JUNGLE JIM (1937 serial)

Off the coast of Africa, a ship carrying a number of jungle animals and a handful of people founders in a storm. Lost in the wreck are the wife and daughter of a wealthy man named Redmond. Fifteen years later, as the daughter, Joan, is about to come into a big inheritance, a relative named Bruce Redmond goes to Africa to make sure the girl is dead so he can claim the money. A family lawyer has also come to Africa hoping to find Joan alive so he can help her get the inheritance due her. Redmond hires two sleazy fellows named Slade and Labat as his guides, while the lawyer hires a more pleasant fellow named Red. All the guides know of a legendary white woman who lives with the Mazumbo tribe who might well be Joan. Labat kills Red and the lawyer to get them out of the way, but Red's buddy, an explorer known as Jungle Jim, decides, with the help of his rustic sidekick Malay Mike, to avenge Red by going after Redmond, Slade and Labat. Meanwhile, in a palace in the Mazumbo village, Joan lives as a Lion Goddess—she is friendly with lions, using a call of "Simba!" to communicate with them. Joan has been raised to believe she is the daughter of a man known as the White Cobra who rules the Mazumbo people with his sister Shanghai Lil. We learn they are actually criminals on the run from murder charges but we never learn how they became rulers, especially since they never leave their primitive throne room. Jim and Mike meet and make friends with Joan while Slade and Redmond strike an uneasy alliance with the Cobra, eventually coming up with a plan to do away with Joan and get an imposter to pose as the heiress so they can split the money. Twelve chapters of complications ensue, which include attacking tigers, an earthquake, a volcano eruption, escapes by creaky rope bridges over dangerous chasms, village warriors sent to cleanse the jungle of white men, an elephant stampede, a bow-and-arrow firing squad, and the requisite gunfights and fisticuffs present in all serials.

 

What I like about this Universal serial is the fact that there are a number of different chapter situations that crop up, fighting the tendency of many later serials to engage in numbingly repetitive chapter incidents. Groups are split up and reunite, and tensions arise even between people on the same side (Slade vs. Labat, Lil vs. the Cobra, Joan vs. the Cobra, Joan vs. Jim). A fistfight scene doesn't break out until the end of chapter 4, and in chapter 6 a fairly major character is unexpectedly killed by a tiger. A pilot named Hawks flies in, literally, in chapter 9; he may be a good guy, a bad guy, or an opportunist. The cliffhangers are OK, but there is one major cheat: at the end of chapter 9, we see Jim shot in the chest by Lil as he falls out of a window, but in chapter 10, it seems he was just wounded in the shoulder, an injury which doesn't slow him down a bit. Some of the fisticuff scenes are sloppily performed, unlike those in the later Republic serials. Chapter recaps are presented as comic strip panels in a newspaper. There's a lot of animal footage, including a bizarre fight between a lion and a tiger which looks awfully real, and the tiger attacks are repetitious—occasionally, it's obvious that someone offscreen has catapulted a fake tiger at an actor who then has to wrestle with it for a few seconds. (The point of the animals in the shipwreck seems to be to allow tigers to exist in the African jungle.) Ultimately, most of these negatives are fairly minor.

In addition to the nicely developed plot, the acting is pretty good all around. Grant Withers, a busy and reliable character actor, (pictured above right) is B-movie hunky and stoic as Jungle Jim; he even gets to sing a little song ("I’m Takin' the Jungle Trail") which I think is about himself! Raymond Hatton took a while to grow on me as Malay Mike; he threatens to be overboard comic relief, but he handles it alright. Henry Brandon, one of my favorite character actors (above left), is exotically and intensely villainous as the Cobra, even though he is not very active, mostly sitting at his desk/throne and proclaiming orders. I'm sorry his character is never fleshed out, but his relationship with Shanghai Lil (Evelyn Brent) is the most interesting one in the movie. 16-year-old Betty Jane Rhodes is a little lightweight as Joan but she's fine. Al Bridge as Slade gives an overly stereotypical serial villain performance; a little better are Bryant Washburn as Bruce and Paul Sutton as Labat. I especially liked Al Duvall, the only Black actor with a speaking part, as Kolu, Joan's faithful servant who, duded up in western togs, leaves the jungle with Joan for the big city in the last scene. Though a bit rough and ready in the shooting, this is well worth your time if you're a serials fan, or just a fan of jungle adventure. [YouTube]