I giganti della giungla

This is one strange film from Lippert Pictures. They spent a lot of time and trouble to take a film crew over to India with three Occidental players in Marie Windsor, Cesar Romero, and Rod Cameron. A lot of very nice background footage of India is sadly wasted on a rather unbelievable story.

Today's computer graphics might have been able to come up with more convincing Ice Age type mammoths who are terrorizing contemporary elephants who are in turn running for their lives and trampling a lot of humans in the process in Marie Windsor's kingdom. The mammoths we see here look like today's pachyderms dressed up in raccoon coats.

In any event Marie who has been learning western ways is summoned hastily back to her Indian kingdom after her father died. She has enemies herself who are opposed to any modernization and want to kill her which forms a subplot to this film.

Ruling in her place until she got home was prime minister Cesar Romero who hired white hunter Rod Cameron to solve a problem of raiding elephants. Cameron was the lone survivor of an expedition where Romero's brother was killed and Cameron comes back with this tall tale about prehistoric mammoths.

One thing is for certain. Mammoths were Ice Age creatures who died off when the earth's general climate warmed up. No way would they be living even in a remote area of the Indian jungle. But I guess no one thought of that in making The Jungle.

I can't really criticize this film. It is literally the first film I ever remember seeing and lead to a lifelong love of science fiction and horror films and prehistoric animals. Fortunately, seeing it again years later, it held up fairly well. Rod Cameron plays a big game hunter whose last safari was wiped out by mammoths. No one believes him, including his best friend, played by Cesar Romero, whose brother was among those killed. And Rod Cameron was the only survivor. The film was shot in India and has some good scenery. The acting is on a high level. I don't believe Rod Cameron, Cesar Romero and Marie Winsor ever turned in a bad performance. The mammoths, when they finally arrive are fairly effective. The ending also has an unusual twist, particularly for a 1950's science fiction film. Definitely worth seeing.

Let's cut to the chase...the plot here in "The Jungle" is ridiculous. It's set in India and elephants have apparently been stampeding the countryside and killing many people. However, the great American hunter called in to take care of it, Steve Bentley (Rod Cameron) has just reported that everyone in his party but him got killed...and they were NOT elephants but Woolly Mammoths!! So, the determined Princess (Marie Windsor) heads into the jungle with her trusted Rama Singh (Cesar Romero) to see for herself...and Steve accompanies their party.

In addition to Woolly Mammoths, the film also features something common in the era...white folks playing the leading roles even though they are supposed to be Indians. Romero can kinda pull it off but Marie Windsor looks about as Indian as Lassie! I think the film was sepia tinted to try to hide this but it doesn't work well. Nowadays, such casting is seen as culturally insensitive and insulting. At least everyone else in the film appears to be Indian and the film DOES get the look and feel of India right and the animals seem to be more accurate than most B-movies (where you'd see rhinos and kangaroos and more in the Indian jungle!). Considering it's a low-budget film, I was also surprised that some of the film was actually filmed in that country. So, culturally it's a mixed bag.

So is it any good? Of course not! It really can't be! It's a product of its times but really isn't all that great...at best a slow-paced and very silly time passer. But, when it comes to giant monster films, it's better than most (not that this is high praise!).



By the way, if you suffer from Ophidiophobia (the fear of snakes) skip this film. Trust me on this. Also, animal lovers might also want to avoid it as there's a scene where a tiger and Sloth Bear fight and it honestly looks like they just tossed 'em together and let them fight! Fortunately it APPEARS neither animal was seriously injured. Later, they toss a boar at a leopard! Great animal lovers they were NOT!

Indian Princess Marie Windsor, along with Indian something-or-other Cesar Romero and American hunter Rod Cameron go off in search of prehistoric mammoths who are terrorizing regular elephants. Windsor is almost believable as an Indian, although her bindi disappears halfway through the movie. We do get a gratuitous shot of her in a bathing suit, so I can't complain. I had a hard time wrapping my head around Romero wrapping a turban around his head, but at least his acting is acceptable. Cameron, on the other hand, is extremely dull. There seem to be several subplots going on, but I couldn't keep up with most of them. One of the more ridiculous scenes is a knife fight between Romero and Cameron, which involves a lot of pointless pointing. The film was shot entirely in India, so there is some interesting scenery, and the supporting cast of local actors is decent. The mammoths, which don't appear until the final few minutes, are a letdown. Since they are barely onscreen, it's hard to tell what kind of "makeup" was used, but my guess would be large shag rugs.

Interesting tale of giant mammoth elephants running amok in modern India. Features transparent special effects-elephants dressed in shaggy coats sporting tusk extensions. All this said, we do have a good story and a fine cast at work, and an exciting climax. It's been said that the running time on this one was doubled when it showed in India-courtesy of Robert Lippert, a master at 'padding.' Given a choice, opt for the shorter version.