African Treasure

Andy Barnes (Leonard Mudie) gets word by short wave that two of the three geologists who passed through his district some weeks before were known diamond smugglers, and that nothing since has been heard of the trio. And he also learns that a hunter, Pat Gilroy (Lyle Talbot), who has just arrived at the compound is really an escaped convict named Roy DeHaven.

Obviously, time to call in Bomba the Jungle Boy (Johnny Sheffield). He is summoned via the jungle drum wireless-telegraph, and Barnes asks Bomba to go to the cheesy back lot set and try to locate Gatesby, the geologist who was with Greg (Arthur Space) and Hardy (Lane Bradford.)Bomba finds the body of Gatesby but...lucky him and the viewer---he also finds Lita Sebastian (Laurette Luez), who is out in the jungle looking for her father, Pedro (Martin Garralaga),a Portuguese guide, and the cheesy jungle set now looks better than it did.

Through the help of jungle drums and his animal friends, all stock footage except Kimbbo the Chimp, Bomba leads Lita to where her father, and a large number of natives, are being held as slaves by Greg and Hardy, who have found diamonds in the crater of an extinct volcano, known locally as The Mountain of Diamonds. Lita is captured by Greg, but Bomba has summoned help and Gerg and Hardy flee but not without first staring a landslide on the enslaved workers.

Bomba has a lot of work to do before he can restore order to this jungle.

"African Treasure" is the 7th of 12 Bomba the Jungle Boy films, which were made by Monogram films in the late 40s and into the 50s. It's better than most I've seen and holds up a bit better over time.

A group of ruthless diamond smugglers have kidnapped folks and are using them to mine for diamonds in the jungle. Bomba comes to the rescue and saves the day.

While the plot is very simple and the conclusion foregone, the movie works a bit better than usual because unlike most jungle films of the era, this one is NOT filled with ill-suited stock footage of animals. Too often, when they are used in movies of the 1930s-50s, the animals often aren't even African ones and the footage is quite grainy. For some reason, the filmmakers decided not to use such footage and it makes for a better movie. Now I am NOT saying "African Treasure" is any sort of classic but it does play reasonably well and is enjoyable.

Pat Gilroy asks Andy Barnes for a safari guide. Andy gets word that two wanted diamond smugglers are with Roy DeHaven. They are guided by local Pedro Sebastian but the group is missing. Andy calls upon Bomba (Johnny Sheffield) for help. After battling a lion, Bomba answers the call but there is confusion over Lita Sebastian, Pedro's daughter. Andy receives a wanted poster showing Pat Gilroy as the criminal Roy DeHaven.

This Tarzan rip-off franchise continues to be a second-tier production. It's not a good starting point. It has all the hallmarks of the B-movie. There is action but not that well staged. There is an exotic babe in South Pacific dress for some reason. They do have a chimp but that's not a good thing in today's sensibilities. It has the simple B-movie charms, but I'm bored by the end.

Bomba the Jungle Boy is back again and in this film is stopping diamond smugglers who are posing as scientist. Ho hum. If you've seen one Bomnba film, you'd essentially seen them all. FUN FACT: The great Woody Strode makes an early film appearance here playing an uncredited native.

African Treasure finds Johnny Sheffield as Bomba the Jungle Boy looking to help his native friends who've been taken prisoners and forced to mine diamonds in a secret location that some smugglers know about. Arthur Space and Lane Bradford keep the prisoners and another criminal played by Lyle Talbot holds Bomba's friend, Commissioner Leonard Mudie prisoner as well. The odds don't look good for Bomba.

But of course with his knowledge of jungle ways Sheffield does triumph in the end. Like Tarzan, Bomba has a chimp to make chumps out of the bad guys and save him in a tight spot. Like Tarzan, Bomba's learned the value of friendship with the animals though he does get into a fight with a lion here.

This particular Bomba entrée has got more than it share of pulp adventure sequences that would have kept its young audience glued to their movie seats. It will keep you in your Laz-E-Boy chairs as well.