JUNGLE GIRL (1941)

[Xenorama ™]

Frances Gifford ... Nyoka Meredith
Tom Neal ... Jack Stanton
Trevor Bardette ... Dr. John Meredith / Bradley Meredith
Gerald Mohr ... Slick Latimer
Eddie Acuff ... Curly Rogers
Frank Lackteen ... Shamba
Tommy Cook ... Kimbu
Robert Barron ... Bombo
Al Kikume ... Chief Lutembi [Chs. 1, 4-6]
Bud Geary ... Brock
Al Taylor ... Claggett
Joe McGuinn ... Ted Bone
Jerry Frank ... The Lion Chief
Ken Terrell ... Mananga (as Kenneth Terrell)

CHAPTER TITLES:

1. Death by Voodo
2. Queen of the Beasts
3. River of Fire
4. Treachery
5. Jungle Vengeance
6. Tribal Fury
7. The Poison Dart
8. Man Trap
9. Treasure Tomb
10.Jungle Killer
11.Dangerous Secret
12.Trapped
13.Ambush
14.Diamond Trail
15.Flight to Freedom

another serial based on an ERB character, and it get some good reviews. i'm looking forward to it. there are some nice extras on this two disc set from VCI.

[Xenorama ™]

this print is from the National Television and Film Archives, and bears a British seal of approval for all ages.

a plane flies over a remote village of Africa, causing the Jungle Girl and her sidekick Kimbu to seek out help before the natives kill the men on the plane. they are looking for Dr. Meredith who is Nyoka's father.

Slick tells the Dr. that his brother is back, and that he is dying and needs John's help. the dr. goes to get some of the tribal diamonds. naturally this is all a trap. John gets shot and Bradley takes his place.

Nyoka is to lead the tribe. Shamba predicts her death in fire soon. as she is about to be barbequed, Jack and Curly show up and a fight breaks out. during the melee, Nyoka takes a spear in the back. good thing Shamba missed. Nyoka has to get to the lion's head amulet before Shamba does, but he gets arrives first, and opens the water gates to stop Jack and Nyoka!

next~ Queen of the Beasts

[Shonokin]

Haven't seen it but was just reading about it in the latest Filmfax which has an interview with Dick Lupoff about his book Edgar Rice Burroughs: Master of Adventure.

[Xenorama ™]

the water sweeps our heroes into the river, but Shamba still has the Lion Amulet. Brad is faking amnesia now and pretending to be John. Kimbu later gives Nyoka an idea on how to retrieve the amulet. she pretends to be the Lion Goddess.

she goes to get the amulet, but Shamba makes her take the "Test of The Lion" before he'll give it over. this of course involves her battling a lion to the death! good thing she wins! unfortunately she gets unmasked, and then is going to be the sacrifice!

Curly and Jack show up, but get caught as well. Curly throws his voice into a basket to trick the guards and a fight breaks out. they escape and try to rescue Nyoka before Shamba finishes the fire sacrifice!

next~ River of Fire

[Xenorama ™]

our heroes rush in and rescue Nyoka just in time. Slick goes to see Shamba to make a deal. Shamba still wants to sacrifice Nyoka, so Slick agrees. off they go after Nyoka through the jungle. they finally capture her in the river.

Kimbu runs and tells Jack and Curly what happened. they head back to affect a rescue. they do that, but run into a ring of fire!

next~ Treachery

[Xenorama ™]

Nyoka tells the men to cut reeds so they can breathe while they escape from the fire. they get away and go back to Nyoka's "father". they want to leave the jungle for safety, so Slick steals the plane's gas. they also trick Jack and Curly into a pit, where they are menaced by a lion.

good thing Nyoka comes by to rescue them. Nyoka tracks the unknown villains with them. Shamba's men attack them when they find the gas cans.

between the gunshots and the gas, a fire is started and the resulting explosion sends a mountain of rock down on our heroes!

next~ Jungle Vengeance

[Xenorama ™]

the rocks form a natural arch that protect our heroes. unfortunately the gas is all gone. Nyoka takes Jack and Curly to the oil deposits so he can refine some more fuel.

Brad goes to the chief and tells he needs the lion amulet. meanwhile, Kimbu follows our heroes, and ends up in the river with crocodiles headed towards him. Nyoka swings to the rescue. he then tells our heroes what has happened to Lutembi.

when they get to the Lion Cave, a fist fight breaks out. Shamba uses a trap door to drop Nyoka and Jack into a pit with poisonous vapors emerging!

next~ Tribal Fury

[Xenorama ™]

Curly saves our heroes from the pit. Shamba then decides Lutembi must die. Shamba's men kidnap Curly and kill Lutembi with his gun, framing Curly. good thing Kimbu sees it!

Jack and Nyoka try to free Curly from the funeral pyre. Nyoka uses her superior knife throwing ability to cut Curly's bonds. the natives then lay siege to the doctor's hut. the monkey shows up and "tells" them Kimbu saw the murder.

Jack and Nyoka head out to rescue him. Kimbu frees himself from his bonds, and sets a trap with a crossbow for the next person who enters. Nyoka approaches and her shadow falls as the arrow is loosed!

next~ 7. The Poison Dart

[Xenorama ™]

however, it was the native throwing a spear at Nyoka that caused her to fall down to avoid it, not Kimbu's arrow. now that was a clever one. Kimbu then retrieves the Lion Amulet for Nyoka. that will put a burr under Shamba's bottom!

back at the besieged hut, the natives are using fire arrows. Curly is about to do the noble sacrifice to save the others when Nyoka arrives to stop them. Brock wings Ted after taking a sock in the jaw. Kimbu narcs on Shamba.

