Even in low budget B films there should be some respect for distance. This
film has none. Jungle Jim is trying to track down a group of white men who
have captured the males of a native tribe and are using them as slave labor.
As they go along we see a slave escape and two minutes later run into Jim
but is killed by a leopard. Another slave escapes and again runs into Jungle
Jim shortly and dies. So how is it that Jungle Jim has to cross a desert,
combat a giant spider with a huge eyeball, survive sandstorms and trek through
the jungle (the jungles of California) to get to the camp of the white men?
On another occasion the woman who is going with Jim is separated from him
and chased by one of the bad guys. They run for a while - a long while -
until she comes across her tribe's women who are coming for vengeance. They
kill the two men. Very nice. In the next scene they are back at headquarters
saying we have to go rescue our men tomorrow. You were already nearly there.
Why did you go back? I know one should not worry about things like that but
the filmmakers should. And for heaven's sake it is a Columbia production.
This is a decent Jungle Jim film as far as Jungle Jim films go. Bite sized
at 68 minutes. 30 minutes of it walking around or running away. In one chase
the main bad guy is chasing Jim. He is armed, Jim is not. The next thing
you know Jim is chasing him though he is sill armed and Jim is not. Just
stop. You have the gun. Jim is taking his afternoon swim when an airplane
crashes into the lake. Jim rescues the pilot and is told that he is looking
for a professor who is an expert on the Okongo breed of horse that roams
around there. They basically look like a horse with stripes painted on them.
Which is of course what they are. They are particularly valuable because
a plant they eat is converted into their glands as a powerful narcotic. Don't
tell the cartel. But this is what the gang is after. To extract the drug
from the glands of the Okongo.
A tribe worships the animals - though never stated, one might guess because
of the drug. When Jim and his new found friend go to their village they find
it deserted except for one hottie who tries to kill Jim. This is Leta (Sherry
Moreland) who in typical Jungle fashion looks Hispanic as do all her tribe.
I guess it was hard finding blacks to cast in California. I mean it is the
Congo. Sherry was to go on to appear in the classic Mesa of Lost Women. Not
much of a career which is too bad because she really looks great in her sarong
styled clothes. The three of them go looking for the Professor and the captured
men. Oh, and the chimp too of course. Jim has to take down a leopard with
his knife in quite a scuffle and Jim comes out of it with his hair still
in place and not a scratch. Way to Go, Jungle Jim!
