User reviews

Johnny Sheffield as a teenage Tarzan in the African wilds, rescuing a pretty young shutterbug and (rather half-heartedly) attempting to reunite her with her photographer father and his guides. Having already played "Boy" opposite Johnny Weissmuller's Tarzan several times, Sheffield was a natural choice to enact the formative years of this role once filmmakers began to run out of ideas and made the (worthwhile) decision to explore the loin-clothed legend's early beginnings. Sheffield is somewhat self-conscious as the boy who calls himself Bomba, and yet his modest performance is the best thing in the picture. He's straightforward in an innocent way, immature and yet brave around the girl, and he manages an amusing connection with the audience (one can almost hear the sighs of young filmgoers as Bomba gently helps Peggy Ann Garner's Pat onto a log to cross the river). The film is padded with nature footage (most of it poorly photographed and repetitive), and too much time is spent dragging the characters back and forth through the foliage, but the simple story (perky girl meets tame savage boy) still holds a spark of enchantment. ** from ****

On safari in Africa, pretty teenager Peggy Ann Garner (as Patricia "Pat" Harland) photographs animals with father Onslow Stevens (as George). For better pictures, "glorified game warden" Charles Irwin (as Andy Barnes) and "native" Smoki Whitfield (as Eli) lead them deeper into the wild, where they meet "Teen Tarzan" Johnny Sheffield (as Bomba). The popular "Boy" from the faltering "Tarzan" movies was a natural pick for this unofficial spin-off series. While successful, it's nothing special. The first outing finds Mr. Sheffield and Ms. Garner in a tame "Tarzan and His Mate" (1934) mode. Best scene is when Garner tears her dress and Sheffield offers her his loincloth; she declines as the always-obvious stock footage inserts two chimps kissing.

**** Bomba, the Jungle Boy (3/20/49) Ford Beebe ~ Johnny Sheffield, Peggy Ann Garner, Onslow Stevens, Charles Irwin

I guess I saw this when I was about eleven years old too, in the Mayfair Theater in Hillside, New Jersey. I remember getting quite a kick out of it, since I'd read all of the adventures of Bomba the Jungle Boy, a kind of second-rate Tarzan who lives in the Amazon Basin instead of an African Valley.

Mostly, I remember one particular scene. Peggy Ann Garner has had some sort of trouble pushing her way through the bush and her skirt is torn. Bomba, in a fashion that is unusually cultivated for the Amazon basin, points that out to her. She grabs her torn skirt, flips it, and glances down for a moment at her underpants showing through the tear. I thought I would die with excitement.

There were other adventures too, most involving animals I think, but I've long forgotten them.

Historical note: The Mayfair turned to even MORE explicit fare in the 1970s and, the last time I saw it, was boarded up and defaced by grafitti. And to think that George Washington passed within one hundred feet of this site on a trip to New York. The old days are gone forever. (Sob.)

"Bomba The Jungle Boy", the first film in a long series of "Tarzan Junior" adventures, makes no real attempt to integrate the stock footage of animals convincingly, or to make the viewer feel that the action is taking place anywhere outside of an admittedly large studio. The story is short on thrills - and purpose. And yet, it has some appeal, mostly coming from its two young (only just 18 years old) stars: Johnny Sheffield, as Bomba, is supremely well-built (his thighs, in particular, look like they could crush coconuts), and Peggy Ann Garner is absolutely gorgeous (she even changes from her city clothes to a ready-made leopard skin halfway through!). Watching those two makes this film worth watching. ** out of 4.

If I am not mistaken I watched this movie in 1951 and I was just an 11 year old, and my memory fades somewhat on detail of the Film. Keep in mind, my memories of this film was from a childs viewpoint, but the best that I remember, I really enjoyed it, in particular the animals, and lot & lots of action. Bomba was just a few years older than myself and I really related to him and his escapades. I would like to see it once more as an adult, but I really don't know if any videos/dvds' are available. Thank you for reading my comments.

Johnny Sheffield who had grown too old to play Boy in the Tarzan films got a nice break from Monogram Pictures and was able to extend his career with the Bomba The Jungle Boy series of films. Like Tarzan, Bomba grows up in the jungle and in fact this film bears no small resemblance to Tarzan, the Ape Man.

Bomba's Jane is in the person of former child star Peggy Ann Garner who is a visiting photographer with her father Onslow Stevens. She gets separated from Stevens and enjoys an idyll of sorts with Bomba who is more articulate than those early Weissmuller Tarzans.

The only other regular in the Bomba series is Commissioner Andy Barnes who is a glorified game warden here and played by Charles Irwin. In later films Barnes would be played by Leonard Mudie.

