Great Film overall

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

Elephant hunters have arrived in Africa, which understandably irks jungle lord Bomba (Johnny Sheffield). It turns out the killing of a herd of elephants is mandated by government officials. The herd is said to have gone "rogue." Bomba argues that only one elephant has gone "rogue" and forbids any killing of elephants on his land. Pretty young Nancy Hale (as Mona Andrews) arrives from London. Yes, she is there for the prerequisite "swimming scene" and must come around after calling Bomba spoiled and stubborn. Her uncle Paul Picerni supports the elephant killing, even though he's Bomba's friend. Bomba considers the elephants his friends, too...This was the last film in the "Bomba" series. It was always intended as low-budget matinée fare for a young audience and was certainly successful on that level. The genre produced great movies, which can't be claimed here. This entry is representative, and does feature a comparative good level of action, courtesy of Ford Beebe. He does keep the excitement level high. Several segments are edited nicely, too. While the "stock footage" is obvious, you have to compliment Mr. Beebe on how he keeps the performers on track; for example, the plane passengers in the beginning look more realistic in their movements and actions than the jungle footage...This was also the last film for Mr. Sheffield. He did an unsold pilot for a TV series called "Bantu the Zebra Boy" (1956). It is very much like "Bomba the Jungle Boy" and can be seen on a popular video site. Sheffield was well-suited for his role as Tarzan's "Boy" and "Bomba" but was never quite authentic in the jungle, after maturing into teen and adult years. He was curiously not cut out for the role which made him a star. Keeping fit and being so associated with the genre probably hurt his chances at getting more serious roles. Considering the inclusion of some fine stunts Sheffield performs in this film, he might also have made a convincing comic book hero.***** Bomba: Lord of the Jungle (6/12/55) Ford Beebe ~ Johnny Sheffield, Nancy Hale, Wayne Morris, Paul Picerni

I was a little curious about Johnny Sheffield's age when he made this picture so I had to take a look. Turns out he was about twenty four, which might have been a hint that Bomba the Jungle Boy wouldn't work as a character much longer. Later on in the story hunter Jeff Wood (Wayne Morris) called him a junior ape man making it sound kind of derogatory. I guess it was time to call it quits.The story isn't too bad, Bomba shows his mettle in protecting a herd of elephants that hunters have been authorized to kill by the territorial commissioner due to their destructive rampages. Turns out however that it was a lone rogue elephant responsible for the havoc, so Bomba intends to single him out as the bad guy. There was a running theme that Bomba actually owned the land that the elephants were living on by virtue of his parents having settled and worked there. I don't know how one would lay claim to jungle property but everyone seemed to accept it in the story.I'm not certain how far back one would have to go in film history to credit the first time it happened, I'm sure Tarzan had his fair share of vine swing saves the way Bomba did here with pretty Mona Andrews (Nancy Hale). It always brings to mind what most modern viewers recall about Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia. She didn't kiss him however, that actually happened earlier in the picture, and it was Bomba planting an innocent peck on the cheek of Miss Andrews.The one thing I did find hilarious in the film had to do with the African native drum talk, especially when Molu (Joel Fluellen) rapped his drum exactly the same way each time, and each time it meant something different. That was in the same league as all those Westerns in which Indian tribes communicate by smoke signals, or better yet, each time Tonto communicated with the Lone Ranger with identical hand waves under entirely different circumstances. How can you possibly interpret that?

The last in the Bomba series starring Johnny Sheffield. This also happens to be the last film of Sheffield's career, as he wisely retired after this. The plot to this one has Bomba trying to stop a rogue elephant in order to prevent an entire herd from being slaughtered by government-sanctioned hunters. The idea that one elephant can essentially lead a herd of them into doing things they don't want to do seems pretty out there but it's best to just go with it. Also this movie introduces the fact that Bomba OWNS the African jungle he inhabits, apparently because his birth father bought it. How this was never mentioned in any of the other movies is beyond me but, again, just go with it.In addition to Sheffield and regulars Leonard Mudie and Smoki Whitfield, there's a portly Wayne Morris as one of the hunters and Nancy Hale as the niece of Bomba's friend Andy Barnes. She has an obligatory swimming scene, as most of the girls in this series did. Wayne Morris is far removed from his days as a leading man for Warner Bros. If it weren't for his distinctive voice, I might have mistaken him for George Kennedy here. There's even more stock footage than usual in this entry. It's used well and the action scenes with the elephants are good. There are also more scenes of Bomba swinging through the jungle than normal. The Bomba series is not one of my favorites and it is certainly far below the quality of the Tarzan movies Sheffield co-starred in with Johnny Weissmuller. Still, most of them are enjoyable enough and this is a good end to the series.

Lord of the Jungle was the last of the 12 Bomba movies starring Johnny Sheffield as Bomba.In this last movie, a large group of elephants are on the rampage in the jungle, destroying native villages and killing people. Some hunters go to track them down and kill them. Not if Bomba has anything to do with it. He blames these attacks on just one elephant, the leader of the group. With the help of one of the hunters, he manages to track the leader down and the hunter kills him and the rest of the group disperse.Like all the Bomba movies I have seen so far, I found Lord of the Jungle enjoyable.I'm lucky to have a source to get these movies from as they are all hard to get hold of.Rating: 3 stars out of 5.