The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Johnny Sheffield as Bomba the Jungle boy has to save a young boy kidnapped by hunters who want to use him to help them find hidden treasure. Bomba has to save the boy before the titular volcano erupts. More cheap production values and boring stories equal another bad Tarzan knock-off that's not worth watching. Maybe non-discriminating children would enjoy it.

Synopsis: The parents of a young boy named David,thinks Bomba is an imaginary friend. Luckily,the learn differently when they learned that Bomba,the Jungle Boy is real. When the boy(Tommy Ivo),and his female guide(Elena Verdugo)are kidnapped by a pair of jungle crook guides who are searching for the lost city's treasure,it's up to Bomba to rescue the boy and save the day.Produced by Walter Mirisch and Directed by Ford Beebe,the third installment "THE LOST VOLCANO",aka "BOMBA AND THE LOST VOLCANO" came out in 1950,and once again has Johnny Sheffield starring as Bomba. Within its running time of 69 minutes,this one has Bomba making friends with the son of Donald Woods and Majorie Lord who are in the jungle for Woods' work as a naturalist. The parents don't believe that Bomba exists,but their maid and assistant Elena Verdugo sure believes in the legend and they find that Bomba is real. Within its short time frame,the kidnappers force the boy into the jungle to find the lost treasure,and within the course of the film the boy gets rescued from a certain fate(often!). There is the scene with the giant snake,the scene where Bomba rescues the boy from a crocodile while Bomba tells him not to go swimming in the lake(there is a good crocodile fight scene-good underwater footage),and with the help of a erupting volcano,finishes off the bad guys and saves the day.FYI: Actress Majorie Lord,after this went on to star opposite Danny Thomas in the television series "Make Room For Daddy" some three years later in 1953. Co-star Elena Verdugo went to make a number of movies during the 1950's,but her biggest fame came in 1969 opposite Robert Young in the daring TV drama "Marcus Welby,MD". Actor John Ridgely was known for voice-over work for Saturday Morning cartoons during the late-1960's-and throughout the 1970's and 1980's. Ridgely also starred in Mel Brooks' 1976 satire "High Anxiety"

This film in the Bomba the Jungle Boy series has Johnny Sheffield making friends with the son of Donald Woods and Marjorie Lord who are in the jungle for Woods's work as a naturalist. The parents don't believe that Bomba exists, but their maid Elena Verdugo sure believes in the legend.Some visitors come archaeologist Grandon Rhodes and his guides Don Harvey and John Ridgely and young Tommy Ivo as the son shows him a jewel encrusted dagger from a lost city in an extinct volcano that's right next a very much live one. Rhodes sees another finding like Schleimann did with Troy, but the other two see loot. They kidnap Ivo and force him to lead them to the treasure in the volcano with Bomba and the parents in hot pursuit.I think you see where this is going. There was something kind of sweet about Bomba being lonely and making friends with young Ivo who in fact does look like him more than the local natives do. Even training him in jungle survival, a sort of Bomba Junior. Of course once Elena Verdugo happened on the scene I would think he'd want to make friends with her. She looks like she wants to with him real bad. In the previous film in the series Lita Baron in a similar role was a whole lot less subtle and I'm betting Monogram Pictures probably got mail on that from parents.For a kid supposedly Bomba's protégé, young Ivo acts really dumb some times. Bomba rescues him once and the kid's actions get him captured again.Not one of the better Bombas.

I recently obtained a copy of The Lost Volcano, which is a quite hard to find movie.This is one of a dozen Bomba the Jungle Boy movies starring Johnny Sheffield after he finished playing Boy in the Tarzan movies.The movie was quite enjoyable considering the low budget with Johnny playing a much younger version of Tarzan. His language is similar to Tarzan's too. This movies gets better as it moves along and the best part of the movie is the impressive eruption at the end. This is actually stock footage from One Million BC (1940), although we don't see any monsters from this movie. This is the second time Johnny Sheffield has encounted footage from One Million BC, as he encounted some of its monsters in Tarzan's Desert Mystery (1943).I enjoyed this movie a lot and is worth seeing if you get the chance, as it is quite rare.Rating: 3 and a half stars out of 5.