Some stock jungle footage is integrated nicely into the film, better I would say than a lot of the Tarzan films done at RKO at the same time with Lex Barker.

Not a bad beginning for the series.

Bomba, the Jungle Boy is the first of the Bomba movies with Johnny Sheffield (Boy from the Weismuller Tarzan movies) as Bomba.

In this first movie, a safari in Africa including a girl and her dad are photographing and filming the wildlife when the girl, Pat gets lost and Bomba finds her. They become friends and he helps her to look for the rest of the party, facing several dangers along the way including lions, leopards, a huge swarm of locusts and unfriendly natives. She is reunited with the others at the end and Bobma disappears back into the jungle.

Joining Johnny Sheffield in the cast is Peggy Ann Garner as Pat, Onslow Stevens (Them!) as her dad and Bomba regular Smoki Whitfield.

Bomba, the Jungle Boy is worth watching if you can get hold of a copy.

Rating: 3 stars out of 5.

When I sat down to watch "Bomba: The Jungle Boy" I thought I was in for a fun, goofy hour. Instead I sat through a painfully dull movie. This is my second Bomba movie and I don't want to be mean but Johnny Sheffield is deadwood on screen. He brings nothing to the table. On the plus side, Peggy Ann Garner is cute and appealing. So the stars kind of balance each other out. "Bomba: The Jungle Boy" will only stay in my memory bank for about another ten minutes.

With Tarzan behind him, Johnny Sheffield moved over to Poverty Row where he would star in his own series for Monogram. Bomba the Jungle Boy is pretty much just Boy from the Tarzan movies grown up. Although I'm not exactly sure how grown up he's supposed to be as he looks like an adult (Sheffield was 18 at the time) but is treated like a young teen by other characters throughout the series. The movies are all juvenile jungle adventure tales with lots of stock footage. They are nowhere near as good as the Weissmuller Tarzan movies but, if you're a fan of those, these will at least keep your attention. Johnny Sheffield made twelve of them before retiring from movies altogether. This first entry in the series has a renowned photographer (Onslow Stevens) and his daughter (Peggy Ann Garner) coming to Africa to take some pictures of wildlife. The daughter gets lost and is rescued by Bomba, a white boy raised in the wild by a misanthropic naturalist. Most of the movie is about the girl trying to get Bomba to lead her back to her father. But Bomba is wary of outsiders and doesn't trust that her father won't try to hurt him.

Sheffield is fine in the role of Bomba, which is hardly challenging. Garner, who was an exceptional child actor (see Jane Eyre for proof) is better than this sort of thing but such was the state of her career as she grew up. She spends most of the movie in a short leopard-print dress looking very cute. Charles Irwin, sounding positively like Scrooge McDuck, plays a character whose primary function in the movie is to argue with the girl's insufferable father, played by Onslow Stevens. Garner and Sheffield are delightful together and their scenes are the highlights of the movie. It's too bad Garner couldn't have stayed with the series. It might have helped if Bomba had a Jane and nobody would've minded killing off her father. I was kind of expecting him to die given how unlikable he was.

There are some fun moments with monkeys and an amusing scene where the native guide explains the difference between native footprints and those of a white man. The use of stock footage is excessive but what really drags the movie down are the repetitive scenes of Stevens and Irwin. The movie basically breaks down like this: cute scene with Sheffield and Garner then back to Irwin telling Stevens he won't allow him to do something but Stevens does it anyway then back to Sheffield & Garner. Rinse, lather, repeat. It gets on your nerves after awhile.

Bomba the Jungle Boy was an average movie but what made it great was the appearance of my little angel Peggy Ann Garner. She was 17 years old when this movie was made and her greatness was shown through her acting ,her beautiful eyes and her unique smile. Peggy Ann could act in any kind of movie be it comedy, drama, film noir or any kind of movie that existed. My little Peggy Ann is not with us any longer having left us on Tuesday, October 16,1984 but thank God we still have her through her movies. I am lucky enough to own a very rare copy of Bomba the Jungle Boy having secured it in England and when I view this rare movie and any other other Peggy Ann movies I fall in love with her all over again. God bless my little angel Peggy Ann Garner.

George Harland and his daughter Patricia are photographers on safari. She's making wildlife films. She encounters white jungle boy Bomba (Johnny Sheffield) who leads her through the jungle.

