hwg1957-102-265704 Review of Jungle Queen

Jungle Queen (1945)

"The volcanic eruption was even more successful than we bargained for"

[5/10 · 2 October 2023]

There is an awful lot of walking through the jungles of middle Africa in this film that does become rather tiresome. The plot of two American agents and a British agent tackling Nazis before the outbreak of World War Two in said jungles could have been exciting but it wasn't. There is only constant talking and constant walking. A volcano explodes and a temple falls down but that's it for the thrills. The Nazis also have a tendency to shoot each other which doesn't help their cause. The heroic leads are dull. I did however like Douglas Dumbrille being silkily villainous as Lang, Tala Birrell as the ambiguous plant scientist Dr. Bork and Ruth Roman as the titular 'Jungle Queen' called Lothel. The latter popped up rather too much to effect rescues but the sight of her in her white gown flitting through the trees (and fire!) was most appealing. Lothel was a mystery and there was no attempt to explain who she was or where she came from, which was a shame. Would have liked to have known more about a girl in a negligee impervious to bullets!