Jungle Jim

Oh, how I enjoyed the Jungle Jim movies and television show when I was a youngster. Action, adventure, a far away location, wild animals and well trained and entertaining pet animals - what more could a kid ask for? The shows were perfect entertainment. Of course, now I see a lot of stock footage, silly plot, unbelievable fight scenes, and stereotypical characters. And, of course, Johnny Weismuller has to be the most famous bad actor. But his Tarzan and Jungle Jim characters were so affable, so good, and so competent who cares he couldn't act? This series entry was fun for three reasons: the antics of the marvelously well trained crow (Caw Caw) and the dog, Skipper; 2) it features a woman searching for a cure for polio - played by the always good actress Virginia Grey and 3) the chance to see Superman George Reeves as a villain. A harmless, pleasant diversion that brings back fond childhood memories. I like Jungle Jim still.

Jungle Jim was Johnny Weismuller's vehicle after he became too old to play Tarzan, and passed the mantle to younger actors. As Jungle Jim, he stays in his African milieu, dons safari clothes and has a series of numbskull adventures mostly saving ladies in distress. This is the first of the series, in which Jungle Jim helps a lady scientist discover a cure for polio (remember that Jungle Jim is made in 1948 before the discovery of the Salk vaccine). In this, it may be ahead of its time; first having a smart female character, and second, finding cures to disease in tropical plants. The villain is played by the pre-Superman George Reeves.

Where Jungle Jim is behind the times is its portrayal of Africans, in this case Masai, who look like white people, and the idiotic portrayal of wildlife. Nonetheless, it's a laugh. But if you're looking for something serious pass it by.

After attempting in vain to save a man from being mauled to death by a leopard, Jungle Jim discovers a vial containing an unknown potion. He takes it to district commissioner Marsden, who identifies it as being from the hidden temple of Zimbalu and brings in Dr. Hilary Parker to head up an expedition with Jim as her guide.

An opportunistic photographer, Bruce Edwards, follows as Dr. Parker seeks what she believes could be a miraculous breakthrough in medicine. A cure for polio. En route to their destination, there's a series of mishaps ...

And that's thanks to future Superman George Reeves who plays the devious Edwards- he's not averse to turning to murder in order to get what he wants. Treasure. He adds a bit of fun in this routine, yet adequately diverting Jungle Jim adventure.

Having said that, there's too many animal interludes that hamper the pace and the drive of the story. But there's some good action, especially at the end with Jungle Jim throwing some natives in the fire. Virginia Grey is quite an interesting character, quite spirited and studious. Lita Baron adds some sizzle. As for Johnny Weissmuller, I find it odd that he's wearing clothes, doesn't say "Ungawa" constantly and doesn't swing on vines, but he does a fine job. And has more lines.

Jungle Jim (1948)

** (out of 4)

After growing too old for Tarzan, Johnny Weissmuller headed over to Columbia where he started the Jungle Jim series with this one being the first of sixteen movies. This time out Jim is leading a female scientist (Virginia Grey) through the jungles looking for a poison that might just be the cure for polio. I had heard this was an extremely goofy and at times rather poor series but this here was my first venture into it and I will go along with the goofy part. There are so many logical plot holes here that you could drive a semi through them but the biggest problem is th best thing going for the film. The problem is that this thing is 100% camp and that's where the entertainment value comes from. You can tell this was an extremely low-budget movie because there's so much stock footage edited in that after a while you actually get a headache from it. The majority of the animal footage is all stock footage but the film's greatest scene is one where Grey isn't paying attention when a crocodile sneaks up on her. As far as Weissmuller goes, he's pretty bad. As a visual level it's certainly easy to watch him but his line delivery is just so incredibly bad that there were a couple times where I had to laugh at him. It was fun watching him but the performance just adds more camp value. Lita Baron plays a jungle girl who adds a lot of sex appeal to the film. George Reeves plays the bad guy here and does a very good job, nearly stealing the film. The film is clearly modeled after a Tarzan movie from start to finish and this includes a swimming scene clearly trying to impersonate the one from TARZAN AND HIS MATE. Even at only 71-minutes the film seems a tad bit long but if you like goofy fun then you'll certainly want to check it out.