Johnny Sheffield is 18 during 1949. This is basically a discount Tarzan Jr. The story isn't much more than the standard Tarzan plot. The sets are mostly artificial nature in interior studios. I wouldn't say that there is great chemistry with the young couple. They are very white-bread 50's American teens. The best parts may be the actual nature footage and some of the animals which adds up to about 5%. The most compelling and the most brutal would be the native lion hunt. It's 70 minutes which is about 20 minutes too long. The story isn't worth that. It's a B-movie which looks very much like a B-movie.

Bomba, the Jungle Boy (1949)

** (out of 4)

When MGM decided to take their Tarzan series into a different direction, Johnny Weissmuller headed to Columbia to start the Jungle Jim series while his son, Boy, went to Monogram and began production on another Tarzan rip- off, Bomba, which would end up running for twelve films. The series opener has Pat Harland (Peggy Ann Garner) and her father (Onslow Stevens) are in Africa trying to take photos of some rare animals when she ends up in the jungle lost. Soon Bomba (Sheffield) shows up to show her some of the finer, less appreciated things in life. There's no question that this series should have been called TARZAN, JR. and there's no question that what brain cells the MGM series had are pretty much gone here. This isn't a horrible movie but at the same time it's doubtful too many are going to find it completely entertaining and this is due to several factors. One is that the screenplay really doesn't offer us anything new, original or really all that entertaining. I thought for the most part we got one boring sequence after another and in fact it takes nearly thirty-minutes before Bomba shows up, another ten-minutes for any sort of action and it takes yet another fifteen-minutes before Garner finally gets into her leopard-skinned outfit. As with the Tarzan films and the countless other rips, this film gets the benefit of many stock footage shots of the wildlife in Africa. We get to see a wide range of animals but it's obvious the footage was shot for other movies as it looks quite poor and even for stock footage the stuff isn't that good because the shots are so far away from the target and out of focus that at times you struggle to even tell what you're looking at. For some reason the film is pretty light on action as there are only a few fight sequences and even these are pretty tame. The first time Bomba fights a fake leopard it all happens off camera. The one saving grace to the film are the performances. Sheffield does a nice job playing the lead character and Garner adds up some nice support. The two feature some nice chemistry together and fans of HOUSE OF Dracula will enjoy seeing Stevens in his part. At just 70-minutes the movie goes by at a decent pace but it's just too bad they didn't try something fresh or original to throw a little life into the picture.

BOMBA THE JUNGLE BOY (Monogram, 1949), directed by Ford Beebe, introduces a new jungle hero to the silver screen, and his name is Bomba. Bomba, as initially introduced in a series of books authored by Roy Rockwood in the 1920s, is often classified as a teenage counterpart to Edgar Rice Burrough's most famous character, "Tarzan." With Tarzan enacted by numerous actors on screen since 1918, the most famous being Johnny Weissmuller (1932-1948), it was natural in casting Johnny Sheffield, who enacted the role of Boy, son of Tarzan in eight motion picture installments (1939-1947) to assume the title role. No longer a youngster of 12, this boy has grown to muscular build and deeper voice in the sound of a baritone singer, but none-the-less, Sheffield has now acquired a new series of his own that fits the formula for which he's best known. Playing an adolescent boy in leopard skin loincloth carrying a sphere, he lives alone in a cave with animals as his only friends. In this opener, the orphan of the jungle gets to meet some outsiders, and a female counterpart who attracts his attention.

In this initial entry, much of the time is spent on George Harland (Onslow Stevens), and his daughter, Pat (Peggy Ann Garner), commercial photographers, on an assignment in Africa to get some movie pictures for the Bronx Zoo. They come to the post of Andy Barnes (Charles Irwin), a British game warden, with Eli (Smoki Whitfield), his native servant, who act as their guides. During the course of the story, Pat, out to get photos of her own, loses her gun bearing guide, Mufti (Milton Wilkins) when attacked and killed by a leopard, while her father and Barnes venture over towards the Great Riff. Finding herself in unfamiliar territory, Pat, approached by Bomba, the Jungle Boy (Johnny Sheffield), tries to scare him away with her revolver, but after subduing her, he walks away. With no where else to go, Pat talks Bomba into helping her find her father's camp. At first Bomba resists her because she tried to hurt him, but in time, they form a friendship, keeping Pat from wanting to leave Bomba and his all jungle paradise. As Harland and Barnes go searching for Pat, situations arise as they find themselves lost in lion territory.

