African Treasure (1952) User Reviews

Nulacolabebe! Whcasinda!

[sol-kay · 6/10 · 7 August 2010]

***SPOILERS*** Things didn't seem quite right for British Province Colonial Commissioner Andy Barnes, Leonard Maudie, when American big game hunter Pat Gilroy, Lyle Talbot, showed up, by boat, unannounced at his outpost deep in the African jungle. It's later in the movie when Barnes gets a post office wanted poster, from the Jungle Mailman, of escaped criminal Roy DeHaven that he realizes that both Gilroy and DeHaven are one and the same person! But by then DeHaven got the drop on Bearns and took him hostage in order to get, also by boat, to the Nujuli Crater where his two partners in crime Greg, not Laural, and Hardy, Arthur Space & Lane Bradford, are digging for the crater's mother load of diamonds with the help Pedro Sabastian, Martin Garralaga, and the Nomgola villagers. It was Pedro & the Nomgola villagers that Greg & Hardy took hostage after wiping out almost the entire Nomgola village and the members, including Prof.Catesby, of the Catesby Expedition who were staying there!

Now where does the star of the movie Bomba, Johnny Sheffield, the Jungle Boy come into the picture? He's swinging on the jungle vines with his good friend and companion Kimbobo the Chimp when he spots this gorgeous young teenage girl and her guide walking through the dangerous jungle underbrush! Being attacked by a 500 pound male lion Bomba puts the big cat away without as much as breaking into a sweat. It's then that Bomba gets the lowdown from the girl Lita, Laurette Luez, in what she was doing there risking her life in the very inhospitable jungle!

Lita's father-Pedro Sabastiant-was a member of the doomed Catesby Expedition who was taken prisoner together with the survivors of the Nomgola village massacre by Greg & Hardy to mine the diamonds at the Nujuli Crater! It's now up to Bomba the save Pedro and the villagers before Greg & Hardy have them buried alive after they mined all the diamonds for them. That's in order to keep them for talking to the police or the British Colonial Commissinor, Andy Bearns, about Greg & Hardy as well as the guy who's to fence the precious stones Roy DeHaven! It's Later that DeHaven is apprehended by the local natives lead by Berns' loyal native butler Eli, Smoki Whitefield, who stopped him from getting to Greg & Hardy before he and his hostage Bearns could make it to his boat.

Bomba doesn't waste any time going into action but Greg & Hardy are a lot tougher then what he, and we in the audience, thought that they were. Getting himself easily clubbed beaten and tied up by the bad guys, which wasn't like him, Bomba has to rely on his good friend Kimbobo to pull his chestnuts out of the fire. Kimbobo does that by pelting Greg & Hardy with rocks and coconuts whenever they happened to get the best of his friend Bomba. It's later that Bomba, with the help of Kimbobo the Chimp, finally puts both Greg & Hardy in their place and behind bars. That's when they tired to make their escape by boat with the diamonds before Bomba and his jungle friends, monkeys exotic birds big cats and elephants, get a hold of them! Which in fact they, or at least Bomba & Kimbobo, did!

P.S Check out former L.A Rams football great Woody Strode in a cameo part, if you blink you'll probably miss him, as the Jungle Mailman.

Bomba Takes On Diamond Smugglers

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 14 January 2012]

African Treasure finds Johnny Sheffield as Bomba the Jungle Boy looking to help his native friends who've been taken prisoners and forced to mine diamonds in a secret location that some smugglers know about. Arthur Space and Lane Bradford keep the prisoners and another criminal played by Lyle Talbot holds Bomba's friend, Commissioner Leonard Mudie prisoner as well. The odds don't look good for Bomba.

But of course with his knowledge of jungle ways Sheffield does triumph in the end. Like Tarzan, Bomba has a chimp to make chumps out of the bad guys and save him in a tight spot. Like Tarzan, Bomba's learned the value of friendship with the animals though he does get into a fight with a lion here.

This particular Bomba entrée has got more than it share of pulp adventure sequences that would have kept its young audience glued to their movie seats. It will keep you in your Laz-E-Boy chairs as well.

