Diamantenjagd im Urwald

Mark of the Gorilla (1950)

** (out of 4)

Fourth film in the series has Jungle Jim (Johnny Weissmuller) investigating some gorillas that are attacking and killing people. It turns out that a doctor (Onslow Stevens) is looking for some gold hidden by the Nazies during WWII and he's having his men dress is gorilla suits to scare off the locals but Jim isn't fooled and plans on catching them all. I don't think there's anyone in the history of mankind who could actually argue that the Jungle Jim series was full of good movies. Even the best that the series had to offer were rather childish, stupid and at times downright silly and that's exactly what MARK OF THE GORILLA is. If you enjoy bad "B" movies then you should enjoy this thing but if you can't stand "so bad they're good" type of movies then it's best you stay far, far away from this thing. There's no question that this series was made for young kids and to give them something to do at the Saturday matinée but and the only way an adult could fully enjoy this series was for them to turn their brain off and not attempt to put any logic to anything you see. The entire plot is downright silly as the plan of Stevens never makes a bit of sense and you keep asking yourself how incredibly stupid could this guy be. There's one ten-minute sequence in the film where Jim has caught onto the guy and yet the doctor is able to attempt and kill Jim at least four times. It looks like after the third time Jim would do whatever he could to make sure it didn't happen again. The way the screenplay goes about making excuses for this guy as he does one bad thing after another just gets to be laughable. Weissmuller will always be remembered for playing Tarzan and his "acting" style is pretty forgettable here. He certainly can't deliver lines and there are several times where it appears he forgets his lines, has to think real quick and then say them. As campy as Weissmuller is he doesn't have a thing on Suzanne Dalbert who plays one of the supporting roles. She's not any better and her line delivery would make Weissmuller appear to be an Oscar-winning Shakespeare actor. Trudy Marshall doesn't add much of anything but Stevens (HOUSE OF Dracula) comes off the best. MARK OF THE GORILLA is just one stupid sequence after another but thankfully it's so corny and campy that you might find yourself being entertained.

Johnny Weissmuller reprises his "Jungle Jim" character in this entertainingly dreadful drama that sees him having to face down some marauding gorillas. Except. Wait for it... Are they actually gorillas? Perhaps they are really people dressed up? Why? Well, it turns out that there is some long lost Nazi bullion hidden amongst the dense jungle of California. What's more, these creatures can throw a rock a mean distance and they have a top secret hideout too. Luckily (or not) "Jim" has two damsels to help him out on his quest to thwart this evil plan. "Barbara" (Trudy Marshall) and the local "Nyobi" (Suzanne Dalbert) but will they be enough against the menacing "Brandt" (Onslow Stevens) and his gang? It's so bad it's funny, this, with precisely no effort made to create the supposed leafy environment as these nimble furry critters clamber over the desert boulders trying to stop their heads coming off or knocking over the pot plants. There's an annoying little dog in here too, and by the denouement you almost want the baddies to win just because you know that despite their overwhelming cunning and firepower, good will prevail. The acting and writing merit no mention at all and basically it's just terrible.

Stock footage shown in the preview, is the same stock footage used in the Ramar Of The Jungle episodes. Suzanne Dalbert starred in the Lady Of The Leopards.

Apparently all these stock shots have been traded around in pretty much every early "Jungle" movie. It would be nice to know where they came from and who made all these inserts.

It's going to be tough coming up with additional commentary on the use of completely unrelated scenes, dropped into movies, that do not look fake as all get-out. The constraints of miniscule budgets severely limit any additional shooting schedules, which leaves few alternatives.

There are good reasons why I watched the Weissmuller Tarzan films as a kid and not the Jungle Jim films. The television stations were too embarrassed to show them.

This film starts with stock footage of wild animals from Africa and Asia, I guess at the time most people did not notice the difference.

Jungle Jim investigates Gorilla attacks in an area where there should be not gorillas and although these gorillas look like men dressed up in a gorilla costume, it is because they are men dressed up as gorillas and trying to frighten other humans.

The reasons being that some dastardly Nazis are trying to retrieve some Nazi gold hidden during the war.

Weissmuller looked old and flabby, the plot is flimsy and silly. Even as a B film this is just bad.

This Jungle Jim advenrure flick is not better nor worse than the other ones. It is only the best example of what Sam Katzman's productions for Columbia are able to make. It is laughable without being funny, lousy, amusing under the condition you watch it with the proper glance, the proper spirit, state of mind. Don't expect too much, if you have never seen any Jungle Jim before. Concerning me, I prefer Tarzan movies, even the RKO ones. For those who already know Jungle Jim, I repeat, there is nothing special here, you can easily confound it with the other ones, they are all alike. Maybe the giant lizards struggle is worth watching and not predictable. Keep fun, that's all.