Bomba, der Rächer

Johnny Sheffield as Bomba has such low-keyed charisma and an easy gait that he commands attention even when he's not saying anything, which is sometimes preferable to the lines he's given. Bomba finds an injured lion in his territory and accuses the local villagers of leaving it to die (they deny it, even though a custom of their tribe is to send a young man out into the wilds to kill a lion as part of his initiation). Meanwhile, 'bwanas' have invaded the jungle with a permit to trap lions to sell back home to zoos--and one of the white men has a psychotic bent and an itchy trigger finger. One of better movies in the "Bomba" serial is still loaded with repetitive and recycled scenes, cheap back projection and nature footage from stock. Still, the editing is nimble enough so that the plot at least moves instead of being bogged down in the padding, and the supporting cast is strong. Douglas Kennedy is a worthy adversary for Sheffield's jungle boy (sprouting a little chest hair here), and the natives are finally given some personality quirks to make the subplot interesting. Bomba wrestles both an alligator and a lion, plays with lion cubs, relays messages to the birds (a bit embarrassing) and flirts innocently with the proverbial girl. Fans of the series could hardly expect or ask for more. **1/2 from ****

The Lion Hunters have come to Africa to do just as the title of the picture says they do. But what they don't know is that the lions are both held as sacred by the Masai tribe and that the area they've chosen is the home of the legendary Bomba the Jungle Boy. He just doesn't like white folks trapping or killing his animal friends as a matter of general principle.

Between the two of these facts, white trappers Morris Ankrum and Douglas Kennedy haven't a chance. Especially Kennedy whose hubris gets the better of him. It's always interesting in these B films how the villains never know when to quit.

Johnny Sheffield is allowed a little puppy love here in the person of Ann E. Todd who is also Ankrum's daughter. She's checking the well built Sheffield out, but he's got his mind on his animals.

The Lion Hunters never gets off the Monogram back lot with plenty of stock jungle footage supporting a hackneyed plot.

I already said it yesterday, when you have seen a BOMBA movie, you have seen all of them. But it's not a default, it's charming, enchanted, naive, fun, agreeable to watch if you watch them with the "proper" eyes. The topics are all close to nature, animal defense, against colonialism, the villains are most of the time White ones, as in any Tarzan or Jungle Jim feature. You like it or don't. No locations, only celluloid jungle and many footage stock shots about animals. You can easily see a jungle setting and the next scene you are deep into savannah.... You see a gorilla in the forest just before seeing an elephant in thee bush, or even a giraffe.....But that belong to the charm of this film series, firget any realism. It is destined to kids, adult kids. Or kids adults. Ford Beebe was a serial director and then westerns and adventures B pictures. He had no ambition but good skills with a camera.

Hunters are trapping and killing lions in Bomba's jungle. Bomba has feelings on this. Fifth entry in Monogram's series is pretty weak with an especially talkative Bomba this time around. The pluses are the animals, particularly the lions, and Sheffield's earnest performance. Morris Ankrum and Douglas Kennedy play the lion hunters. Kennedy is the heavy, which was hardly new territory for him. Ankrum's the nicer one. Ann E. Todd plays his tomboyish daughter who takes a liking to Bomba and vice versa. This was Todd's final movie before an early retirement. Woody Strode appears briefly as a native. This is a fairly standard Bomba movie. Which is to say it's an unremarkable B jungle adventure for kids. Still, a decent time-passer on a lazy Saturday afternoon.

Lion Hunters, The (1951)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

The fifth of twelve films in Monogram's "Bomba, The Jungle Boy" series, which Ford Beebe featured Johnny Sheffield as Bomba but he's probably still best remembered for playing Boy in the original MGM Tarzan series. In this entry Bomba is saddened when he comes across a lion that has been seriously wounded and must be put to rest. Soon Bomba learns that lion trappers are in the area and he must try and convince them that lions were meant to be free in the jungle. This is the first entry in the series that I've seen so I can't judge the entire thing but this movie here was pretty bad from start to finish. There's no doubt that this thing was meant to be a poor man's Tarzan and I'm going to guess that they did pretty well at the box office for so many films to be made but that doesn't mean we get quality. The biggest problem is the screenplay, which for an adventure film doesn't contain too much excitement. For the most part Bomba simply talks and talk and then talks some more about how lions are friendly creatures and that they should be left alone. It goes without saying but the talk of lions being nice creatures made for a few laughs as did many of the special effects including an embarrassing sequence towards the end when Bomba and his lady love are stuck in a tree with a lion jumping up at them. The fake claw being used to poke at them was downright hilarious as were some of the other effects when men are fighting the lions. Another problem are the performances with Sheffield coming off extremely bland in the role. He's certainly trying to recapture what Johnny Weissmuller did with Tarzan but the poor guy doesn't come close. He just doesn't contain enough energy to really be interesting and the screenplay certainly doesn't do him any favors. Douglas Kennedy pretty much steals the film as the crazed hunter as he's so over the top during certain scenes that you can't help but laugh. Ann E. Todd plays the love interest and is absolutely horrible. The early scenes she's acting as if she's a 12-year-old girl, which is rather confusing since she is playing an adult. The way she talks and tries to carry herself is just downright annoying to watch. Woody Strode has a brief role as one of the natives. As bas as this movie is, I'll admit to being a completest so I'll check out the other eleven as soon as they appear on TCM but I'm certainly hoping for better.