Bomba and the Blood Diamonds

[moonspinner55 · 4/10 · 14 January 2012]

Roy Rockwood's creation, Bomba, the Jungle Boy, returns for his seventh cinematic adventure--amusingly, this one as cheap and padded with stock footage as were the previous six! As the mythical "white devil" who swings from the vines and talks to the animals, Johnny Sheffield seems to know much more English this time, and he's allowed to have affectionate feelings for the requisite native girl involved in the proceedings. Still, the premise here (diamond poachers in an abandoned crater using kidnapped natives to sort out the stones from clay and help smuggle them out) doesn't allow for much animal action or boy-girl romance. Instead, we get the greedy, murderous white men ordering the natives around mercilessly, while Bomba sends urgent messages back to the village via drum calls (when Bomba takes out two sticks and starts pounding away on hollowed branches, this entry almost becomes a "Bomba" parody). The murky underwater photography, as well as a fight between Bomba and a lion, are both bottom of the barrel, however Sheffield still manages to hold the screen with his youthful appeal. *1/2 from ****

Baldwin Lake doubles for Africa as Bomba No. 7 plods along in stock footage.

[horn-5 · 17 April 2006]

Andy Barnes (Leonard Mudie) gets word by short wave that two of the three geologists who passed through his district some weeks before were known diamond smugglers, and that nothing since has been heard of the trio. And he also learns that a hunter, Pat Gilroy (Lyle Talbot), who has just arrived at the compound is really an escaped convict named Roy DeHaven.

Obviously, time to call in Bomba the Jungle Boy (Johnny Sheffield). He is summoned via the jungle drum wireless-telegraph, and Barnes asks Bomba to go to the cheesy back lot set and try to locate Gatesby, the geologist who was with Greg (Arthur Space) and Hardy (Lane Bradford.)Bomba finds the body of Gatesby but...lucky him and the viewer---he also finds Lita Sebastian (Laurette Luez), who is out in the jungle looking for her father, Pedro (Martin Garralaga),a Portuguese guide, and the cheesy jungle set now looks better than it did.

Through the help of jungle drums and his animal friends, all stock footage except Kimbbo the Chimp, Bomba leads Lita to where her father, and a large number of natives, are being held as slaves by Greg and Hardy, who have found diamonds in the crater of an extinct volcano, known locally as The Mountain of Diamonds. Lita is captured by Greg, but Bomba has summoned help and Gerg and Hardy flee but not without first staring a landslide on the enslaved workers.

Bomba has a lot of work to do before he can restore order to this jungle.

Bomba versus the diamond smugglers.

[planktonrules · 5/10 · 25 September 2022]

"African Treasure" is the 7th of 12 Bomba the Jungle Boy films, which were made by Monogram films in the late 40s and into the 50s. It's better than most I've seen and holds up a bit better over time.

A group of ruthless diamond smugglers have kidnapped folks and are using them to mine for diamonds in the jungle. Bomba comes to the rescue and saves the day.

While the plot is very simple and the conclusion foregone, the movie works a bit better than usual because unlike most jungle films of the era, this one is NOT filled with ill-suited stock footage of animals. Too often, when they are used in movies of the 1930s-50s, the animals often aren't even African ones and the footage is quite grainy. For some reason, the filmmakers decided not to use such footage and it makes for a better movie. Now I am NOT saying "African Treasure" is any sort of classic but it does play reasonably well and is enjoyable.

Bomba: Adventure in Diamonds

[lugonian · 5/10 · 22 September 2020]

AFRICAN TREASURE (Monogram, 1952), written and directed by Ford Beebe, marks the seventh theatrical entry to the "Bomba, the Jungle Boy" series starring Johnny Sheffield. Starting off his movie career playing a jungle boy with his introduction as Boy in TARZAN FINDS A SON (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1939), starring Johnny Weissmuller, Sheffield has come a long way with his jungle adventures from youngster in the "Tarzan" series (1939-1947) to adolescent in his very own series as "Bomba" (1949-1955), a character created by Roy Rockwood in the "Bomba" books. Now basically a young adult in his early twenties, Sheffield is no stranger to this routine material as a juvenile-like Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle, coming to the rescue to anyone in danger as well as assisting his animal friends from greedy hunters. For this segment, Bomba, accompanied by his monkey, Kimbbo, swing vines into action from tree to tree, swims underwater, communicates with the animals in their own language as well as doing drum talk beat messages to natives across the jungle.

