Jungle Jim in the Forbidden Land

31/100. This is the eighth entry in the Jungle Jim series, and unfortunately not the last. The were profitable at the time, mainly because the had minuscule budgets. As with most in the series, the plot is lame and stupid. This time he gets entangled with a greedy and evil ivory hunter. That's not all folks, he also has to grapple with a "giant man," in bad make up, a phony looking costume and a desperate need for a dentist. As with all in the films in the series, a lot of obvious stock footage is used, and a menagerie of animals that in reality do not co-exist anywhere in the universe. The acting is, as expected, poor, the art direction painfully obvious. The film looks as though it took perhaps a week to film.

The Jungle Jim movies produced by Sam Katzman and starring Johnny Weismuller were all low grade jungle adventures made strictly to fill the bottom half of a double bill. Unless you watch them out nostalgia or, are like me, a fan of Weismuller, they are pretty rough going. None of them seem to have been made with idea of making something good. The concurrent Tarzan films at RKO with Lex Barker, and the Bomba the Jungle Boy series at Monogram starring former "Boy" Johnny Sheffield, while not great, were at least reasonably well produced.

JUNGLE JIM IN THE FORBIDDEN LAND is slightly enlivened by the presence of the strange "giant people." They are not giants, just very tall. They are supposed to be some kind of missing link. The makeup by Clay Campell is surprisingly good for such a cheap picture, but the only problem is that the "giant people" look more like werewolves than some kind of "missing link". Otherwise, JUNGLE JIM IN THE FORBIDDEN is just another Jungle Jim movie with the usual perfunctory performances, light skinned Africans, Columbia backlot jungle, stock footage, Tamba's hijinks etc.

Jungle Jim in the Forbidden Land (1952)

** (out of 4)

Insane entry in the series has Jungle Jim (Johnny Weissmuller) given "truth serum", which makes him give away the location of the "giant people", a wolf man like tribe, which lives deep in the jungle. A group of mean people want to use them to locate some elephants so that they can be killed for their ivory. This eighth film in the series is only the third one that I've viewed but I'd be really scared if any of the others were as crazy and goofy as this one. I'm really not sure why they didn't call this JUNGLE JIM MEETS THE WOLF MAN because that's pretty much what it is. The "giant people" are more like missing link creatures but you can't help but look at them as werewolves in the sun. The creature make up is actually pretty good and a lot more believable than what we saw in Columbia's THE RETURN OF THE VAMPIRE, which was also directed by Landers. We also get several other outrageous scenes including one where Jim fights a hippo at the bottom of a river. The hippo is incredibly fake looking but this adds to some of the goofy charm. The funniest sequence is the one where Jim must fight a black panther, which features the worst stuffed animal I've ever seen. Stock footage is added in of course but this just makes the stuffed creature look even worse and seeing Weissmuller fight it was just hilarious. In the end this is a pretty bad movie but it's just so crazy that you can't help but find yourself entertained.

I know there are a lot of negative comments on IMDb regarding the series of Jungle Jim movies starring Johnny Weissmuller in the early 1950's. Yes, they were low budget films, and Johnny couldn't act his way out of a paper bag if his life depended on it. Nonetheless, I find these films fun, as long as you check your mind at the door while watching them.

This entry in the series has Jungle Jim (Weissmuller) helping a pretty female anthropologist, Dr. Linda Roberts, (portrayed by actress Angela Greene) find the land of the Giants, a strange group of people who snarl like lions and look like werewolves on growth hormones. Of course we have to have the requisite bad guy, who is played by Lester Matthews, a corrupt commissioner who is stealing ivory from tusks of elephants.

I love these movies because of the outrageous acts of daring do we are supposed to believe...watch Jungle Jim wrestle underwater with a 2,000 pound hippo! See Jim go one on one with a black panther, rolling on the ground with it attacking him and emerge without a scratch, his khakis as clean and starchily pressed as if he just got them from the cleaners. It's hilarious, and all in good, clean fun.

If you watch these movies knowing they are not to be believed, but just enjoyed, then you'll have a good time.

And I will never stop repeating: never watch such items with a serious, first degree glance, that's very important. It is fun, exciting, second degree, destined to families, kids, adults with a young spirit in search of their childhood memory. This one directed by Lew Landers is better than the ones made by William Berke. That doesn't mean Landers was that better than Berke. Although.... I was very amused, never bored by this adventure action packed short film. I recommend it to any open minded moviegoers. Even TARZAN lovers will spend a good time in this TARZAN's cousin material. Forget the L. A. backlot settings.