THE JUNGLE

(director: William Berke ; screenwriter: Carroll Young/Orville Hampton; cinematographer: Clyde De Vinna; editor: L. Balu; music: Dakshinamoorthy /G. Ramanathan; cast: Rod Cameron (Steve Bentley), Cesar Romero (Rama Singh), Marie Windsor (Princess Mari), Ruby Mayer (Aunt Sumira), Ramakrishna (Babu), David Abraham (Prime Minister), M.N. Nambiar (Mahaji); Runtime: 74; MPAA Rating: NR; producer: William Berke; Lippert Pictures (VCI Video); 1952)

“The tame jungle adventure tale follows a lame screenplay.”

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

The tame jungle adventure tale follows a lame screenplay by Carroll Young and Orville Hampton, that mixes sci-fi scenes with a jungle safari story. The blend doesn’t work for director William Berke (“Cop Hater”/”Corruption”/”Valley of Head Hunters), as things seem inane. It’s also a grueling watch, since it’s so slow-paced and the plot is so absurd. The American big game hunter Steve Bentley (Rod Cameron) is hired by his long-time friend from the Burma War, the head minister, Rama Singh (Cesar Romero), for a royal family in India, to help stop marauding elephants go on killing sprees in the local villages. It turns out there are woolly mammoths that survived the ice age, who frighten the elephants to stampede. Princess Mari (Marie Windsor) is sent back home from England by her ailing Maharaja father to act as his regent to save the kingdom from this possible catastrophe.

REVIEWED ON 6/2/2016 GRADE: C+