The Lost Volcano

Johnny Sheffield is quite an agreeable hero in this jungle adventure story. Tommy Ivo is "David Woods" a young lad who camps on the outskirts of the forest with his zoologist father, his mother and their maid "Nona". Meantime, "Bomba" has been watching them and intent on releasing the animals they have been caging up, visits the youngster and they make friends. When a group of hunters stop by, they reckon the young boy knows the whereabouts of a wonderful treasure so they kidnap him and force him to take them to it. "Bomba" learns of this plight and sets off to rescue him - and to save everyone from an ominously noisy volcano. It's all pretty run-of-the-mill stuff but has enough action, vine-swinging and dastardly baddies to amiably pass 75 minutes; especially if you are prepared to overlook the obvious use of library footage....

The third entry in Monogram's Bomba series starring Johnny Sheffield has our monosyllabic hero befriending the son of an animal trapper. The boy's parents (Donald Woods, Marjorie Lord) believe Bomba is the boy's imaginary friend. When some bad men try to force the boy to take them to the ruins of a lost city near an active volcano, Bomba comes to the rescue.

Child actor Tommy Ivo plays the boy who idolizes Bomba and gives the corniest 'aw-shucks' performance this side of Timmy from the Lassie TV show. Donald Woods is his usual stiff self. Pretty Marjorie Lord and Elena Verdugo represent the fairer sex in this one, for better or worse. Bomba really needed a regular cast of characters like Tarzan had. The lack of one hurts the series, I think. This has the expected amounts of stock footage and rear projection effects all of the Bomba movies have. The climax goes on way too long. It's a decent B jungle adventure picture but nothing remarkable. Which is par for the course with this series. Might play better for the kiddos. But watch out for that python scene!

Bomba the Jungle Boy encounters Paul Gordon's safari party with captive animals. Bomba manages to free some of the animals from their cages. Paul still does not believe in the local legend of Bomba. Paul's son David disagrees with his father's work and his disbelief in Bomba. David plays in the jungle and actually meets Bomba. Two hunters arrive searching for a hidden treasure under the volcano. They kidnap David who claims to have learned the location from Bomba. Bomba comes to the rescue.

I really like the messaging. They're fighting against the captive animal trade which is a bit ahead of its time. I like the use of the volcano stock footage. I would rather not use the fake volcano which looks fake. This B-movie franchise is always going to be hampered with fake settings and silly white boy premise. That cannot be helped. This one is probably as good as this franchise is going to be.

Synopsis: The parents of a young boy named David,thinks Bomba is an imaginary friend. Luckily,the learn differently when they learned that Bomba,the Jungle Boy is real. When the boy(Tommy Ivo),and his female guide(Elena Verdugo)are kidnapped by a pair of jungle crook guides who are searching for the lost city's treasure,it's up to Bomba to rescue the boy and save the day.

Produced by Walter Mirisch and Directed by Ford Beebe,the third installment "THE LOST VOLCANO",aka "BOMBA AND THE LOST VOLCANO" came out in 1950,and once again has Johnny Sheffield starring as Bomba. Within its running time of 69 minutes,this one has Bomba making friends with the son of Donald Woods and Majorie Lord who are in the jungle for Woods' work as a naturalist. The parents don't believe that Bomba exists,but their maid and assistant Elena Verdugo sure believes in the legend and they find that Bomba is real. Within its short time frame,the kidnappers force the boy into the jungle to find the lost treasure,and within the course of the film the boy gets rescued from a certain fate(often!). There is the scene with the giant snake,the scene where Bomba rescues the boy from a crocodile while Bomba tells him not to go swimming in the lake(there is a good crocodile fight scene-good underwater footage),and with the help of a erupting volcano,finishes off the bad guys and saves the day.

FYI: Actress Majorie Lord,after this went on to star opposite Danny Thomas in the television series "Make Room For Daddy" some three years later in 1953. Co-star Elena Verdugo went to make a number of movies during the 1950's,but her biggest fame came in 1969 opposite Robert Young in the daring TV drama "Marcus Welby,MD". Actor John Ridgely was known for voice-over work for Saturday Morning cartoons during the late-1960's-and throughout the 1970's and 1980's. Ridgely also starred in Mel Brooks' 1976 satire "High Anxiety"

This is certainly not the worst of the BOMBA series. But you have to be warned before watching it, it is destined to all kinds of audiences, mostly young or naive ones. If you are a TARZAN goer, maybe you'll like those films, maybe not. You have to be in the good state of mind, the good "spirit", be indulgent. This is never boring, unless you watch all the series in two days. This very one is not exceptional but only entertaining for saturday or sunday matinees. The animals stock shots, footage, is the common elements for those films, and the villains - mostly White ones - are for me the most interesting characters in those movies.