Jungle Queen (1945) User Reviews (3)

Enjoyable trash

[dbborroughs · 6/10 · 24 October 2010]

Often hailed as one of the worst serials- I'm watching it again for the the first time- mostly because I picked it up by mistake.

Its a 1945 released film set in 1939 about Nazi's in the jungle trying to use the natives to take over the world.

Its done on the cheap and is more than slightly racist, but its very much of the sort of thing that Hollywood did at the time. I'm not defending it just explaining. It's amusing in a way that most serials are. The trouble seems that its a bit too juvenile and the recaps of what happened are deadening when watched in rapid succession.

its a lower tier serial- enjoyable but trash

"The volcanic eruption was even more successful than we bargained for"

[hwg1957-102-265704 · 5/10 · 2 October 2023]

There is an awful lot of walking through the jungles of middle Africa in this film that does become rather tiresome. The plot of two American agents and a British agent tackling Nazis before the outbreak of World War Two in said jungles could have been exciting but it wasn't. There is only constant talking and constant walking. A volcano explodes and a temple falls down but that's it for the thrills. The Nazis also have a tendency to shoot each other which doesn't help their cause. The heroic leads are dull. I did however like Douglas Dumbrille being silkily villainous as Lang, Tala Birrell as the ambiguous plant scientist Dr. Bork and Ruth Roman as the titular 'Jungle Queen' called Lothel. The latter popped up rather too much to effect rescues but the sight of her in her white gown flitting through the trees (and fire!) was most appealing. Lothel was a mystery and there was no attempt to explain who she was or where she came from, which was a shame. Would have liked to have known more about a girl in a negligee impervious to bullets!

Fun to watch

[Larry36 · 4/10 · 16 November 2020]

Nobody expected these "B" serials to be serious cinema (except for kids of the day), but they are so bad that they are fun to watch. The starchy costumes freshly washed and pressed from the wardrobe department (with some exception), the hokey dialog, the horrible acting, etc are almost unbearable. But, at my age, I like to look back on those days when I went to the Saturday late morning kiddie show for a dime and participated in the screaming and yelling while watching eight or nine cartoons. Then came the serial or serials which quieted us down somewhat because there was more dialog, no matter how inane. Hell would really break loose if a projector broke down. It's amusing now to watch actors trying to get a start before reaching higher status, such as Ruth Roman flitting around in a third-rate Tarzan movie set in flowing gown, beautiful coiffeur and hollywood makeup without getting a speck of dirt on her or her gown, or her cosmetics and hair being mussed up. If you don't expect much and if you are old enough to tolerate these cheapie movies, you will appreciate the very good transfer to Blu-ray and the optional subtitles.