Following the pattern of TARZAN THE APE MAN (MGM, 1932), viewers don't have such a long wait for the central character (12 minutes) to appear as they did for Tarzan (30 minutes). The opening pattern to both films is basically the same. Regardless of the central character having the title role, one would have expected this opener to be all about Bomba and how he became a jungle boy. Instead, much of it balances itself between two teenagers after their initial meeting 25 minutes from the start of the film, and two other central characters (Harland and Barnes) on the other side of the jungle. Aside from Bomba being an orphan, living alone in the jungle, there's some mention of he being raised by a wise old man named Cody Corson, now deceased, who taught Bomba to speak English. Much of his spoken dialog is similar to the Weissmuller Tarzans. Bomba's broken English would be abandoned in later installments. Learning more about Bomba's origin and family heritage would not be brought up until the eighth installment, BOMBA AND THE JUNGLE GIRL (1952), but for now, Bomba is just a mystery.

Aside from limited plot development and character background, animal stock footage take up much of its 71 minutes, often looking like a documentary. Scenes involving assortment of monkeys are the ones that would be repeated in future installments. A somewhat lifeless jungle story is redeemed by the attractive presence of Peggy Ann Garner, best known for her excellent performance as Francie Nolan in A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN (20th-Fox, 1945). Of the Bomba female co-stars, Garner was one of the stronger names to appear, and unlike Tarzan's companion of Jane, would not retain her role as Bomba's female companion. At one point, Garner wears leopard skin attire given to her by Bomba. (How convenient, and the right size, too. Does this mean that Pat is not Bomba's first female encounter?). Acquiring the feel of jungle life, Pat comes up with a drastic decision, "The only time to do something you don't want to, is now." For Johnny Sheffield, Bomba may not be a role of a lifetime, but sure kept him employed until the series expired in 1955. While BOMBA THE JUNGLE BOY is rather weak, latter editions including THE LOST VOLCANO (1950) and ELEPHANT STAMPEDE (1952) stand out as two of its finer entries.

Once part of the Saturday morning lineup of "Jungle Adventure" that aired on WOR, Channel 9, in New York City (1977-1979), the "Bomba" series was a welcome change of pace considering how the "Tarzan" and sometimes "Jungle Jim" series starring Johnny Weissmuller often filled the airwaves most Saturday or Sunday afternoons during that time. In later years, this and other "Bomba" adventures turned up on cable TV as Turner Network Television (1991-92) before making its Turner Classic Movies premiere June 22, 2011, and becoming part of its Saturday afternoon jungle matinée line-up hosted by Ben Mankiewicz that began in 2012. Next installment: BOMBA ON PANTHER ISLAND (1949). (** spheres)

Intrepid explorers "George" (Onslow Stevens) and his feisty daughter "Patricia" (Peggy Ann Garner) are traipsing through the jungle taking photos when they espy something unexpected in their lenses. It's a boy! Clad in a loincloth and doing his own yodel-free "Tarzan" impersonation, they meet "Bomba" (Johnny Sheffield). He proves really quite useful to the pair when she manages to wander off and get herself lost and in deftly rescuing her, a friendship blossoms that happens to coincide with some shenanigans in the local village. As the young woman starts to take a shine to her new, fresh-faced, friend she regales him with tales of the city - but can he be tantalised or is he perfectly happy where he is? I found Sheffield to be an engaging performer in these jungle adventures that inject just a soupçon of moralising into a pretty straightforward adventure story that involves some lively stock-footage and just an hint of romance. It's maybe fifteen minutes too long, but it's still quite an amiable film that's of it's time, is quite watchable and tells us to beware of those marauding locusts!

Not really a handbook for jungle exploration but oddly modern in it's conservation ideas. That's a near extinct white rhino...Hey let's get it to charge us and you kill it Andy.

Then the native dude gets attacked protecting the arrogant girl and she deserts him. At least he died for a noble cause. Not to mention the guards at night who stare into the campfire. Especially silly is the girl's demands YOU MUST HELP ME.....Why????

Bomba was a good guard sitting on the ground with the snakes and stinging creepy crawlers. And then he goes for help and the Great White Moron shoots him. Are they sure this isn't America in 2022??

During the 1930s-50s, the Tarzan films were very popular AND cheap to make...a great combination for the studios. While MGM made the best of these films, smaller studios often tried their hand at Tarzan-like movies...and their results were pretty predictable. In other words, the films were made on the cheap and integrated a LOT of stock footage into them...stock footage that rarely fit the stories. Such is clearly the case with "Bomba: The Jungle Boy"...the first of a dozen Bomba films Monogram made in the late 40s and into the 50s.

The story finds a man and his daughter (Peggy Ann Garner) on a photo safari in Africa. Eventually, Patricia (Garner) happens upon the wild boy, Bomba, as he arrives to save her from a leopard. They soon get separated from her party and so her father goes looking for her. During this period, Patricia strikes up a friendship with Bomba.

