bkoganbing If as Carol Channing and Marilyn Monroe sang that Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend than it would have been in Lorelei's interest to befriend Huntz Hall because in Jungle Gents a sinus operation has left Sach with a nose that can smell where diamonds are located. What to do with that but go to Africa and do a little prospecting.The whole Bowery Boys gang including Bernard Gorcey who once again leaves Louie's Sweet Shop to accompany Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall and the rest to the Dark Continent. Of course diamonds already mined and out of the ground are easier to find which leads the boys into contact with some smugglers played by Patrick O'Moore and Rudolph Anders.Really at this point the series was sliding downhill. How many more plots can they have where Huntz Hall develops some strange power that gets them all in a jackpot?

Michael_Elliott Jungle Gents (1954) ** (out of 4) The Bowery Boys head to Africa after its learned that Sach (Huntz Hall) has the ability to smell diamonds. Once in Africa they must battle natives, lions and of course some bad guys who want to steal the diamonds. By the time this entry came along it was doubtful anyone was expecting any type of classic and a classic is exactly what we don't get. JUNGLE GENTS isn't the worst film in the series but at the same time you can tell that the writers started to aim at a lower type of comedy meant to appeal to those under the age of ten. I don't mind that the series is working away from some of the darker entries but at the same time I found much of the humor to just be downright silly and not in a good way. There's a lot of added sound effects, which were clearly being "borrowed" from the Three Stooges shorts but they don't work here. Even Hall is a lot more animated with his facial gestures and they too don't get any laughs. The film contains a lot of stock footage from the BOMBA series and this includes various shots of the wild life. One of the most embarrassing moments in the film is also perhaps the funniest and it's when Sach and Slip are in a tent sleeping an a lion walks in on them. There's some footage of a real lion but then it switches to a fake one and this fake lion is without question the worst prop I've seen from a movie in God knows how long. If you've seen any of pre-1920 versions of THE WIZARD OF OZ you will see that the lion, as expected, is played by a man in costume but you also have humans playing horses and various other animals. Those outfits looked a lot more realistic that the fake lion here but what happens with the boys at least made me laugh. Gorcey must have paid the writers a few extra bucks because his mangled words are faster and happening at a higher rate than the previous entries. Hall and Gorcey are both in the right mood and deliver a few nice moments. Bernard Gorcey is on hand as usual as is Woody Strode in a few scenes. Clint Walker nearly steals the film with a hilarious bit at the end. The thirty-fifth entry in this series isn't one of the best but it' s fast moving enough to where fans will want to watch it.

sol1218 ***SPOILERS*** Taking medication for his allergies Sach's already prominent schnoz becomes super sensitive in being able to sniff out things especially cut and uncut diamonds.With this unusual talent Sach together with his fellow "Bowery Boys" Slip Chuck & Butch as well as sweet shop owner Louie Dumbrowsky are recruited by diamond prospector Grimshaw and his ailing partner, in surviving an attack of jungle fever, Trader Horn to travel to Africa known as the "Dark Condiment" to track down a diamond mine that's been lost to history as well as mankind for some 10 years! That's until Sach's super sensitive schnoz got a whiff of it!Sach as you would have expected screws things up by using the secret map where the hidden diamonds are supposed to be located for fuel to light a campfire! This first class moron then leads his diamond safari in circles around the jungle for days until it's discovered that the substituted map that he's using is actually an advertisement for womens brassieres! Feeling like a jerk Sach later tries to commit suicide only to screw that up by missing his head with a shotgun that was aimed only inches away from it!As things turned out Sach surviving his own stupidity, by trying to kill himself, really lifted the movie "Jungle Gents" up a lot when he's then saved from being eaten by a wild 450 pound lion by Tarzana the jungle girl who ends up killing the King of Beasts single-handed and not as much as getting a scratch on her! While all this is happening ex-Nazi concentration camp doctor Goebel, obviously related to the late Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbles, and his partner Dan Shanks are tracking down the Bowery safari in order to get their hands on the diamonds to use them to undoubtedly start up a new Nazi movement in darkest Africa!***SPOILERS**** It always surprised me in how Sach always gets the girl and how Louie can leave his sweet shop in the Bowery unattended by going on these adventures with the "Bowery Boys" and still be able to pay the rent? Sach's schnoz does in fact sniff out the diamonds but only after Dr.Goebel and Shanks sniff him out at the secret diamond mine in the African jungle. It's then that the giant ghost, that the local natives are sacred stiff of, that guards the diamonds comes to Sach's and the "Bowery Boys" rescue which was totally unnecessary since the "Boys" together with Tarzana had no trouble at all putting the two nogoodniks away on their own!It's at the end of the film with the "Bowery Boys" together Louie Dumbrowsky on a riverboat about to leave for home sweet home in the Bowery to the jeers and delight,in finally getting rid of them, of the local native population that Sach decided to stay with his new found girlfriend "kiss Kiss" Tarzana in the African jungle. That's until Tarzana's mate Tarzan himself, played by the six foot six inch tall Clint Walker, unexpectedly shown up making Sach quickly change his mind!

pensman The "boys" were getting a bit long in the tooth when they made this film. Huntz Hall was about 35 but did look younger and Gorcey 37. Regardless, for me Leo Gorcey is the real star. His delivery of completely mangled English in this endeavor is hysterical. Yes you have to credit the writers, but Gorcey's delivery sounds genuine which is the gimmick that makes this work. I wonder if a younger audience in one of today's high schools would even recognize the humor resulting from the absurd mispronunciations and malapropisms. The plot is silly but you are watching the Bowery Boys so it's clear your not seeking highbrow comedy. Should you run across this film you won't be disappointed and Clint Walker has a great bit right at the end.