[.ca] Jungle Girl

Republic shines again:
I was nine years old the first time I saw this superb serial in 1941. I fell in love for the first time with Francis Gifford. I can't say enough about this wonderful actress. Supporting her was Tom Neal who went on to fame as the guy who punched out Franchot Tone over a famous lady star. I really enjoyed the special effects and the great stunt people who added much to this, my favorite serial. I followed Francis' career till she was admitted to a California mental hospital where she died just a couple of years ago.

Classic Cliffhanger!:
As a long-time fan of the old motion picture serials, I've had the pleasure of seeing (and now, thanks to video, owning) many of the greats from the "golden age" of movie serials. From Batman to Zorro, the Lone Ranger to Flash Gordon, or Dick Tracy to Captain Marvel, they all had their own special appeal and allure, although all too often there were signficant differences in quality and production values. Every fan had a favorite. However, for me and millions of other fans, no serial ever made was more exciting, entertaining, or intense as the action-packed thrills and perils found in "Jungle Girl." Loosely based upon the Edgar Rice Burroughs novel of the same name and released in 1941 by Republic Pictures, the film starred beautiful Frances Gifford as Nyoka, the Jungle Girl. Unusal for the period, this was the first attempt (since the silent days of Pearl White) to feature a female as the lead in a movie serial. Doubled by stunt ace David Sharpe, Nyoka swung through the trees with an acrobatic skill unseen in the much higher budgeted Tarzan films. Fighting diamond hunting gangsters and savage natives, she successfully endures 15-chapters of perils from lethal fire traps, avalanches, drownings, poison gas, falls from cliffs, and quicksand, to name a few. Opposed by Shamba, the Witch Doctor, one of the scariest villains in serial history, Nyoka barely survives to defeat her enemies and save the day. Considered one of the best serials ever made (and definitely the best jungle serial ever made), Jungle Girl was directed by the cream of action directors, William Witney and John English. It was so successful, the following year it spawned an even more popular sequel, "Perils of Nyoka." For an example of the motion picture serial at its best, you can't do much better than "Jungle Girl" or its sequel. It's influence is felt to this day by modern serial fans like Steven Speilberg and George Lucas and many of their films, particularly the Indiana Jones series, owes a debt of gratitude to this long gone, but not forgotten, American art form. END

Frances Gifford was never better:
I came to this serial in backward fashion. First, as a kid, I discovered the Nyoka comic books. Later, I got to see the excellent "Perils of Nyoka" which was a semi-sequel to this one (even though the Nyoka in the second serial was not only a different actress but a different character; only the name preserved the tradition). Finally, I got to see the original source for Nyoka (well, not counting the Edgar Rice Burroughs book which inspired the first serial). Gerald Mohr, whose varied career included playing Phillip Marlowe on the radio detective series, and being the voice of the masked Scorpion in "The Adventures of Captain Marvel" serial, turned in many fine villainous performances of which this was one. But Frances Gifford (who visited the jungle once more, in a later Johnny Weissmuller picture, "Tarzan Triumphs," in 1943) made a beautiful and athletic-looking Nyoka. And some of the stunt sequences, including one in which she SOMERSALTS from one vine to another, make Tarzan's vine-swinging seem anemic. Incidentally, Gifford had a female stunt double mostly, although it is true that stuntman David Sharpe did double Kay Aldridge in the second Nyoka serial.

Every Adventure Movie Needs a Good Villain:
In the mid-1940s, when my friend Stewart and I were in grammar school, we saw this memorable serial during the Saturday matinees at the Fairfax Theater in Jacksonville, Florida. Each week there was a cowboy movie, a feature movie, a cartoon, a newsreel, sometimes a short subject, a preview and of course the adventure serial. We always looked forward with great anticipation to the serial, especially this one. We loved Nyoka , the jungle girl. Frances Gifford was a dish, but that aspect was not the reason for our affection, at least we didn't think it was, regardless of the mini-skirt. Well, maybe there was a little bit of sex appeal, but we were just kids and didn't recognize what it may have been. Remember, this was in those days long ago when it was not deemed necessary to teach sex to little children in the schools and we were indeed quite innocent. We would go home and play that we were saving Nyoka from imagined peril in our fantasy games of adventure. A little later we would also be going home and playing Batman and Robin when that serial showed up. Anyway, Nyoka the jungle girl was a heroine and we admired her and her friend Jack. We enjoyed Nyoka's friend Curley and disliked Shamba the evil witch doctor. Now, Slick Latimer we despised. I was not aware that he even had a first name until recently; we just called him Latimer. Anyway, he and Shamba were always getting our three friends into mortal trouble, especially Nyoka. But, that was to be expected because he was one of the bad guys. What made him special was not what he did; it was the way he did it. He was a sneaky louse and after he did the dastadly deed du jour, Latimer would drop his head and give us this sidelong, twisted little smirk. Boy, that got us mad enough to chew-up the theater seat cushions. In this part, Gerald Mohr played one of the best screen villains I have seen. It was that infuriating little sneer that had so much to do with it. Oh, how we looked forward to the fifteenth episode when we knew that he would finally pay for it. Gerald Mohr had an actors gift of being able to make little boys mad at him. Well, that may not seem like much, but look at it this way, I still remember it after over fifty-five years. There wasn't a sneer that good until Richard Widmark showed up some years later with his sadistic thug's snigger. But Richard had to make a noise with his.

Clean Print & Hiss-Free Audio Leave Me Swingin!:
VCI Video got ahold of a nice clean print from the UK/Irish distribution and really put together a crisp visual & no-hiss audio package here! One of the great Republic serials, Jungle Girl gets her due in this release... from the packaging to the super-affordable price (if you don't think so, shop around). Each episode is complete, from the opening music to the closing credits (and not abridged in from the "where we left off" recap at the beginnings). A nice job all the way from VCI. Time for me to go... now where'd I park my elephant??!! ;^)