Bomba: The Jungle Boy

If I am not mistaken I watched this movie in 1951 and I was just an 11 year old, and my memory fades somewhat on detail of the Film. Keep in mind, my memories of this film was from a childs viewpoint, but the best that I remember, I really enjoyed it, in particular the animals, and lot & lots of action. Bomba was just a few years older than myself and I really related to him and his escapades. I would like to see it once more as an adult, but I really don't know if any videos/dvds' are available. Thank you for reading my comments.

"Bomba The Jungle Boy", the first film in a long series of "Tarzan Junior" adventures, makes no real attempt to integrate the stock footage of animals convincingly, or to make the viewer feel that the action is taking place anywhere outside of an admittedly large studio. The story is short on thrills - and purpose. And yet, it has some appeal, mostly coming from its two young (only just 18 years old) stars: Johnny Sheffield, as Bomba, is supremely well-built (his thighs, in particular, look like they could crush coconuts), and Peggy Ann Garner is absolutely gorgeous (she even changes from her city clothes to a ready-made leopard skin halfway through!). Watching those two makes this film worth watching. ** out of 4.

Bomba, the Jungle Boy is the first of the Bomba movies with Johnny Sheffield (Boy from the Weismuller Tarzan movies) as Bomba.

In this first movie, a safari in Africa including a girl and her dad are photographing and filming the wildlife when the girl, Pat gets lost and Bomba finds her. They become friends and he helps her to look for the rest of the party, facing several dangers along the way including lions, leopards, a huge swarm of locusts and unfriendly natives. She is reunited with the others at the end and Bobma disappears back into the jungle.

Joining Johnny Sheffield in the cast is Peggy Ann Garner as Pat, Onslow Stevens (Them!) as her dad and Bomba regular Smoki Whitfield.

Bomba, the Jungle Boy is worth watching if you can get hold of a copy.

Rating: 3 stars out of 5.

Johnny Sheffield as a teenage Tarzan in the African wilds, rescuing a pretty young shutterbug and (rather half-heartedly) attempting to reunite her with her photographer father and his guides. Having already played "Boy" opposite Johnny Weissmuller's Tarzan several times, Sheffield was a natural choice to enact the formative years of this role once filmmakers began to run out of ideas and made the (worthwhile) decision to explore the loin-clothed legend's early beginnings. Sheffield is somewhat self-conscious as the boy who calls himself Bomba, and yet his modest performance is the best thing in the picture. He's straightforward in an innocent way, immature and yet brave around the girl, and he manages an amusing connection with the audience (one can almost hear the sighs of young filmgoers as Bomba gently helps Peggy Ann Garner's Pat onto a log to cross the river). The film is padded with nature footage (most of it poorly photographed and repetitive), and too much time is spent dragging the characters back and forth through the foliage, but the simple story (perky girl meets tame savage boy) still holds a spark of enchantment. ** from ****

I discovered BOMBA in the late eighties, thru my US VHS provider. Never heard of it before, the same with JUNGLE JIM character and movie series too. If you love TARZAN, you should,I say YOU SHOULD, like this cute series of movies, and not episodes, unlike JUNGLE JIM, which existed both in movie theaters and on TV. So back to this series of films made of course in Monogram studio lots, and certainly not on locations, it is fun, full of animals, natives, villains, celluloid jungle. OK, when you have seen one, you can consider you have seen the other ones, but for your kids, even now, in 2023, it would be better than Iphone silly and disturbing, insane games.