classicsoncall
If you like Tarzan flicks and jungle movies, you'll be right at home with "Bomba, The Jungle Boy". I used to hunt these pictures down as a kid because I liked wild animals a lot; watching today the films are still somewhat entertaining but notably deficient in the areas of acting and story development. I had to get a kick out of the scene where Bomba (Johnny Sheffield) helps Pat (Peggy Ann Garner) onto a log in the river, setting off on a quest to find Pat's father and his expedition. In just the prior sequence of events, Bomba had returned from an area of the jungle where he found evidence of the Harland party, and it was in a totally opposite direction, and he didn't have to cross a river to find it!Oh well, if you expect these stories to make sense you'll be extremely disappointed. Matinée fans of the day turned out for the jungle animals and perhaps more notably, to admire the trim athletic figures of the principals. Now Peggy Ann Garner may not be Maureen O'Sullivan, but she did cut a cute figure in the leopard skin, which by the way, did anyone else wonder who the jungle seamstress might have been to put that thing together? On a more positive note, there were a couple of animal scenes that got my attention here, the first being the slow motion photography of those jumping impalas that seemed to defy gravity. Then there was a really incredible sequence involving a lioness actually pulling a warthog out of a den to feed the rest of the pride. Granted, these were part of the stock footage the picture utilized quite freely, but someone at some time got that footage and it was absolutely amazing. Just about as exciting was a scene later on in the story when native hunters speared a lion to prevent it's attack. Very cool.With all that going on, the story itself is almost superfluous. As travel photographers, George Harland (Onslow Stevens) and his daughter Pat (Garner) are in Africa to photograph wild game and bring their story back to civilization. Sidetracked when Pat's guide is killed by a leopard and she gets lost, the rest of the picture involves Bomba helping Pat get back to her Dad in safe and timely fashion. Still, someone needs to explain to me how one of the native guides, examining the footprints next to the dead leopard (killed by Bomba), was certain they belonged to a white man.
lugonian
BOMBA THE JUNGLE BOY (Monogram, 1949), directed by Ford Beebe, introduces a new jungle hero to the silver screen, and his name is Bomba. Bomba, as initially introduced in a series of books authored by Roy Rockwood in the 1920s, is often classified as a teenage counterpart to Edgar Rice Burrough's most famous character, "Tarzan." With Tarzan enacted by numerous actors on screen since 1918, the most famous being Johnny Weissmuller (1932-1948), it was natural in casting Johnny Sheffield, who enacted the role of Boy, son of Tarzan in eight motion picture installments (1939-1947) to assume the title role. No longer a youngster of 12, this boy has grown to muscular build and deeper voice in the sound of a baritone singer, but none-the-less, Sheffield has now acquired a new series of his own that fits the formula for which he's best known. Playing an adolescent boy in leopard skin loincloth carrying a sphere, he lives alone in a cave with animals as his only friends. In this opener, the orphan of the jungle gets to meet some outsiders, and a female counterpart who attracts his attention.In this initial entry, much of the time is spent on George Harland (Onslow Stevens), and his daughter, Pat (Peggy Ann Garner), commercial photographers, on an assignment in Africa to get some movie pictures for the Bronx Zoo. They come to the post of Andy Barnes (Charles Irwin), a British game warden, with Eli (Smoki Whitfield), his native servant, who act as their guides. During the course of the story, Pat, out to get photos of her own, loses her gun bearing guide, Mufti (Milton Wilkins) when attacked and killed by a leopard, while her father and Barnes venture over towards the Great Riff. Finding herself in unfamiliar territory, Pat, approached by Bomba, the Jungle Boy (Johnny Sheffield), tries to scare him away with her revolver, but after subduing her, he walks away. With no where else to go, Pat talks Bomba into helping her find her father's camp. At first Bomba resists her because she tried to hurt him, but in time, they form a friendship, keeping Pat from wanting to leave Bomba and his all jungle paradise. As Harland and Barnes go searching for Pat, situations arise as they find themselves lost in lion territory.Following the pattern of TARZAN THE APE MAN (MGM, 1932), viewers don't have such a long wait for the central character (12 minutes) to appear as they did for Tarzan (30 minutes). The opening pattern to both films is basically the same. Regardless of the central character having the title role, one would have expected this opener to be all about Bomba and how he became a jungle boy. Instead, much of it balances itself between two teenagers after their initial meeting 25 minutes from the start of the film, and two other central characters (Harland and Barnes) on the other side of the jungle. Aside from Bomba being an orphan, living alone in the jungle, there's some mention of he being raised by a wise old man named Cody Corson, now deceased, who taught Bomba to speak English. Much of his spoken dialog is similar to the Weissmuller