Unlike the previous entry of THE LION HUNTERS (1951) where Bomba appears in the opening scene, his character isn't introduced until nearly ten minutes into the story. AFRICAN TREASURE starts its initial ten minutes with Deputy Andy Barnes (Leonard Mudie) at his outpost station being served breakfast by his native servant, Eli (Smoki Whitfield) before Pat Gilroy (Lyle Talbot), a lion hunter, arrives by rowboat, asking Baarnes for his assistance to the village of Mangula where he can acquire native guides. Andy receives shortwave radio news from the commissioner in Nairobi regarding the last hunting expedition consisting of Professor Catesby, a geologist, to meet with Pedro Sebastian and others, who have mysteriously disappeared. In the meantime, Bomba (Johnny Sheffield), having rescued Lita (Laurette Luez) and her native guide, Tolu (James Adamson) from the attack of a vicious lion, finds that Lita is searching for her missing father, Pedro Sebastian (Marton Garralaga). About the time Bomba comes to the abandoned native village to find bodies and skeleton remains of Catesby and safari, Barnes receives his mail delivery consisting of a poster of Gilroy as a wanted fugitive and notorious diamond smuggler, Roy De Haven. Because of this discovery, Gilroy forces Barnes to take him by boat to the village of Nomgola. About the same time, Lita is abducted by Greg Wainwright (Arthur Space), who takes her to her father, where he and others are held prisoners by him and Hardy Moss (Lane Bradford) as they are at a secret location known as Mountain of Diamonds being forced to mine the crater of diamonds. As Eli plots on rescuing Barnes from Gilroy, Bomba remains at a distance watching over Lita, her father, and the enslaved prisoners before Wainwright entraps them inside a cave to be buried alive following a forced landslide. Woody Strode (The Native Mail Boy); Kermit Pruitt and Sugar Foot Anderson also appear in smaller roles.

Standard production routinely told in 70 minutes with some material geared mostly for juvenile audiences. Commonly shown on commercial television in the 1960s and 70s, and available on DVD, AFRICAN TREASURE and others in the Bomba adventures can be see occasionally on Turner Classic Movies where it's been showing since 2010. Next in the series: BOMBA AND THE JUNGLE GIRL (1952). (** diamonds)

Bomba series

[SnoopyStyle · 5/10 · 22 September 2022]

Pat Gilroy asks Andy Barnes for a safari guide. Andy gets word that two wanted diamond smugglers are with Roy DeHaven. They are guided by local Pedro Sebastian but the group is missing. Andy calls upon Bomba (Johnny Sheffield) for help. After battling a lion, Bomba answers the call but there is confusion over Lita Sebastian, Pedro's daughter. Andy receives a wanted poster showing Pat Gilroy as the criminal Roy DeHaven.

This Tarzan rip-off franchise continues to be a second-tier production. It's not a good starting point. It has all the hallmarks of the B-movie. There is action but not that well staged. There is an exotic babe in South Pacific dress for some reason. They do have a chimp but that's not a good thing in today's sensibilities. It has the simple B-movie charms, but I'm bored by the end.

"The natives call it a talking drum. I think it is a call for help."

[utgard14 · 4/10 · 14 June 2015]

Another Bomba the Jungle Boy movie starring Johnny Sheffield. Here our junior Tarzan is battling diamond smugglers who are forcing natives to work as slaves. Laurette Luez plays the daughter of one of them. She's certainly a looker. Not that Bomba would notice. Lyle Talbot plays the leader of the diamond smugglers, who first enters the picture posing as a hunter and fooling stupid Andy (Leonard Mudie). At this point Mudie has become a series regular. Woody Strode has a bit part as a jungle mailman (!). The jungle telegraph stuff is the highlight of the picture and that's saying something since most people will probably find it pretty ridiculous. There's the expected rear projection and stock footage, used to cheap effect. Bomba's fight with a lion is probably the weakest in the series up to this point. At its best the Bomba series was nothing special and only of interest as middling adventure stories. This is not the series at its best. Actually, this is one of the worst. Even at just 70 minutes the movie drags and feels like it takes forever. Of some minor interest for series fans but nothing here for casual viewers.

Bomba's back in another stock adventure

[Leofwine_draca · 5/10 · 20 December 2020]

AFRICAN TREASURE is another instalment in the lengthy and long-running 'Bomba' series of Tarzan rip-offs. This time around, our hero tackles that perennial favourite of the jungle adventure genre, diamond thieves. The plot seems lighter than ever, focusing primarily on the old 'jungle telegraph' chestnut plot device, but there's a welter of stock footage to sit through and lots of murky, fun moments in which our hero goes underwater and fights a lion; plenty of chimp action too, if you're an animal lover.

