Jungle Girl (1941)

A fun fifteen chapters of death traps, diamond thieves and low-budget Hollywood jungle exotica from the Republic Pictures movie machine. All thrills, no frills. Steven Spielberg and George Lucas swiped the first cliffhanger, down to the camera shots, for a scene in Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom while directors William Witney and John English here do plenty of their own recycling of other serials. Frances Gifford’s Nyoka the Jungle Girl has a few shining moments, but in true 1940s fashion, she spends much of the film in trouble, often in bondage, and in need of rescue from mustachioed man of action Tom Neal. It’s a simple world here. Though pretty Nyoka seems to be the only woman within fifty miles, not one spear-wielding native or visitor from civilization here seems interested in getting her out of her animal skin mini-dress. I guess those thoughts are left up to the adolescent boys in the audience.