Other reviews here say pretty much all that need be said about the merits of this silly film, so I'll merely add a few observations on peculiar details in the film.

--Like many of the early Tarzan films, this film contains stock footage of Asian elephants wearing ill-fitting rubber ears in a failed attempt to make them resemble African elephants. Why bother? The movie was obviously shot in Chatsworth, Calif., and there are scarcely any actors in the film who resemble Africans. Incidentally, it would be interesting to know why so many Tarzan, Bomba, and Jungle Jim films didn't employ African Americans to play Africans instead of using nonblack actors wearing makeup to give them a dusky appearance. (By the way, that Chatsworth lake in which the characters swim in the film became known as "Jungle Jim Lake." It must have been used in more than one JJ film.)

--Speaking of that lake, the scene in which the characters are swimming is confusing. Virginia Grey is attacked by some kind of aquatic beast. It looks vaguely like an alligator with a head similar to that of the lizard man whom Capt. Kirk fights in STAR TREK, but the pictures of it are so fuzzy it sometimes resembles a nearby floating log. And is that a tentacle or a tail that grabs Grey by the leg? Whatever it is, it doesn't look like it belongs on the swimming lizardgator.

--Considering that Virginia Grey's character is an all-business medical researcher intent on finding a paralyzing poison" that may cure cancer, it was a bit surprising to see that she thought of bringing a swimming suit and even a swimming cap on the expedition. Equally surprising is the championship diving form she displays.

--One of the comic highlights of this film is a scene in which an ostensible crocodile is chasing Virginia Grey. The animal is obviously an American alligator, but it's dressed up in a way I don't recall ever seeing in a film before. A key distinction between crocodiles and alligators is that the lower teeth of alligators can't be seen when the animals' mouths are closed--like those of the animal in this scene

--Almost every action scene is sped up. I've never understood why movie makers did this sort of thing, as it succeeds only in making the action look unnatural. Johnny Weismuller looks awkward when he's running at normal speed, but he looks ridiculous when his running scenes are accelerated. The sped-up stampeding elephants look equally silly.

--George Reeves's character, we discover, has ingratiated himself with the evil "native" tribe by taking photographs of the tribesmen and giving them prints. He carries a camera with him, but how he produces prints is a mystery. The film came out in 1948, the same time when the Polaroid Land company was starting to produce instant-print cameras; however, Reeve's camera is obviously not a Polaroid. In one scene, toward the end of the film, he snaps a group picture of the evil tribesmen (who mug for the camera like a bunch of drunken fraternity boys), then goes off, saying he needs a moment to "develop the film." Moments later, he returns with nice, dry prints of the pictures he has just taken. I don't know what he was doing in the interim, but I when I used to print photographs, I had to unload my camera in a darkroom, chemically develop the film, allow it dry, and then use an enlarger to project the negatives on printing paper. The exposed paper, in turn had to be submersed in a chemical solution, rinsed, and then soaked in a fixing solution and dried. Oh, Reeves's prints are very glossy, so he must have dried them on a ferrotype plate. So, how did Reeves do all that so quickly? He wasn't even carrying all the necessary equipment with him.

--Women may enjoy this film's heavy-handed feminist message. Grey's character, Dr. Hilary Parker, is constantly miffed because people are surprised she is a woman. Even Jungle Jim is unliberated. When he meets her, he shakes his head and says something along the lines of "You're not exactly my idea of a doctor."

--After watching the whole film inattentively, I sped through it a second time to review some details. I see that the "native" bearers are supposed to be Masai. Yeah, right. Most of them are European Americans or perhaps South Asians, and some are wearing turbans. Not exactly traditional Masai accoutrements.

--Did I mention low production values? Much of JJ's fight with a leopard is hidden behind a big log, and the climax of his fight with a lion is hidden in a recess of a pit. Well, actually the latter scene has some justification, as it leaves us wondering (for about 30 seconds) whether JJ has survived his fight.

--One final observation: JJ is often seen with a big raven on his shoulder. What I'd like to know is why his shirt is always clean and well pressed. In fact, it looks freshly pressed immediately after his struggle with a lion and his free-for-all brawl with the evil tribesmen in the temple of Zimbalu. Perhaps the raven did something requiring Weismuller to change his shirt before the final scene.