BONUS: 'Jungle Man-Eaters' [1954]
Jungle Jim has a run-in with some diamond smugglers, blah, blah, I'm not really sure...
Let's begin by addressing the stock footage of the elephant in the room: there are no jungle man-eaters in 'Jungle Man-Eaters'. Now, I wasn't paying very close attention, and I may have nodded off more than once, but I'm pretty certain I would have noticed either a Jungle Man eater, or a Man Eater of the jungle, whichever this title is supposed to portray. This is false advertising, Columbia Pictures, and I demand my 68 minutes back.
But let us not dwell on the negative, and revel in the fact that, after two films in which Jungle Jim steadfastly refuses to enter the water, he dives headfirst into H20 on no less than four (!) occasions! (At the four minute mark, then 26, 42 and lastly at 45, for those who must know these things.) May the saints be praised!
I had trouble following the plot of this film, in part because I was on the look-out for Man Eaters of some kind (of which - let us be very clear on this point - there are none). Instead we have plots concerning a diamond smuggling operation and a new tribal king. Even though I only watched it last night, I have no recollection of how these plots intertwined.
My abiding memory is that this film reminded me - very loosely. Extremely loosely, to be honest - of 'Raiders of the Lost Ark'. Sort of. This is due to the facts that the main villain was a Frenchman who had conned the locals into working for him, and that JJ swims over to a ship and boards it at one point. Yes, that is literally it. It isn't much, but it livened up an otherwise confusing Jungle Jim movie.
Apparently, this is the final actual Jungle Jim film, inasmuch as in the remaining three films in the series, Johnny Weissmuller just uses his real name. I am curious how they pull this off. 'Clumsily' is my guess.
Anyway, the next film is called 'Cannibal Attack', which, for all I know, may actually be about pig-raising. Stay tuned.