Gungala, la vierge de la jungle

The bad guy is chasing jungle girl Gungala, because she currently owns a sacred jewel which years ago was stolen when it was the eye of a statue. He is ready to shoot her if he has to, but she can command the animals of the jungle, especially panthers, thus it won't be so easy...

Yet another mediocre Tarzan spoof with a female star (who doesn't get to speak any lines). Kitty Swan looks good in the title role, but I have seen this all better before, namely in "Liane, Jungle Goddess" (1956). Still they made a second Gungala movie a year later ('Gungala, la pantera nuda').

This movie is as old as I am. However I saw it first when I was 10 in a local cinema. What I remember just a figure of a naked female Tarzan, accompanied by monkeys and tigers. Her name was Gungala.

After seeking for about a year, at last i found it in VHS, together with another tittle "Gungala, la Pantera Nuda" directed by Rugero Deodato (a.k.a Roger Rockefeller). While Pantera Nuda is romantic, this "Gungala, Virgin of the jungle" to me more adventurous. Perhaps also that's why the "Pantera nuda"'s theme song is romantic (there's a soundtrack), while virgin of the jungle's not.

The story tell us about two smugglers steal a diamond from a wood statue which was worshiped by tribesmen. Years later, an expedition - an expert and a woman - was sent to look for radioactive thing. Their guide was Wulf, an fat white guy and Tao, a drunken tribesman. When finding the statue, they're stalk by Gungala, a wild jungle girl who lived with some big cats and monkeys. When Wulf urge to shot Gungala to have the blue her diamond necklace, the other aware of his real motivation. Gungala, on the other hand seems interested when she saw the group member making love. She tried to attract the man, but can not speak. so, she just growl, and make them after her. When she played, Wulf shot her and take the diamond. But Gungala was a jungle queen that easily cried for her panthers and lions to grab Wulf.

The plot is simple. As simple as what Gungala wear. Kitty Swan, as Gungala just wore like tearing cloth just to cover her front and back. We can see her totally naked from her side. This movie was the first Gungala, where Kitty looked more mature than in Gungala la pantera Nuda. Her face, dressing, and action was wilder. she was not as sweet as the next Gungala, though Kitty was still an eye candy. I didn't see any improvement of her acting between these two Gungalas. Just so so as a non-conversation cast, or frankly I can say not good enough. To those who enjoy naked Kitty, you will pick this than the Pantera Nuda.

For the sake of childhood memory, I still give 5 for rating.

Having watched so much Euro-Cult dross this year, I only decided to check this out against my better judgement at the last minute...but how could I resist after reading its review on "Stracult", which described the film as "a great and immortal piece of ultra-cult"!! Anyway, what promised to be the exploits of an eroticized female Tarzan, alas, turned out to be a rather dismal jungle adventure with the scantily-clad title character actually not appearing all that much (and, given the time of release, the nudity is still very much downplayed)! The plot deals with the usual themes of such films: a jungle expedition in which one of the members has ulterior motives for joining it; at one point, the party is captured by a native tribe; when they come upon the "Panther Woman", some of them want to communicate with her while others just want to shoot her, etc.

Kitty Swan looks good in the title role but doesn't otherwise create much of an impression - but, then, she is saddled with a one-dimensional character only able to growl like a jungle beast (which she reprised the following year in GUNGALA, THE NAKED PANTHER [1968], directed by Ruggero Deodato!); even so, I was more interested in statuesque blonde Linda Veras (who would soon appear in two excellent Spaghetti Westens by Sergio Sollima - FACE TO FACE [1967] and RUN, MAN, RUN [1968]). Surely one of the most irritating aspects about the film is that, for long stretches, the characters speak only in the natives' tongue, with little understanding allowed to the audience as to what's being discussed (which certainly didn't help my involvement any)!