Hölle am Kongo

Fury of the Congo (1951)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

Sixth film in the Columbia-Sam Katzman series has Jungle Jim (Johnny Weissmuller) trying to stop some drug dealers who are capturing horse-like animals whose glands can be turned into a strong drug. What Jim doesn't realize is that the man he trusts most is the one behind the scheme. FURY OF THE CONGO is pretty much what you'd expect from a Jungle Jim movie as we begin with some weird narration that sets everything up and that follows with countless bits of stock footage showing off the animals and then Jim enters the picture and of course he's normally swimming. It's clear that this series was aimed at the kids during a Saturday matinée and that's fine but when viewed today it's really hard to find anything good to say about the films. This one here is one of the weaker ones even though it actually does feature one of the more entertaining or at least interesting story lines. The idea of this zebra-horse crossbreed being used for drugs was an interesting idea that could have worked in another film but here it just leads to one boring sequence after another. Not only do the action scenes come off boring but they're also done extremely cheaply and look so poor that you often start to wonder if perhaps one of the chimps running around the set took a camera and started filming. There are also a few funny goofs in the film including one where Jim grabs a weed that's basically going to be used as a straw so that he can hide underwater and still be able to breathe. I'm not sure if Weissmuller just didn't realize how deep the water was or what but when he goes under he actually goes all the way under including bringing the breathing device under with him. As for the former Tarzan, he's pretty lifeless here but I guess at this point in his career he was just going by-the-numbers. The supporting cast includes Sherry Moreland and William Henry but neither bring much life to the screen nor does Lyle Talbot in his small role. The craziest sequence happens during a windstorm when a large spider attacks Jim. At first I thought this "spider" was just the top of some palm tree because that's exactly what it looks like. The scene is pretty funny because it's obvious this "spider" doesn't have very much movement and when it's supposed to be pulling Jim back, it's easy to see that Weissmuller is using his hands to move back. FURY OF THE CONGO is yet another poor film in this series, which today is mainly for those who enjoy bad movies.

As for any JUNGLE JIM adventure, I watch out for the villain, and certainly not for the recurrent lead. This film is Ok, not deceiving at all, it is action packed, with a ridiculous giant spider. But who cares? It is fun, what can you expect more. I really like this Jungle Jim movie, episode movie. The plot doesn't bring anything new, and it is forbidden to watch it seriously. It is a bit shame that there were not so many of those adventures. However, there was a TV series about JJ. But try to forget the old Tarzan movies starring the same Johnny Weissmuller, you could be deceived. Just enjoy those ones.

Adventurer Jungle Jim (Johnny Weissmuller) is traversing the jungles of the Congo when he notices a plane diving towards the river. The agile explorer rescues the injured pilot, Ronald Cameron (William Henry), from the deep waters. Cameron tells Jim that he is trying to find missing biochemistry professor Dunham, under the University of Cairo's request. Dunham was last seen venturing into the jungles in search of a beast known as the Okongo, which is half-antelope and half-zebra, and is greatly revered by the tribal natives of Congo and hunted by bad guys for its glands which are rumoured to contain a rare type of drug.

Jungle Jim and Cameron later discover from a tribal chief, Leta (Sherry Moreland), that Dunham and all the males of the Okongo tribe have been kidnapped by hunters who wish to extract the drug from the Okongo's glands. Jim, Leta, and Cameron make their way to the hunters' hideout to put a halt to their sinister plans - well Jim and Leta intend to as Cameron is the leader of the notorious hunters...

A raging sandstorm, a gigantic desert spider and quick sand are some of the perils in store for Jungle Jim as he takes on despicable hunters who are after a animal gland - there's some exciting moments such as the chases and the desert storm at the end. It's a good Jungle Jim, has a smooth plot and is simplistic in an endearing way. The spider was quite poorly done, though- just a big hairy thing.

The 6th of Johnny Weissmuller's forays into Jungle Jim's khaki shorts proves to be a damp squib. It's low on ideas and crudely constructed by director William Berke. OK, lets not beat around the jungle bush, for the very young film fan there is more than enough here to keep them rooted to the sofa. From hilariously bad spider designs to recycled animal fights, there's no denying that young eyes can enjoy whilst feasting on their burgers. Hell, the plot even has some intelligence to it, even if it's a touch bonkers as drug lords seek to extract narcotic tinged glands from the Okongo, a half horse/zebra/antelope thingy that the makers have made up. But this is all told one of the weakest of the series and feels old hat as regards familiarity breeding contempt. 4/10

For this low budgeted film, the sixth in Columbia Pictures' Jungle Jim series, based upon a long-running comic strip of Alex Raymond, creator also of "Flash Gordon" and others, Jungle Jim (Johnny Weissmuller) is able to save an about to drown aircraft pilot, Ronald Cameron (William Henry) whose plane has crashed and sunk beneath a pond into which Jim is about to plunge. Cameron, who might not be the police inspector whom he claims to be, is tracking a missing biology professor who had been field researching an unique beast, the "okongo", that the script's pages describe as some type of hybrid between an antelope and a zebra. While local natives venerate this creature, "evil white" hunters plan to capture the entire herd because the okongo's digestive system transmutes, in some mysterious fashion, its favourite food plant into a powerful and, to be sure, potentially lucrative narcotic drug. These "evil whites" force the men of the local tribe to assist them in locating the okongos, leaving the tribeswomen to call upon Jungle Jim to stop the invaders from absconding with the entire host of the beasts. As champion of the females, Jim confronts numerous perils, from both human and animal adversaries. These include a savage fight to the death at close quarters with a leopard (utilizing footage with a stunt double used regularly for previously released Jungle Jim adventures), a struggle with a "giant desert spider" (obviously a garden hose garnished with palm fronds), and a group of the hostile white men to whom Jim is simply an inconvenience (although one spotlessly attired, whose clothing bears not the least sign of the brutal combat with the leopard, or of the ground-hugging opposition offered by the oversize spider, from which no living being could have reasonably been expected to escape). The film is shot in Southern California locations that bear scant resemblance to the scenario's purported African Congo. Nor does the assorted collection of Central Casting extras, comprised in the main of flabby Filipinos and Hispanics, match the expected appearance of indigenous Africans. These worthies, all barefoot, move with ever so much care through the locations' hard-rock strewn terrain during the course of the work's repetitive scenes of the varying characters who are tirelessly walking for no ostensible purpose. There is yet more for a viewer to chuckle over here: the okongos are only ponies stabled at Corriganville, an often used site for Western movies, and have stripes painted sloppily over their flanks; in order for Jim to be trusted by female members of the tribe, he must know the "tribal sign", and he of course does; his omnipresent pet chimpanzee, here named Kanga, in a clearly unplanned adaptation from the script, swings by way of vine, knocking Jim into a mud puddle, that is then labelled as "quicksand". There is a good deal more of such foolishness, but no advantage is to be gained by flogging a dead okongo for this haphazardly edited, listlessly directed affair that relies upon stock footage and scoring with the entire assemblage of players chasing each other about to no design during the movie's closing one quarter of an hour, or so.