Call of the Jungle

The film opens with Tana (Ann Corio) and Malu (Alex Havier) frolicking in a lagoon in Tapu, some "far away exotic location"... looks like Hawaii to me, but I guess in 1944, that WAS a far-away, exotic location. They are summoned to the village by the drums, where "Jim", the local police (James Bush) is informed that the mighty tribal pearls have been stolen from the temple! Malu likes Tana, but she would rather sneak off to the local tiki bar, run by Louie and Gracie, which seems to be full of rough, white men. Our star Ann Corio only made seven films, and was really a striptease artist, which probably paid MUCH better. Tana's pigeon English comes and goes; sometimes she speaks excellent English, but at other times, it's a primitive islander attempt at English. When the dealer Dozan (Philip van Zandt) comes to town, and a shady deal goes down in the bar, the always wide-eyed Harley, played by John Davidson, is caught in the middle with Tana. Then people start getting knocked off. Van Zandt appeared in over 200 films, but it looks like a whole lot of those roles were uncredited, minor roles. Probably the best performance is by Claudia Dell (Gracie) who apparently was the model for the original Columbia Picture logo. The "silliest performance" award goes to Jim (Bush), who plays piano while trying to get to the bottom of the murders... was that a weird nod to Sherlock Holmes ? But the old chief has a magic way of finding the murderer....will it work? As long as you buy into it all, it works.

One for the kiddies, this one, despite the presence of Ann Corio in the stellar role.

Actually neither Miss Corio nor her dull leading man James Bush (whose acting career was mostly confined to small roles and uncredited bits) are particularly appealing. It's left to the support cast to turn in spirited performances. Fortunately, director Phil Rosen had enough flair to take good advantage of this pool of talent. The acting in fact — from all but the inadequate leads — is far more polished and engaging than the script (an unsophisticated melange of story clichés and equally laughable dialogue) deserves.

Ex-Broadway showgirl, Claudia Dell (here making the second last of her 41 movie appearances) turns in an excellent performance as Gracie, while prolific character actor, Eddy Chandler (who appeared in well over 300 movies) makes his "Boggs" equally appealing.

On the technical side, Arthur Martinelli's lustrous cinematography leads the way — and it's far more inspiring than the comic strip writing.