Jungle Jim (1937) User Reviews (3)

'Twas Beauty That Tamed The Savage Beasts!

[bsmith5552 · 7/10 · 16 May 2004]

"Jungle Jim" is a 12 chapter serial based on a popular comic strip of the day. In fact, the prologue to each chapter consists of a Jungle Jim comic strip bringing the viewer up to date on the action. This was an original way of introducing each chapter and to my knowledge, was never used again despite the large number of serials based on comic strips.

In the first chapter we learn that a young white girl and her parents were apparently lost at sea off the coast of Africa. Many years later word has come back of a white lion goddess living among the natives deep into the jungle. It is believed that the young girl, who turns out to be heiress Joan Redmond (Betty Jane Rhodes), and once believed lost could actually be alive and be the lion goddess.

Two separate expeditions are formed to seek her out. The first headed by Jungle Jim (Grant Withers) and his pal Malay Mike (Raymond Hatton) want to bring Joan back to New York to claim her rightful inheritance. The second expedition headed by Joan's evil uncle Bruce Redmond (Bryant Washburn) and his associates Slade (Al Bridge) and Tyler (Selmer Washington) want to claim the inheritance for themselves.

In the jungle Joan thinks that evil fugitives The Cobra (Henry Brandon) and his sister Shanghai Lil (Evelyn Brent) are her parents. They let her believe this so that they can maintain control over the natives. Jungle Jim soon exposes the truth.

The rest of the story involves Jungle Jim's efforts to rescue Joan and foil The Cobra and/or Redmond and Slade's attempts to stop them. Needless to say good triumphs over evil in the last chapter.

This serial as in most of Universal's serials of this period benefited from the studio's high production values and the large standing sets used in many of their horror films of the day. Most of the outdoor action appears to have been shot outdoors and not on a sound stage. The wild animal sequences (whether stock footage or not) are well done and fit well into the story. There's a really good scrap between a lion and a tiger (never mind that tigers were usually found in Asia). The chapter ending cliff hangers and subsequent escapes are believable and well executed.

Grant Withers had been a promising leading man in the late 20s/early 30s but had a problem with the bottle. He gradually fell into serials and "B" movies before winding up as a western villain at Republic in the 40s. Unable to conquer his personal demons, he took his own life in 1959.

Betty Jane Rhodes was only 16 when she made this film. She went on to become a successful singer in the 40s.

Raymond Hatton had been in films since the "teens". He had appeared with Lon Chaney in a few films. He is probably best remembered as the crusty old sidekick in a long list of "B" westerns, most notably "The Rough Rider" series (1941-42) with Buck Jones and Tim McCoy.

Henry Brandon was always one of my favorite villains. He had the lead in the 1940 serial "Drums of Fu Manchu". He was often cast as an Indian Chief as in "The Searchers" (1956) and "Two Rode Together" (1961).

Not The Worst Serial But Not That Much Either

[Chance2000esl · 3/10 · 18 December 2008]

When I'm about to play a DVD of a serial I've never seen before, I feel a thrill of anticipation of heroic characters and tension filled exciting cliffhangers. Alas, here, as in the majority of movie serials, you get let downs and disappointments: let downs from poor cliffhangers, less than strong heroes and villains and disappointingly weak plotting.

In this one we do not have a well plotted sequence of chapters as in 'The Perils of Pauline' (1934), 'The Return of Chandu' (1934) or the three 'Flash Gordon' serials (1936, 1938, 1940), 'Tim Tyler's Luck' (1937) or the 'Empty Doom' chapters of 'Superman vs. Atom Man' (1950); there's not a great music track utilizing original or classical music to either signal and build suspense during danger sequences, as in 'Zorro's Fighting Legion' (1939) 'Don Winslow of the Navy' (1942) or the three 'Flash Gordon' serials. Stock Universal music is used in 'Jungle Jim', including snatches from Franz Waxman's amazing score from 1934's 'The Bride of Frankenstein', but none of it is used to build tension or signal danger.

Like so many serials, it is nothing more than back and forth escapes and returns to and from somewhere, in this case, the castle of the Cobra (Henry Brandon) and the African jungle.

