Bomba on Panther Island

I am very satisfied with this BOMBA film, as I was with the previous one which I saw today. Not boring, despite the lame directing and stock footage that is a bit too much galore for my taste. But that's the rule in this kind of films, including the first TARZAN films and I don't even speak of JUNGLE JIM stuff too. So, yes, this little celluloid jungle adventure flick is fun, agreeable, but you need to be prepared to watch it. I mean don't be too hard in terms of judgment. It was destined to young audiences in saturday and sunday matinees. I even prefer this movie to most of JUNGLE JIM ones, starring Johnny Weissmuler. The fight between Bomba and the panther, in the end, is quite surprisingly good.

Bomba gets pretty busy in this one: he has to face a killer panther, a white jerk who almost sets fire to half the African jungle, and two women fawning over him - and who can blame them? He looks even more bulked up than in the first film in the series, and frankly he is smoking hot. The two women who cannot keep their hands off his body are the cute, demure Allene Roberts and the "French" (actually Spanish) Lita Baron: the choice should be pretty easy. Like its predecessor, the film makes little attempt to integrate the stock footage of wild animals convincingly - not only does the film stock look different, but the footage seems to be set in different locations, if not in different continents altogether. And the jungle studio sets never look like anything other than jungle studio sets. ** out of 4.

Bomba on Panther Island (1949)

** (out of 4)

The second film in Monogram's series finds Bomba (Johnny Sheffield) trying to track down a killer black panther who is causing all sorts of trouble in the jungle. He must also help a young woman (Allene Roberts) and her brother (Harry Lewis) who are doing special experiments in the jungle but their mysterious helper (Lita Baron) has the natives thinking she might be evil. After a decent start, this second entry quickly loses steam and in the end it's just another cheap, low-budget jungle movie that is nothing more than a rip-off of the Tarzan series. Of course, the biggest difference is that Sheffield played 'Boy' in those MGM films so it was natural that he'd be offered his own series. Sadly, the end results are rather weak but then again this is actually one of the best I've seen from the series so take that as you will. I think the opening scene where a monkey friend of Bomba is killed was rather effective but as soon as this is over the cheapness quickly kicks in. The majority of the panther attacks features stock footage of a panther "stalking" and then we cut away to the results and this is just a human (or animal) on the ground dead. At first I laughed at how cheap this effect was but by the end of the movie I understood because when the "fake" leopard does attack Bomba the results is so laughable that you can understand why the producers didn't want to use it too much. At one point it seems as if Bomba is fighting a cloth toy! Sheffield looks the part of a jungle boy and he's actually not too bad in the part. Roberts makes for a good love interest and Baron certainly has the looks and sexuality for her part. At 76-minutes the film is way too sluggish for its own good but the performances and a few scenes of the wildlife at least give it a little life.

A brother and sister "Robert & Judy Maitland" are trying to turn some jungle acreage into a rubber plantation so hire a group of the natives to help out by "cutting down the trees so they can plant more trees". The couple - via the auspices of local commissioner Charles Irwin - try to convince our tousled hero "Bomba" (Johnny Sheffield) to help out; but he is determined to track down a man-eating panther that has been terrorising the locals. In order to speed things up, "Robert" tries to burn down part of the forest and chaos ensues... Add to the mix a seductive Lita Baron and it's not just the embers that start to smoulder. The story is quite weak, and the sets (and animal library footage) really do let the look of it down badly - but Johnny Sheffield does have something quite cute on screen and though it does take most of it's 70 minutes to get going, it's still quite a fun jungle caper.

BOMBA ON PANTHER ISLAND (Monogram, 1949), written and directed by Ford Beebe, based on the character created by Roy Rockwood, marks the second of twelve entries to the "Bomba" franchise starring Johnny Sheffield. Following his debut performance as BOMBA THE JUNGLE BOY (1949), Sheffield resumes his character with sameness appeal that of a lone jungle boy who comes around assisting those in need of his help. Along the way there's a killer beast Bomba needs to kill to save others from being killed and attacked along with his involvement with two young girls out for his attention.

As the story gets underway with view of the jungle and animal activities, Bomba's (Johnny Sheffield) pet monkey enters his home cave where the animal comes up with a 1939 diary belonging to a Cody Cassin where a page reveals what will happen to the boy he's raising after his death? With Bomba surviving the jungle environment over the years, this now teenage jungle boy starts off his day by going for a swim. His day of leisure is interrupted when he witnesses his pet monkey attacked and killed by a beastly panther at a distance. Bomba sets out after the killer beast later to discover this same panther has been responsible for other human attacks. Bomba soon assists Luke (Bill Walker), a native man attacked by the panther, over to the camp headed by Robert Maitland (Henry Lewis), a young architect assisted by his guides, Andy Barnes (Charles Irwin), and Eli (Smoki Whitfield), who happen to be Bomba's friends. Unable to get his native men to assist him with building a plantation, Maitland asks for Bomba's help. At first he declines, until Bomba meets up with Maitland's teenage sister, Judy (Allene Roberts), and her French speaking companion, Losona (Lita Baron), another girl her own age. While Bomba is more interested in Judy, Losona has her evil eye and affections on Bomba. As natives believe Bomba responsible for the superstitious curse regarding the killer panther, with intentions of killing him, Maitland also wants Bomba out of the way when he finds the jungle boy and Judy are spending too much time together. With Losona's chance in having Bomba all to herself. the killer panther continues to become a great danger to the surrounding area.

An average Bomba adventure with few high points during its slightly overlong 76 minutes. Allene Roberts, best known for her movie debut in THE RED HOUSE (1947) opposite Edward G,. Robinson, makes an attractive female companion for Bomba as Peggy Ann Garner did in the initial entry of BOMBA THE JUNGLE BOY. A pretty face that resembles a younger profile of actress Phyllis Thaxter, sadly Roberts, whose movie and television career were short-lived, never reached the top of the ranks as Teresa Wright or other sweet looking young actresses of the time. Aside from getting a dose of jungle life, Roberts has her swimming scenes with Bomba along with assisting him when danger lurks their way. Others in the supporting cast are far from top-marque names, but are satisfactory in their assigned roles. Other than being obviously filmed in a studio set, the movie features enough stock footage of African animals and their battle of survival for that African setting feel.

Other than its frequent television showings during the 1960s and 70s, BOMBA ON PANTHER ISLAND has become a welcome addition of jungle adventure added to Turner Classic Movies cable channel where this and others in the Bomba entries have been shown since 2011. Next installment: THE LOST VOLCANO (1950), hailed as one of the better entries in the series. (**)