Bomba, the Prince of the Jungle, in a great box set!
Warner Archive has done it again with another great collection of b-movies featuring the fast-paced jungle adventures of Bomba, the Jungle Boy portrayed by the wonderful Johnny Sheffield. This set collects the first six Monogram films, and, hopefully, there will be a Volume Two collecting the final six Bomba films.
These low-budget, but very cool, jungle films are based on the popular young people's "Bomba, the Jungle Boy" books by Roy Rockwood that were published from 1926 to 1938. There were 20 books in all. The first series of 10 books had Bomba in South American settings, and the second series of 10 books placed Bomba in Africa.
Johnny Sheffield was from a show business family and he began his acting career as soon as he could walk. His big break as a child actor came when he was selected from hundreds of candidates to play "Boy" along with Johnny Weissmuller and Maureen O'Sullivan in "Tarzan Finds a Son" (1939). He played Boy until her outgrew the role and...
Fun films from childhood memories.
Not great movies but they bring back a fond memory of watching these at the local theater when a boy. What helps make these fun are the supporting actors like Don Harvey & Myron Healey who play the troublemakers. These are sort of a B movie version of the better Tarzan movies. But, as I said, they are enjoyable for what they are.
Good memories
I remember seeing some of these movies when they came out, they were funny and campy. They are even funnier today abd bring back many great memories from my youth. It's amazing how little it took to entertain me back then. These must have been high budget features to produce, perhaps as much as $500 or $600 each. I can't wait until the volume 2 set of 6 features are released.
Tom Alban
Severna Park, Maryland
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