Jungle Jim (Grant Withers) and his sidekick Malay Mike (Raymond Hatton) are searching for and then find a missing girl, Joan Redmond (Betty Jane Rhodes), who had been shipwrecked in Africa sixteen years earlier. Now a 'Lion Goddess', she shares a castle with the evil Cobra and his sister Shanghai Lil (Evelyn Brent). Then begins 12 chapters of back and forth movement, with the usual thirties mix of 'African' wild life, crocodile, lion and tiger stock footage with a few attacks and maulings thrown in. Fortunately we are spared seeing men in gorilla suits that would otherwise further strain our credulity. The fist fights are poor, with the combatants mostly swinging their arms sideways at each other-- where was Yakima Canutt when we needed him?

Grant Withers has almost no acting ability, and displays no knowledge of the jungle that would qualify him to be a 'Jungle' Jim. By contrast, Raymond Hatton comes off the best in the whole serial. He seems to be an authentic adventurer. He started in films in 1909 (appearing in over 400 films), and by this time was a seasoned veteran capable of playing well to the camera whenever he was on screen, with a wide range of gestures and little bits of business, in addition to his sometimes snappy dialogue. He also had the best lines:

Jim: (while both are locked in a jail cell) "There's always a way out of a situation like this if you put your mind to it." Mike: "Well, you may be able to open that door with your mind, but I'd need a crowbar."

Henry Brandon appears here without facial disguises that marked such great roles as Silas Barnaby in 'Babes in Toyland' (1934), which he reprised in 'Our Gang Follies of 1938' (1937), or as Fu Manchu in 'The Drums of Fu Manchu' (1940), or as the hermit in 'The Land Unknown' (1958). You can see his mature face in one of the original 'Outer Limits' episodes. Here he is given little to do and exudes almost no menace; there's no rhyme or reason for him to be called the Cobra: he doesn't have one, dress like one, act like one or change into one.

16-year-old Betty Jane Rhodes plays Joan in a watchable, tight, short one piece classic Jungle Goddess outfit. She went on to be a successful pop singer in the 1940s. It'll be almost another ten years before we get a strong action heroine (Linda Stirling). Evelyn Brent plays The Cobra's sister in a stridently one note performance; quite a contrast to the magnificent acting she does as the prostitute Cherry Malotte in the fantastic action / soap opera, 'The Silver Horde' (1930) with Joel McCrea and Raymond Hatton, who also turns in another good performance there.

Not much to recommend here except for watching Betty Jane in her Jungle Goddess outfit, or Raymond Hatton showing us his on screen acting skills. As a serial, it's certainly not the worst, but it doesn't give us anything to make us call it very good. It's just a little below fair: that's a 3.

Great White Hunter and Malay Mike!!

[kidboots · 8/10 · 29 September 2012]

"Jungle Jim" was created by Don Moore who was responsible for "Flash Gordon" and first appeared in syndicated newspaper comics in early 1934. He was the "great white hunter" and proved from the first to be very popular, turning up on radio and eventually the movies where Grant Withers was the first actor to portray him. Withers is now better known for his quickie marriage to Loretta Young, but in 1930 he had a very promising future having starred in a couple of movies where James Cagney was just a featured player. Unfortunately Cagney got all the attention and by the late 1930s Withers had settled in as the star of action B movies.

"Jungle Jim" just doesn't have the same warm and fuzzy feeling as Tarzan does. Tarzan was a friend of the animals, Jungle Jim's friend is his trusty gun that he uses to kill the animals when they encroach on his space - that is when he is not trapping them. There is also a Lion Goddess (Betty Jane Rhodes), a petulant teen with permed hair, who orders the lions to do her bidding. She has them turn on Jungle Jim and his buddy, Malay Mike (Raymond Hatton) but when he kills a tiger she gets all starry eyed - because tigers are her enemy. She is being brought up by the Cobra (Henry Brandon) and his sister, Shanghai Lil (it is just wonderful to see Evelyn Brent as a simmering villainess). They claim she is their daughter but it is clear from the first episode that she is Joan Redmond, an heiress who has been missing in the jungle since she was a small child - and also for whom everyone is searching. Among the searchers is Bruce Redmond (Bryant Washburn) who, in the event of Joan's death, will inherit the fortune.

There are the usual cliff hanger endings, nothing really robust as Withers, who I think early in his career had a very peppy personality, now in the late 1930s didn't look fit enough to be wrestling crocodiles and tigers. Towards the end a Lieutenant Hawkes flies into the picture. Initially aligned to the bad guys, he proves to be with the South African secret service on the trail of the Cobra and Shanghai Lil who are both wanted in England for murder.

Betty Jane Rhodes found her true niche as a singer and livened up many a musical during the 1940s, her big hits were "I Don't Want to Walk Without You" and "Oh Johnny How You Can Love".