TxMike I found this movie playing on the 'Movies!' TV network. It was great fun watching it, because it hit theaters in 1951 when I had just started first grade. By today's standards, being in black and white and with sometimes cheesy special effects, it is a primitive movie. But it represents that era very well. I enjoyed watching it.After Johnny Weissmuller, former Olympic swimming champion, had made a number of Tarzan movies, he became Jungle Jim in a series of movies, this being one. The actual setting for this movie is never stated but it looks to be either the jungle of Africa or the jungle of South America. Some of the scenic shots show very dark-skinned indigenous people, while most of the characters look like they could be from the Americas. Nevertheless it was shot in the Simi Valley area, many of the scenes looked like terrain from some of the western movies of the 1940s and 1950s. But hang a few Palm fronds onto Oak trees and presto, it looks like the jungle. Weissmuller as Jungle Jim was about 46 during filming and looked his age, although in good shape for his age. There are several scenes where he has to swim, either to rescue a damsel in distress or for underwater activities.The story involves a lady journalist traveling to find an American athlete and war veteran lost over the jungle some 9 years earlier. When Jungle Jim saves her, he helps her with the search. In the process they find the lost aviator, who had taken up with a village and taught them techniques like irrigation and blacksmith skills. Plus their village had a sidewalk! But they also encountered a ruthless, rogue Chemist who had discovered a particular radioactive ore that when processed a certain way could turn plain sugar into perfect, valuable diamonds. (That is about as likely as is cold fusion.) So together, the two men and the lady must defeat this guy to save the people and prevent the world market being flooded with diamonds.Bob Waterfield was the lost aviator, Bob Miller, wearing an authentic WW2 A-2 aviator jacket, and Sheila Ryan was the lady journalist, Anne Lawrence.

Wizard-8 I had long been curious about the "Jungle Jim" movie series after reading about it in the Leonard Maltin movie guide. So when Turner Classic Movies scheduled three of the movies one afternoon, I decided to give them a look.After watching them, I can understand why there's been little effort to resurrect this series into the minds of modern moviegoers. To be sure, there are some unintentionally hilarious things about this series. There is the frequent use of stock footage, which may not have been obvious to '50s viewers, but is very obvious today. Much of the outdoor footage is obviously not shot in the wilds of Africa, but on the desert landscape of California. Jungle Jim, on the flimsiest of excuses, goes swimming at least once in every movie, and the underwater footage is obviously filmed through the glass window of a tank. I saw the same stone staircase in *all* of the Jungle Jim movies I watched.While there are some laughs to be found in these movies, there are also some unlaughable parts. Weissmuller was starting to show his age, sometimes looking significantly older than the age he actually was. And there's the treatment of natives in the movie. Despite the fact that the movies take place in Africa, the natives are played by Caucasians! (Though considering their simple-minded nature and willing to be bossed by Jungle Jim, people of African descent might actually be thankful.) As for THIS particular Jungle Jim adventure, like the others I watched, I found it to be (overall) somewhat dull and talky, though the use of stock footage from ONE MILLION B.C. and a shark/octopus fight (in a river in Africa?????) did provide some needed laughs. But at the end, I felt like I hadn't seen anything new. As I said in my summary line at the beginning of this review, if you've seen one JUNGLE JIM movie...

Michael_Elliott Jungle Manhunt (1951) * 1/2 (out of 4) Seventh film in the popular series has a football star (real football player Bob Waterfield) going missing in the jungle so a reporter (Sheila Ryan) hires Jungle Jim (Johnny Weissmuller) to go searching for him. Soon they find a wild skeleton man tribe as well as various dinosaurs. I wasn't expecting too much going into this film but I was still left disappointed because I've become of a fan of director Landers who is probably best remembered for the Karloff/Lugosi film THE RAVEN. The director has also directed films in series such as Boston Blackie, The Whistler and various other "B" movies. He can usually turn trash into good fun but that's not the case here. This is only my second film in the series and I'm already starting to get bored with it. There are still many campy moments here including one very embarrassing goof that happens towards the start of the film. After Jim rescues the reporter she goes to look at his profile and tells him to turn his head to the right but he ends up turning it to the left. I couldn't help but feel embarrassed for ol' Johnny and this scene almost made you forget his bad but campy performance. Waterfield isn't too bad in his role and we've also got camp favorite Lyle Talbot playing a mad scientist. The dinosaur sequence, lifted from ONE MILLION B.C., is extremely silly as is another scene, lifted from yet another movie, where an octopus and shark fight in the middle of the jungle!

Chris Gaskin I seen Jungle Manhunt around two or three years ago and quite enjoyed it. I obtained a copy of it from the same source as I get the Bomba movies from.A footballer is lost in the jungle and Jungle Jim and a party are sent to find him. Among the dangers they face along the way are prehistoric monsters fighting which are actually the usual stock footage from One Million BC.As usual, Jungle Jim is played by Tarzan actor Johnny Weissmuller and the rest of the cast includes real life footballer Bob Waterfield as the lost footballer, Sheila Ryan and Lyle Talbot (Plan 9 From Outer Space).Watching Jungle Manhunt is a good way to spend just over an hour one afternoon or evening. Enjoyable.Rating: 3 stars out of 5.