Bomba Number Seven

[Michael_Elliott · 18 January 2012]

African Treasure (1952)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

The seventh film in Monogram's series finds Bomba (Johnny Sheffield) trying to stop some diamond smugglers (one played by Lyle Talbot) who are trying to get rich while abusing some local natives. African TREASURE is as cheap as the previous six films but there's very little entertainment to be found here. At just 70-minutes the film seems way too long and even worse is the fact that very little happens throughout the movie. The biggest problem is the actual screenplay that doesn't give the characters anything to do. For the most part we have three or four groups who are constantly wondering around and talking about what they're going to do when they run into one of the other groups. We hear the natives call Bomba the "White Devil" and we get such politically incorrect lines as a jungle girl telling them they don't have to fear him because he's white. Yes, there's a jungle girl here played by Laurette Luez and she tries to bring a love story but even this here falls flat. The only good thing that can be said about the film are a couple fine performances. Sheffield is obviously very comfortable in the role and he has no problem as he at least appears to be giving it his all. Talbot, a classic bad guy, also makes for some fun but one wishes he had more to do. You can look quickly for a young Woody Strode. Outside of these things there's pretty much nothing else going on. We see Bomba fight a fake lion and of course he has to rescue people.

A total bomb(a).

[BA_Harrison · 4/10 · 2 December 2020]

Perhaps he's not into girls, or maybe he's already got a thing going with Kimbbo the Chimp (it can get lonely in the jungle), but Bomba (Johnny Sheffield) shows absolutely no interest in smokin' hot babe Lita Sebastian (Laurette Luez), even when she says that she doesn't know how to repay him for his bravery. I'd have a few ideas! Bomba's certainly no Tarzan, that's for sure.

Speaking of Tarzan, this adventure for Bomba isn't on a par with even the weakest of the Johnny Weismuller classics, in which Sheffield played the yodelling vine-swinger's adopted son, Boy. It's not Sheffield's fault - he does what he can with the weak material: no, the fault lies with Ford Beebe, whose direction is as bland and uninspired as his script (he also pads out his film with dreary stock footage). I've seen four other films by Beebe thus far, and 'Mediocre' seems to be his middle name.

The dismal plot sees Bomba help Lita to rescue her father, who is one of a group of unfortunates forced by diamond hunters to work in a mine in a crater in the jungle. The film is so dull that the highlights (lovely Luez aside) are a monkey wearing a napkin and the chimp throwing a rock. While I'm usually a sucker for a tussle with a stuffed lion, Beebe even manages to suck the fun out of that. The film's dumbest moments are Bomba using a tree as a makeshift jungle drum (try that next time you're in the woods to see how stupid it is) and finding a submerged tunnel through which he can swim into the crater unseen - how fortuitous!

3.5/10, generously rounded up to 4 for Luez.

Jungle Boy Johnny Sheffield vs. diamond smugglers

[a_chinn · 4/10 · 4 June 2018]

Bomba the Jungle Boy is back again and in this film is stopping diamond smugglers who are posing as scientist. Ho hum. If you've seen one Bomnba film, you'd essentially seen them all. FUN FACT: The great Woody Strode makes an early film appearance here playing an uncredited native.

More jungle nonsense is no rare diamond.

[mark.waltz · 3/10 · 23 May 2020]

This adventure yarn can claim that it has a pretty impressive set design for a Monogram programmer, although everything is oh so neatly set up that it is obviously phony. This entry does have some good action sequences but the storyline involving white diamond hunters destroying a village in their effort to prevent from being stopped mining is very familiar. It's ironic that Bomba's chimp get special billing, but the chirping spider monkey at the beginning does not even though he steals the scene.

Johnny Sheffield, as Bomba, aids Laurette Luez, a girl dressed in jungle clothing, in finding her father (Martin Garralaga), who is the only survivor of the diamond hunters raid on the village, kidnapped by the villain in charge, Lyle Talbot. In the course of 70 minutes, Bomba fights Talbot on a mountain slope that Talbot has created an avalanche on by unleashing a huge boulder. There's also a lion attack that makes it appear that Bomba is using a butter knife to try to stop him. It's amusing as a standardized programmer, but quickly forgettable.