Elephant Stampede (1951)

Yet another cheap Monogram Pictures' Bomba film, with it's signature phony looking backlot jungle, poorly done rear projection, and an overuse of stock jungle footage. The entry has Bomba stopping evil ivory hunters and is less racist than most entries and also a slightly more enjoyable film than the rest of the series. After having watched five of the 12 Bomba films, I'm not sure I really need to see any more, though I'll probably make myself to just say I've seen all of them. Still, this was probably the most bearable of them that I've seen thus far.

Yes, somebody does say "Holy Cow!", but it was me with the sarcastic reply. I just wondered if screenwriter/director Ford Beebe was serious when he had that line written, said by the hunting commissioner in Bomba territory after spotting a dead elephant. I also had a sarcastic response when Bomba indicated that he slept between the elephant's legs when there was danger in the jungle. "Front legs, I hope", I said, praying that Bomba would not be covered in elephant waste.All these segments occur in the first 10 minutes, combining bad humor with the reprehensible trade of elephant poaching. Like Bomba, elephants are my favorite African mammal, gentle giants, he claims, and usually right until the evil that men do gets the elephants angry. And when elephants are angry, all humans within their range will pay. It's up to Bomba to stop the poachers, having been involved in the accidental killing of the man determined to stop them from ivory trade, giving a sad element to the plot.Bomba's trying to learn to read, and pretty Donna Martell is the teacher's assistant working with him. She's decked out in a sarong and assumed to be a native, but it's obvious to me that she's as much a native as Johnny Sheffield is. When this deals with the serious legal and moral crime of poaching and the pointless slaughter of all African mammals, I'm all for it. But when it comes up with some lame piece of dialog, my eyes roll back, and my own trunk sneers at the screen. This is so formulaic that I seem to know what the characters will say when they say it. It's passable entertainment, so I can look past the rotten parts, as long as the lessons of nature are fully explained.

Elephant Stampede (1951) ** (out of 4) While Bomba (Johnny Sheffield) is in the jungle having a pretty teacher's aid (Donna Martell) teach him to reach, a couple poachers are killing elephants for their ivory. Soon the two men find out about Bomba and must kill him so that they can get back to their business. The sixth film in the series actually turns out to be one of the most entertaining but than again this is a cheap Bomba movie from Monogram so one shouldn't be expecting an actual good movie. I think there are some pretty funny and campy moments throughout and not the ones we're used to seeing like the stock footage o rear projection stuff. There's an entire side-story dealing with this young, beautiful school assistant wanting to have fun with Bomba but he keeps pushing her away instead preferring to learn his ABCs. This leads to her wanting to make him jealous and take off with the two poachers who are constantly sexually harassing her. I'm not sure how many children in the audience knew this or cared about it but I'm sure the majority of the adults watching, then and now, couldn't help but laugh at Bomba for rejecting such a beauty. The film is actually quite dark for children because there's quite a bit of violence against elephants and especially Bomba. Poor jungle boy takes quite a beating here including being pistol whipped and knocked out a couple times. This action does help keep the film moving and I'd say that at times Bomba comes off as such a jerk you really don't mind it. Sheffield is certainly very comfortable in the part by now and he turns in a fine performance. Martell clearly steals the film as the teacher's aid. The support is pretty good as well, which is rare for this series. All in all, fans of the series should be some entertainment out of this but just don't expect something great.

This segment of the Bomba the Jungle Boy series finds Bomba trying to better himself by learning to read. Teaching him is the lovely Donna Martell, teaching assistant to Edith Evanson at the local native village. She'd like to further Bomba's education in other ways, but Bomba has his mind on book learning.All that comes to an end when ivory poachers arrive in the territory in the persons of John Kellogg and Myron Healey. They murder their professional hunting guide and assume his identity. And Healey starts moving in on Martell which bothers everyone.Elephant Stampede marked the appearance of Leonard Mudie as Commissioner Andy Barnes. The character appeared in the first Bomba film with another actor, but was then dropped. Mudie played Barnes throughout the rest of the series and was the only other regular besides Johnny Sheffield as Bomba.If you know the Tarzan series and know his relationship with the elephant community and how they mutually aid each other you know something about how this turns out. And Bomba does need the aid of his pachyderm friends.One of the better in the Bomba series.