerald Mohr was outstanding. I never realized that he even had a first name until I saw the reviews here on IMDb. We kids just called him "Latimer" and we hated his guts. Each week for fifteen episodes this conniving snake would betray the beloved Nyoka and her friends Jack and Curley. Then the evil Latimer would slip us kids in the audience this sly smirk. It was a masterpiece of infuriation that made us so mad we were ready to chew the upholstery out of the arm rests. A few years ago I rented the original "Red Planet" movie which starred Gerald Mohr. After 50 years I had forgiven him. Well after all, he was now a good guy.

When the directing team of Witney and English names appeared in the credits, the viewer could be assured of a superior serial.Jungle Girl fills the bill.Francis Gifford is perfect as Nyoka. Tom Neal and Eddie Acuff share the hero honors and Gerald Mohr as the chief bad guy. Trevor Bardette plays a dual roll of Nyokas father and twin brother. The quest for treasure is the main theme. Early on, Mohr kills Bardette

and replaces him with the brother also played by Bardette. It takes fifteen chapters of great cliff hangers before Bardette and Mohr are brought to justice. Exciting score and production values make Jungle Girl a superior Republic serial. Stunt work by David Sharpe and other stunt team members, keep the action moving at a fever pitch.Ten big stars !

This serial has very little to do with the Edgar Rice Burroughs novel "Jungle Girl," on which it is supposedly based. (The book was set in Cambodia, and the heroine was Asian, while the film is about a white girl in Africa.) But the movie does show that a good jungle picture doesn't need a man. Frances Gifford as Nyoka is both fetching and daring at the same time. There's something about the way she swings on those vines that makes you want to go climb a tree yourself. (I've read that the swinger was actually a stuntman in a wig, but I choose not to believe it.) The jungle theme music is better than anything in a Tarzan film. As Gifford fans know, she went on to play a Jane substitute in "Tarzan Triumphs," but it's plain she should have been Jane.

"Jungle Girl" is based on the novel of the same name written by Tarzan creator Edgar Rice Burroughs. The main character is a girl named Nyoka (Frances Gifford), who has been raised in the jungle by her father Dr. Meredith (Trevor Bardette) and has gained the trust of the natives.

The good doctor has access to a large cache of diamonds accessible only by the possessor of a lion shaped amulet which allows the holder to pass by the native guards. The doctor plans to use the diamonds to benefit the native population of the area. However, Dr. Meredith has an evil twin brother Bradley (also Trevor Bardette). Jack Stanton (Tom Neal) and his partner Curley (Eddie Acuff) along with the evil Latimer (Gerald Mohr) arrive at the village by plane. Latimer learns of the diamonds and arranges to have the Doctor taken to the city and murders him replacing him with his evil twin.

The rest of the serial has the amulet and/or the diamonds changing hands between Nyoka, native boy Wakimbu (Tommy Cook) Jack and Curley, Latimer and the evil native chief Shamba (Frank Lackteen), the gasoline supply for the airplane being sabotaged amid several death defying but convincing cliffhangers. The comely Gifford takes even on a lion and a gorilla.

As serials go, this is arguably one of the best of all time. It has the look and feel of the more expensive Tarzan series being produced at MGM at the same time. The stuntwork is outstanding. Helen Thurston doubling Gifford pulls off some really convincing acrobatic vine swinging and David Sharpe doubling just about everyone else is at the top of his game as well.

The fetching Frances Gifford and Tom Neal were just embarking on promising careers when this serial was made. Gifford did manage to move on to "A" list features for a while, but was involved in a serious car accident in 1948 which caused her some emotional problems and effectively ended her career. Neal on the other hand, self destructed. His well publicized womanizing, brawling and hair trigger temper relegated him to poverty row quickies until his famous fight with Franchot Tone over actress Barbara Payton, black listed him and ended his career.

Trevor Bardette appeared in countless other films well into the fifties, usually westerns. Tommy Cook had appeared a year earlier as Little Beaver in "The Adventures of Red Ryder". Gerald Mohr made an excellent villain and enjoyed a long career.

Followed by a sequel of sorts, "Perils of Nyoka" (1942).