The film has tons of stock footage. On one hand, at least it's mostly of African animals! Many cheap Tarzan knockoffs (and even some Tarzan films) show animals from all over the world in Africa--such as American alligators and Asian elephants! So, this is a plus. But on the other hand, the stock footage NEVER looks to be integrated into the movie...never. It's grainy and just looks like stock footage and often tehre really isn't much reason for it apart from the fact that they could get it cheap or free. As for the acting, Garner isn't bad. As for the rest, well, Garner isn't bad! Overall, yet another of these African white jungle man/boy/girl films...and it's VERY much like Tarzan but in teenage form....and Patricia is much like a younger and chaste version of Jane. Familiar...and cheap.

In 1949,Monogram Pictures(also known as Allied Artists)released the first of 12 Bomba movies starring Johnny Sheffield,who played the character of "Boy" opposite Johnny Weissmuller and also Maureen O'Sullivan in eight "Tarzan" films, was chosen under Producer Walter Mirisch to star as Bomba. At the time this movie came out,Johnny Weissmuller was gone as "Tarzan",after 12 films to star in the "Jungle Jim" movies for Columbia Pictures,while newcomer Lex Barker,replaced him as the new "Tarzan" in five movies while Maureen O'Sullivan went into semi-retirement.

Veteran director Ford Beebe,a "B" picture veteran whose speciality was mostly action-adventure films and also movie serials,was hired as director/writer for the series. In all,Beebe directed all 12 Bomba pictures that were released between 1949 and 1955. Owing more to the Tarzan film series than the children's books they claimed to based on,the Bomba movies were made on a shoestring budget with predictable plots that rely on stock jungle footage.

The first of the series,"Bomba:The Jungle Boy",released in 1949 was a basic standard fare,more or less aimed as a children's matinée attraction. In this first outing,a photographer and his daughter arrive in Africa hoping to capture the local wildlife on film. Instead,they encounter(and never photographed)a killer leopard,a swarm of locusts,deadly lion worshippers and to the rescue to save them and protect them from the deadly encounters of the jungle comes Bomba the Jungle Boy! All of these within its 70 minute running time. Most of scenes involved the photographer's daughter(wearing a well-tailored leopard's skin)spends most of the movie with Bomba while her father and his assistant search for her.

As for Producer Walter Mirisch,after the success of the "Bomba" pictures,along with his brothers,formed there own company The Mirisch Corporation. The Mirisch Corporation,and under the powers that be at United Artists,produced some of the biggest hits ever to come out of Hollywood during the era. Films like "The Magnificent Seven", "The Apartment","West Side Story","The Great Escape","The Pink Panther",and "In The Heat of the Night",just to name a few. However,Producer Walter Mirisch won the Oscar for Best Picture in 1961 for "West Side Story",and again in 1967 for Best Picture of "In The Heat of the Night".

Anyone who see's this film and knows animals, would spot the wrong animals that do not live in Africa. King Vultures and some of the birds, do not live in Africa. All stock footage of all animals. A fun film back in the day.

L. Sollenberger.

After watching this first entry in the "Bomba, the Jungle Boy" series, I am really surprised that the series lasted for an additional eleven movies. I know these movies were aimed at kids who were less sophisticated than kids today, but I'm hard pressed to figure out how kids back then were entertained by something like this. Since this is a Monogram production, the budget is really low, seemingly shot entirely on soundstages with some occasional stock footage of jungle animals and natives mixed in. Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if it were revealed that the screenwriter was shown the stock footage before starting writing, and was told to write something that would include all that stock footage. That's because there really isn't much of a story here, and the character of Bomba is weakly written. For one thing, Bomba doesn't begin interacting with the visitors to the jungle until more than a third of the movie is over! And once this point of the movie has passed, we learn next to nothing about Bomba for the rest of the movie - we learn almost nothing about his past, his opinions on things etc. I think even very young kids will be bored stiff, and viewers who originally saw the movies in theaters and feel nostalgic will be rudely surprised by this drab and boring production.

I discovered BOMBA in the late eighties, thru my US VHS provider. Never heard of it before, the same with JUNGLE JIM character and movie series too. If you love TARZAN, you should,I say YOU SHOULD, like this cute series of movies, and not episodes, unlike JUNGLE JIM, which existed both in movie theaters and on TV. So back to this series of films made of course in Monogram studio lots, and certainly not on locations, it is fun, full of animals, natives, villains, celluloid jungle. OK, when you have seen one, you can consider you have seen the other ones, but for your kids, even now, in 2023, it would be better than Iphone silly and disturbing, insane games.