Back when I first discovered "men's sweat mags" as I was entering
puberty my favorite stories found within were the jungle adventures.
Probably because they reminded me of Jungle Jim. The Johnny Weissmuller
movies based on the Alex Raymond comic strip
from King Features and not the comic strip itself. They were two
different animals. Of course the stories in the sweat mags featured very
a little bit more violent. And had a lot more sexual content. But the
stories were more or less like the ones you found
in the Weissmuller flicks produced by Sam Katzman.
One of my favorite flicks from the series was THE LOST TRIBE (1949). It stars Weissmuller, Elena Verduga, Myrna Dell, Ralph Dunn, and
Ray "Crash" Corrigan as Simba the Gorilla. The screenplay is by
Arthur Hoerl and Don Martin.
It's a formula jungle
adventure revolving around a lost city and it's hidden treasures.
Plenty of stock footage and cheesy dialogue. It's a wonder that the
MSFT3K crew never got a hold of this. Former Olympic swimming champ
Weissmuller fights a lion, a shark, an alligator, and
a gang of modern day pirates. Weissmuller is at his two-fisted best in
this one. He even gets tied up and worked over the bad guys. Not great
art. But a lot of fun.
Funny thing is I was re-reading the Frank Frazetta - illustrated
jungle romance tale "Untamed Love" when it struck me that the "great
white hunter" in that story reminded me of Victor Mature in the jungle
adventure SAFARI (1956). Made me think that
Mature might have made a good Jungle Jim in a big budget
production.
Another actor I can see playing the jungle adventurer was
Rory Calhoun. Calhoun had played big game hunter Jonathon Kincaid on an
episode of GILLIGAN'S ISLAND that spoofed The Most Dangerous
Game, Richard Connell's classic short story.
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Thanks for stopping by...see you next week!
Too bad in our PC world it's doubtful we'll see a new Jungle Jim movie.
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