Tarzans. Bomba's broken English would be abandoned in later installments. Learning more about Bomba's origin and family heritage would not be brought up until the eighth installment, BOMBA AND THE JUNGLE GIRL (1952), but for now, Bomba is just a mystery. Aside from limited plot development and character background, animal stock footage take up much of its 71 minutes, often looking like a documentary. Scenes involving assortment of monkeys are the ones that would be repeated in future installments. A somewhat lifeless jungle story is redeemed by the attractive presence of Peggy Ann Garner, best known for her excellent performance as Francie Nolan in A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN (20th-Fox, 1945). Of the Bomba female co-stars, Garner was one of the stronger names to appear, and unlike Tarzan's companion of Jane, would not retain her role as Bomba's female companion. At one point, Garner wears leopard skin attire given to her by Bomba. (How convenient, and the right size, too. Does this mean that Pat is not Bomba's first female encounter?). Acquiring the feel of jungle life, Pat comes up with a drastic decision, "The only time to do something you don't want to, is now." For Johnny Sheffield, Bomba may not be a role of a lifetime, but sure kept him employed until the series expired in 1955. While BOMBA THE JUNGLE BOY is rather weak, latter editions including THE LOST VOLCANO (1950) and ELEPHANT STAMPEDE (1952) stand out as two of its finer entries.Once part of the Saturday morning lineup of "Jungle Adventure" that aired on WOR, Channel 9, in New York City (1977-1979), the "Bomba" series was a welcome change of pace considering how the "Tarzan" and sometimes "Jungle Jim" series starring Johnny Weissmuller often filled the airwaves most Saturday or Sunday afternoons during that time. In later years, this and other "Bomba" adventures turned up on cable TV as Turner Network Television (1991-92) before making its Turner Classic Movies premiere June 22, 2011, and becoming part of its Saturday afternoon jungle matinée line-up hosted by Ben Mankiewicz that began in 2012. Next installment: BOMBA ON PANTHER ISLAND (1949). (** spheres)
wes-connors
On safari in Africa, pretty teenager Peggy Ann Garner (as Patricia "Pat" Harland) photographs animals with father Onslow Stevens (as George). For better pictures, "glorified game warden" Charles Irwin (as Andy Barnes) and "native" Smoki Whitfield (as Eli) lead them deeper into the wild, where they meet "Teen Tarzan" Johnny Sheffield (as Bomba). The popular "Boy" from the faltering "Tarzan" movies was a natural pick for this unofficial spin-off series. While successful, it's nothing special. The first outing finds Mr. Sheffield and Ms. Garner in a tame "Tarzan and His Mate" (1934) mode. Best scene is when Garner tears her dress and Sheffield offers her his loincloth; she declines as the always-obvious stock footage inserts two chimps kissing.**** Bomba, the Jungle Boy (3/20/49) Ford Beebe ~ Johnny Sheffield, Peggy Ann Garner, Onslow Stevens, Charles Irwin
Michael_Elliott
Bomba, the Jungle Boy (1949) ** (out of 4) When MGM decided to take their Tarzan series into a different direction, Johnny Weissmuller headed to Columbia to start the Jungle Jim series while his son, Boy, went to Monogram and began production on another Tarzan rip- off, Bomba, which would end up running for twelve films. The series opener has Pat Harland (Peggy Ann Garner) and her father (Onslow Stevens) are in Africa trying to take photos of some rare animals when she ends up in the jungle lost. Soon Bomba (Sheffield) shows up to show her some of the finer, less appreciated things in life. There's no question that this series should have been called TARZAN, JR. and there's no question that what brain cells the MGM series had are pretty much gone here. This isn't a horrible movie but at the same time it's doubtful too many are going to find it completely entertaining and this is due to several factors. One is that the screenplay really doesn't offer us anything new, original or really all that entertaining. I thought for the most part we got one boring sequence after another and in fact it takes nearly thirty-minutes before Bomba shows up, another ten-minutes for any sort of action and it takes yet another fifteen-minutes before Garner finally gets into her leopard-skinned outfit. As with the Tarzan films and the countless other rips, this film gets the benefit of many stock footage shots of the wildlife in Africa. We get to see a wide range of animals but it's obvious the footage was shot for other movies as it looks quite poor and even for stock footage the stuff isn't that good because the shots are so far away from the target and out of focus that at times you struggle to even tell what you're looking at. For some reason the film is pretty light on action as there are only a few fight sequences and even these are pretty tame. The first time Bomba fights a fake leopard it all happens off camera. The one saving grace to the film are the performances. Sheffield does a nice job playing the lead character and Garner adds up some nice support. The two feature some nice chemistry together and fans of HOUSE OF Dracula will enjoy seeing Stevens in his part. At just 70-minutes the movie goes by at a decent pace but it's just too bad they didn't try something fresh or original to throw a little life into the picture.
