Jungle Goddess

The dull, gray story of a Dutch girl(with no accent, mind you)who gets lost in the jungles of Bachman's floral..err..Tanzania. She is found and taken in by the most multi-ethnic 'native tribe' that I've ever seen, including a woman who looks like she put on too much bronzer before she went on set. These people seem to think that she's some kind of 'White Goddess', which is weird since they call the two meaty, wooden white guys who appear to rescue her white devils. These dopes crash in the jungle while looking for this girl, because there's a reward for finding her. One of them, a psychotic with a stupid pencil moustache, pulls out a gun and starts shooting. He kills one of the warriors, and is promptly condemned to death. Which he deserves, but that wouldn't further the plot, would it?

Not that much does. There are long, dry conversations and some tepid flirting between the Goddess and the less looney of the two men, although he manages to patronize her like crazy. Actually, she had managed to hold off the tribe doing her in by keeping up the white goddess front for over six years, plus she learned their language and kept a witch doctor at bay. Sounds like a pretty strong, smart girl, which is why Chunky McWhitey's smug condescension is even more annoying.

They finally all run away together, although why they didn't leave the psycho Snidely Whiplash wannabee behind is beyond me. He eventually tries to kill both of them, and gets stabbed by a warrior after he kills yet another of the tribesmen by 'accident'. The two protagonists get in the plane and fly away, and the woman makes dreamy comments about how when she gets back to civilization she immediately wants to buy a hat. A hat!? Gimme a break, lady!

This film was featured on the comedy riffing show Mystery Science Theater 3000 and is one of the more dull films to be featured on the show. The number one is the time they did Hamlet. This one was done by Lippert who had many of his films featured on the show and are mainly known for being extremely short yet somehow full of nothing. Usually lots and lots of padding which is strange that he would feel the need to put so much filler in when his films were always generally so short. This one has a couple of stars of note, the one that is most recognizable to me is George Reeves best known as playing Clark Kent/Superman. Other than seeing him, there really isn't a lot else to comment on. The plot is a bore and most of the movie is spent inside native's huts as the characters talk about how to escape. Just not a lot to recommend here.

The story has a couple of guys who fly a plane going to search of an heiress despite the objections of one of the pilots (Reeve's character). The other pilot is a bit of a jerk and he becomes more unstable as the film moves on though. They fly and look through binoculars to find the missing plane and of course are capable of seeing animals from an on the ground perspective. They find the wreckage and then trek through the jungle where they encounter the natives and the jerk immediately gets on their bad side. Soon they will learn the fate of the heiress and have to plan an escape before it's too late!

This film did not make a particularly strong episode of MST3K. A few good Superman references and jokes here and there, but there simply was not enough substance to it. There was literally nothing going on through most of the very short running time of this one. Most of the film is the hero and heroine talking and then the hero and jerk punching each other. Add some stoke footage and some angry natives and that is that. The big escape took a whopping few minutes to complete.

So overall a very dull film that plays out like most Lippert films do. Though, honestly, King Dinosaur and a couple of the other ones are a bit more exciting than this one. This film with its plot would have thrived during the 70's and 80's, however. Look at Zombie Holocaust where a blonde is inexplicably sort of worshiped at the end and she gets nude. Just add cannibals or make it a soft core and this one would have had something to it. As is, a bore where people talk in between stock footage shots.

Show 203 of the popular Mystery Science Theater 3000. It's typical of many 40's Hollywood movies in which the white characters play God to the native Africans. Of course, the Africans with lines are played by white actors in dark makeup (sometimes in blackface.) It gets its proper roasting in MST3K.

Thats about the only point of interest of this turkey. To be honest, I've only seen the MST3K version, but it is still easy to deduce that this is a total clunker, with horrendous use of stock footage, dialouge that can induce a grand mal seizure, cheap, CHEAP cardboard back drops, and terrible acting all make this movie, one to avoid. Although, I do recommend watching the MST3K version.

In this low rent adventure, two aviators search for a missing heiress who vanished in the African jungle at the onset of World War Two. Our intrepid explorers discover she is alive and well and is being viewed by the local natives as some kind of "white goddess".

Many of these old time, low rent, ludicrous jungle flicks are quite entertaining when viewed in the right frame of mind and if the films are lively. However, JUNGLE GODDESS is just bad. It has a few campy scenes, but overall it is very uneventful. About half the film consists of scenes of the lead characters sitting around inside a hut and talking. There is also an overlong and dull flashback sequence. I was disappointed that there was nothing that really stood out as vivid. This film lacks the elements of the type that sometimes make these silly little pictures entertaining; ludicrous native rituals, the heroine being carted off by a gorilla, hero battling with a stuffed lion etc.

A FEW NOTES: George Reeves made two cheap jungle pictures the same year. This and JUNGLE JIM, where he played the villain. The set used for the pub at the start of this film, looks like the one used in UNKNOWN ISLAND, made the same year.