Ted later on escapes from Brock, and that irritates Slick. Ted goes to talk to Jack and Curly, but they waste time lighting a smoke for him, and Slick hits him with a poison dart before he can spill the beans about Slick's plan. Jack and Nyoka give chase.

Nyoka starts to cross the gorge, but Slick and Brock have rigged the log to fall! down it goes!

next~ Man Trap

[Shonokin]

So what do you think of this one so far?

[Xenorama ™]

i'm quite enjoying it, so far. Frances is easy on the eyes and not really a shrinking violet type. some of the escapes are kinda weak, but it's a good show.

[Xenorama ™]

Jack dives into the water and rescues Nyoka. Brad and Slick decide to get Shamba to tell them how to get to the diamonds. Slick also runs across Managa making a lion trap. Jack gets captured by it, and loses his gun in the process.

along comes an hungry lion! fortunately Nyoka happens along and saves him from the lion. she heads off to get the blow gun, and Jack heads to the refinery cave.

Slick and Shamba make a deal. Shamba sends his men over to the cave and a fistfight breaks out. Nyoka finds her friends tied up, and they tell her what Shamba is up to. she arrives and leaps into the fray herself, but gets knocked off the platform, where below is the boiling oil!

next~ Treasure Tomb

[Xenorama ™]

Nyoka caught herself before she fell into the oil. not even the scream was in this episode. they follow the men so they can get at Shamba and put a stop to those attacks forever.

when Jack swings across the quicksand pit, the branch breaks and down he goes. rescuing him takes too much time, and Shamba's men track them down. our heroes are cornered, but have guns and are better with their fists.

Shamba tries to get away in a canoe, and all of our heroes end up going after him in the water. they catch him and he turns on Slick immediately. unfortunately, Nyoka spills the beans to "Dad" when she goes to get the amulet.

Shamba tricks them into the old floor sliding away to fall of doom room!

next~ Jungle Killer

[Xenorama ™]

Jack sees a chain and leaps onto it, saving the other two as it leads into the diamond room. Slick is annoyed that Shamba didn't bring him the diamonds and takes the amulet back.

since the diamonds are gone, Slick turns on Brad, but then finds out Nyoka is alive, promptly blabs to her "dad". we also meet the resident gorilla, Mananga, who hates Slick due to the way Slick treats him.

Nyoka gets caught by Brock. Kimbu runs off to tell the boys. Shamba lets Mananga loose who promptly finds Nyoka!

next~ Dangerous Secret

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Jack shoots the ape before he can get to Nyoka. after several more shots, the gorilla wanders off into the jungle. then our heroes plan to leave Slick in the jungle as well!

Slick and his men figure this out though, and a shootout begins over a gorge. they capture Jack. they plan on crushing him in the diamond grinder if he doesn't tell them where the diamonds are.

Curly shows up, but has to battle some natives as Jack heads toward the crusher!

next~ Trapped

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Nyoka comes to in time to save Curly from being speared and they effect a daring rescue of Jack. eventually. Brock and his men escape, but without the diamonds.

in the meantime, Kimbu gets hurt and needs to see "Dr." Meredith. Nyoka notices scars and things about her "father" she'd never seen before. before she can warn the boys, Slick discovers her- good thing Kimbu is there to provide a distraction. Nyoka gets away, then knocks Slick out with a well placed kick to the head via a vine swing.

Nyoka runs into the same tiger trap Kimbu did!

next~ Ambush

[Xenorama ™]

Nyoka easily rolls away from the falling trap. she then heads to warn the boys about her "father". good thing Curly has taken out the magneto terminal so Slick can't take off without them.

Slick rigs the plane so the boys can't leave- period. Kimbu fools the chief good and Curly heads toward the plane. Jack goes back for the diamonds and a fistfight breaks out.

meanwhile, the natives attack Nyoka and Jack (Brad told them Nyoka was kidnapped by the boys). they use flares or bottlerockets of some kind to scare the natives off. Jack gets there and they take off- then the gun goes off!

next~ Diamond Trail

[Xenorama ™]

our heroes leave the plane to save Jack from the gunshot wound. Kimbu stays behind and gets quizzed by Brock. Jack recovers a bit, but needs the bullet removed from his arm. Nyoka goes to her father's lab to get his instruments to perform the surgery.

she gets caught by Shamba and Slick. she is going to be burned to death if she doesn't tell Slick where the diamonds are!

next~ Flight to Freedom

[Xenorama ™]

Curly effects a rescue of Nyoka in trade for the diamonds Kimbu hid in the flashlight. Kimbu is helping Jack recover. Jack uses the Lion Amulet to summon the Lion men to help Nyoka.

meanwhile Brad steals some of the diamonds for himself. too bad Slick is onto him! naturally, that's the end of Brad.

while Jack rescues Nyoka, Shamba takes a spear to the back. they go to stop Slick from getting to the plane, and he wants to leave his men! a gunfight breaks out and Jack grabs hold of the landing wheels as Slick takes off.

Slick gets knocked out by some escaping gas, and Jack manages to get the plane under control. Slick tries to conk him, but Jack spins the plane and out the door goes Slick. bet they left the body!

Nyoka takes the diamonds to help the natives.

review: overall a pretty good serial. not the most action packed, but Nyoka is a good heroine and not a sit on the shelf type of damsel. the locations are not in the jungle, but that doesn't matter. the natives wear some weird hairpieces, so they are this odd looking tribe. i've not read the book, but would like to.

some good stunts as well, and the story isn't too padded for the most part. Slick sure meets a gruesome end! i didn't see Jay Sliverheels, but he's listed on the DVD.