sol1218
(Some Spoilers) Hokey but watchable Trazan-like jungle movie with the very sexy and beautiful Gale Shergood, who was only 18 at the time, playing the blond jungle princess Meelah. Meelah's life was saved while she was just an infant by native chieftain Tonga played by the very talented black actor Ernest Whitman. It's Whitman who shocked audiences, as well as the star of the movie Ray Milland, two years earlier in playing the part of the hopelessly alcoholic black man who talked to himself, in the unforgettable Bellevue Hospital drunk-tank ward scene, in the 1945 Academy Award winning film "The Lost Weekend".The man who murdered Meelah's parents Bob & Mary Comstock, John Dehnen & Cay Forrester, Mark Harper, Douglas Dumbrille, had taken over the diamond mine that he was a partner with the Comstocks. Harper is still worried that if their bodies are ever found with his and his #1 henchman Berger, Matt Willis, .38 slugs in them he'd be arrested and tried for their murders! The problem for Harper is that Tonga and his native warriors buried the Comstock's bodies deep in the African jungle where he'll have a hard, if not impossible, time to find them.This brings the hero of the movie freelance pilot Steve Blake, Leif Ericson, onto the picture together with his wisecracking sidekick Happy Owens, Frank Jenks. The two who were hired by Harper to fly out in the uncharted Kawali Range in deepest and darkest Africa and find, without them really knowing it, the burial place where the Comestocks are. It's then that Harper would have his goons sent there and destroy the evidence, the Comstock's bodies, of him having murdered them. Crash landing in the jungle both Steve & Happy are captured by Tonga's natives who after showing them that he and Happy are really the good guys, not Harper's goons, in the movie end up winning him and his men over. It was Harper who was at war with Tonga for the last twenty years in him trying to find the Comstock's bodies that would in fact prove that he not Tonga's warriors murdered the couple!It's when Steve gets to see Meelah, and she him, sparks starts to fly and it's love at first sight. Not only is Meelah a knockout of a babe but is the only living witness, at age one, to identify Harper and Berger as her parents murderers! It's then that Steve becomes determined to get Meelah, as well as have the exhumed Comstock's bodies, back to civilization and, by Meelah implicating and testifying against him, have Harper brought to Justice! That's if Harper with his life hanging in the balance just sits back and allows Steve to do that!Besides the very sexy teenage Gale Sherwood as Meelah there's also the very voluptuous looking 32 year old Veda Ann Borg in the movie as both Harper's wife and Steve's ex-girlfriend Connie Harper. Connie is bored to tears living in the jungle away from the glitz and party life, in New York Paris and London, that she's been used to and wants Steve to take her with him when he checks out, after taking care of business, of the "Dark Continent". This leads to a conflict between not just Connie and her abusive husband Mark but Meelah as well over Steve's, how lucky can the guy get, affections.***SPOILERS*** In the end things work out just right, Hollywood style, for everyone involved with the best thing to happen is that Harper ends up getting all that's coming to him not from Steve, who planned to do the job himself, but from the long arm of the law that he was attempting to escape from.
Michael O'Keefe
Low budget jungle adventure. A brief 62 minute escape and quite predictable. Leif Erickson and his transport co-pilot buddy Frank Jenks crash land in the jungle in hopes of surveying a diamond mine. While working for the mine owner Douglass Dumbrille, the two fliers encounter a savage jungle tribe. To their astonishment a blonde white woman (Gale Sherwood)rules as a goddess being raised since infancy by the tribe. It turns out that the "blonde savage" is the daughter of the mine owner's murdered partner. So it is destination stateside to see if justice prevails; or will someone get away with murder. Other players: John Dehner, James Logan, Ernest Whitman and the alluring Veda Ann Borg.
fred3f
Well, it isn't Citizen Kane, but it is a fun B picture. Don't expect anything original here, but if you want a fun, relaxing evening without many demands on your gray matter this is a great film to watch. The girls are cute the guys are strong and manly, and the chemistry is there. This is essentially a film about basic emotions and urges. Strong, handsome guy meets lovely, active girl who needs help, He responds with manly vigor. She responds with feminine charm and attraction. Attraction is mutual and he does the right thing, winning the girl and the prize. It is all an old, old story but one we seem to enjoy, because it forms the basis of most films. The thing that makes this enjoyable is that the urges ring true on the screen, You like the characters and you want it all to happen, but there are just enough thrills to keep you interested and wondering if it will come out the way you hope. Taken for what it is, this film is very good. So get out the chips or whatever else it is that you like to munch, get comfy on the couch and enjoy.
