Overrated and overhyped

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

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?

LORD OF THE JUNGLE (Allied Artists, 1955), Written, produced and directed by Ford Beebe, might have been a more fitting title for any one of the "Tarzan" adventures starring Johnny Weissmuller a decade or so ago. Instead, the title is used for what's not only become the twelfth and final installment to the "Bomba, the Jungle Boy" movie series, but the final screen appearance to its originator, Johnny Sheffield (1931-2010). After many years in jungle adventures starting with his debut role of Boy in TARZAN FINDS A SON (MGM, 1939) starring "lord of the jungle" Johnny Weissmuller at his fourth go-round in his signature role, it was rather fitting that after growing out of playing Boy 1947, that the teen-age Sheffield was offered another jungle character portrayal. As often credited, "based on the character created by Roy Rockwell in the "Bomba" books," who else but Sheffield could play the part of a teenage Tarzan named Bomba? Debuting in the part in BOMBA THE JUNGLE BOY (Monogram, 1949), unlike the long-running Tarzan franchise, nobody but Sheffield was Bomba. It would be a matter of time before Sheffield outgrew his teen character considering by this time he was already approaching his mid-twenties. Whether it was the intent to end the series here or not, at least it didn't conclude with an unwatchable or unbearable item as with some series finales.Following its fade in as the camera tracking through the jungle, Bomba is immediately viewed swinging on a vine. Next scene introduces new assortment of characters, that of Mona Andrews (Nancy Hale) and her fiancé, Paul Gavin (Paul Picerni) in a private airplane. It is later revealed that Gavin intends on moving to Africa to work as a missionary doctor, something Mona would rather he not do. Mona in turn happens to be the niece of Bomba's closest friend, Deputy Commissioner Andy Barnes (Leonard Mudie). Enter Jeff Wood (Wayne Morris), a hunter hired by the government to shoot a herd of rogue elephants destroying villages and killing natives. Bomba prevents Wood from doing so, and intends on proving his theory of only one bad elephant being the responsible one and the one to be shot and killed, not the entire herd. Because Bomba actually owns the property formerly owned by his now deceased parents, the Hastings, does the jungle boy resume his protection of his animal friends from extinction. During the course of the story, Bomba helps with Mona's dilemma and ends up in troubles of his own when later tied and bound by one of the hunters he had earlier rescued, thus, leaving the helpless Bomba to face an oncoming elephant stampede heading his way.Somewhat reminiscent to the earlier Weissmuller/Tarzan adventures where jungle lord pits himself against hunters invading his territory and out to eliminate his wildlife friends. There's also some footage capturing some underwater swimming between Bomba and Mona, the sort of scenes commonly depicted by Tarzan and his mate, Jane. Other story extensions as sending messages through drum pounding and lifted stock animal footage of giraffes and elephants roaming about add to its jungle feel, even with obvious rear projection footage noticeable here and there.For the only time in the series, Sheffield shares equal billing above the title with co-star Wayne Morris. Though the Morris share might have meant something for movie audiences during his brief prime in motion pictures for Warner Brothers (1937-1940), by 1955, ranging from older to a younger generation of theater attendees, Morris was just another name on the motion picture screen. Oddly enough, in spite of their equal status billing, Sheffield and Morris are not constantly together from start to finish as what one may assume. In fact, Sheffield has more screen time with Nancy Hale (quite obvious by the writer's point of view by using her as a female influence on the jungle boy now jungle man). Although Hale gets by with her fine looks, the only setback happens to be on her somewhat amateurish acting in certain scenes. Others featured in the cast are William Phipps (Kenny Balou); series regular Smoki Whitfield (Eli); James Adamson (Elisha); Harry Lauter (The Pilot); Joel Fluellen (Mulu); and Juanita Moore (Mulu's Wife).Presented on commercial television since the 1960s, better known as my own introduction to the Bomba series when it played part of its weekly Saturday morning line-up of "Jungle Adventure" on WOR-TV, Channel 9, in New York City (1977-1979), LORD OF THE JUNGLE, along with the previous "Bomba" adventures, have turned up on cable television, notably Turner Classic Movies (TCM premiere: March 24, 2012), where the series has been rediscovered by a new generation, or revisited by older ones who grew up watching this series. Mainly geared for the youthful generation when produced, LORD OF THE JUNGLE bids farewell from both Bomba the character and Johnny Sheffield, the jungle boy of many Saturday Matinée second feature presentations. (**1/2).

***SPOILERS*** In this the last of the "Bomba the Jungle Boy" films Bomba, Johnny Sheffield,takes it upon himself to bring a murderous rouge elephant named Raju to justice. Raju who's become wild and crazy from eating contaminated, from DDT, weeds and ended up leading or forcing his heard of elephant to go nuts attacking and killing a number of the local native population.Bomba who comes on the scene to help catch and kill Raju is shocked to find out that it's been decided by the county's High Commissioner to kill the entire heard of elephants along with Raju! Knowing that the land where the elephants are grazing at or around belonged to Bomba's British parents the Hastings he uses that technicality,in that it now belongs to him, to have the animals driven or kept on to his land and thus prevent them from being exterminated by the white hunters lead by Jeff Wood, Wayne Morris, assigned by "The Commish" to gun them them all down to the last elephant!Raju for his part goes on,with his band of elephants followers, rampaging through the jungle killing among others Bomba's native friend Molu,Joel Fluellen, and his infant child leaving his wife, Juanita Moore, a widow before her 21th birthday. Bomba still has a hard time convincing the local authorities that it's Raju not those elephants with him who's responsible for all this carnage but time is running out with bands of white and native hunters descending into Bomba country to wipe out the entire elephant herd. As a side story there's also the spunky and pretty Mona Hammond, Nancy Hale, who traveled to Bomba Country to find her husband known by the natives as the "Great White Witch Doctor" Lewis Hammond. Lewis gave up a lucrative medical practice back in London to save those, in the African bush, who could never afford much less get his help or services! ***SPOILERS*** The film reaches a wild and bloody crescendo with the rampaging Raju tearing the jungle apart with Bomba's good friend Deputhy Commissioner Andy Barnes(Leonard Mudie), after Bomba gave him back the gun he stole from him, gunning down the rouge elephant and finally putting an end to all this madness! Still Bomba has to prove that it was only the now dead Raju who was the reason for all this death and destruction. It's then that Bomba organizes an elephant parade in front of Deputy Commissioner's Barnes headquarters to prove just how harmless and friendly the maligned by almost everyone in the movie, with the exception of Bomba and Mona, elephants were.

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.