Cazadores de leones

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.

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 ****

After he grew too old to play 'Boy' in the Tarzan movies, Johnny Sheffield wound up in this Monogram cheapie series based on the Bomba books/cartoon strip. In this one he is joined by Ann Todd, who had also been a child actor, as the ingénue, playing the daughter of a lion trapper.

For a Monogram movie there is a potentially interesting message about ecology: that it is simply not right to trap lions and keep them in cages. Of course, there is no real philosophy behind it in this movie. But there are hints of.... well, something. Bomba and the natives speak broken English at all times, but they have a sense of dignity and honor.

All in all, a silly, cheap movie, but I enjoyed it for the animals. Not only at least two lions, but a hawk, a monkey and folks walking around in pith helmets. Not to mention the funky hats the natives wear.

It's Bomba the Jungle Boy (Johnny Sheffield). He's playing with the lions when he spots an injured male which has been shot by hunters. Bomba is forced to do a mercy kill. He confronts the Maasai but they insist that it's not them. Tom Forbes and his daughter Jean meet up with his partner Marty Martin who is trapping and killing animals.

I like the animal-friendly message of this movie although there is some animal-unfriendly lion wrestling. No matter how unfriendly, it is still impressive stunt work. The native people are not simpletons or unthinking savages. They actually have a big part in the plot. It may not be modern or that good but it is as good as Bomba movies get.

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.