J. Jim Runs Afoul Of One Million BC Lizards
Jungle Manhunt (1951) Keeps Weissmuller In The Brush For Katzman
Men in skeleton outfits and led by Lyle Talbot
seek to mine diamonds out of "magma" he wrests from cave concealment.
Lyle explains it all to Jungle Jim better than I could; here's where Lyle
earned stiff shots for reciting such gobbly by heart. Jim horns in on principle
that "trouble in the jungle is everybody's business," and part of
that is locating grid ace/war hero Bob Waterfield, forced down in the jungle,
but since teaching natives to hang clotheslines and build sidewalks. Yes, this
Jim has a little of everything, not least "hundred foot" reptiles
from One Million B.C. battling to death yet again, JJ and companions in silent
witness as were Victor Mature and cave-mates twelve years before. How much
would you guess Hal Roach charged for such ongoing and promiscuous use of his
stock footage? Weissmuller doesn't just fight gators when underwater --- he
goes looking for gators to fight underwater. Jungle Manhunt is among most
engaging JJ's, which maybe says little for the others, but Columbia/Katzman
took $325K in domestic rentals for their pains, a midrange figure not so high
as initial Jims, but more than subsequent ones would earn.
Have not seen this one in years, but I think that poster art is based on a still of JJ fighting hand to claw with a guy in an iguana costume from a sequence that never made it into the released film. Imagine! Footage too cheezy even for the elastic standards of Sam Katzman! I may have relayed the story before of working at a UHF station back in the day that had standing orders (a note tacked to the wall in the film editing room!) that the crocodile fight was to be removed from all Jungle Jim features. This wasn't censorship... the same stock footage fight appeared in movie after movie, and exorcising it was the first step in editing these gems down to an hour running time!
ReplyDelete"Jungle Jim"s were regularly shown on my old UHF station, but I missed them every chance I got.
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