Johnny Weismuller got too fat to play Tarzan so Sam Katzman snapped him up to play the clothed adventurer Jungle Jim. There's plenty of similarities to Tarzan - the studio jungle, a plot involving an expedition, a woman coming along, ending up with some natives, woman getting attacked by crocodile while swimming, a swim, a treacherous white looking for gold, cute cutaways to an animal (a chimp was presumably too expensive so here it's a dog). The low budget is covered by stock footage of animals stampeding.
Weismuller isn't very good - leaden footed, struggles with dialogue, seems dopey. Contemporary reviews commented on his weight a lot. He takes his shirt off to go for a swim and is sucking in his gut. Still, he's Johnny Weismuller!
The film has two strong support performances - Virginia Grey, a real cutie as a glasses wearing scientist trying to find a cure for polio and being annoyed when men assume she's a woman (of course she needs to be rescued, and goes for a high dive to show up a native minx who is along and takes off her glasses to appreciate beauty... but she still has a job); there's also George Reeves, who has a lot of bounce and energy as the white who keeps trying to push Jim off cliffs and is after gold.
The final battle has some decent spectacle.
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