The bad white man is back, after the mysterious okongoe for something in their system that apparently makes a fabulous narcotic. OK, that's a strange premise on its own, but the way that this "Jungle Jim" series is presented is a lot more intelligent than the previous four entries in the series, minus the very good first entry. Unfortunately, it's missing the unintentional humor in those films, and that makes this a bit slow at times. OK, there is the obviously painted mule made to look like a zebra and a slithering spider like creature the size of a man (no rival to the creepy ones of "Cat Women of the Moon"), plus a scary sandstorm that comes out of nowhere. Of course, there's also the obligatory fall into quicksand, a staple of practically every entry in the series. Sherry Moreland is the lucky starlet out of a tribe of Amazon like women to be the female lead, although I would say her creative discovery of makeup among non jungle plants seems quite ingenious.

The 6th of Johnny Weissmuller's forays into Jungle Jim's khaki shorts proves to be a damp squib. It's low on ideas and crudely constructed by director William Berke. OK, lets not beat around the jungle bush, for the very young film fan there is more than enough here to keep them rooted to the sofa. From hilariously bad spider designs to recycled animal fights, there's no denying that young eyes can enjoy whilst feasting on their burgers. Hell, the plot even has some intelligence to it, even if it's a touch bonkers as drug lords seek to extract narcotic tinged glands from the Okongo, a half horse/zebra/antelope thingy that the makers have made up. But this is all told one of the weakest of the series and feels old hat as regards familiarity breeding contempt. 4/10

Taken out of its context as a low budget Saturday afternoon matinée, "Fury Of The Congo" doesn't stack up very well against "real" films. But compared to other Tarzan and Jungle Jim films, "Fury Of the Congo" is pretty good. It seems to have a lot more actual outdoor footage than many of the other JJ/Tarzan films of that era, the direction and screenplay are better and snappier...and either Weismuller is quite a bit better delivering his lines than he normally is, or else I'm just getting used to his wooden acting. Parts of the film are actually a fair amount of fun to watch: Tamba accidentally knocks Jim into a quicksand patch at one point, Jim escapes from armed pursuers by breathing thru a reed while he hides underwater, and yes, Jim swings from tree to tree on a series of vines at another point. The movie ends with an energetic mêlée between the bad guys and Jim/Tamba/the enslaved native tribe/their spear wielding Amazonian wives that melds with with a zebra (or Okongo) stampede and a sandstorm.The one thing that doesn't quite work is the scene that got the movie included in the science fiction/fantasy compilation, "Keep Watching The Skies!" - the giant spider attack. In the context of the film, this makes no sense whatever, and worse, it's a pretty dull little scene - the spider costume is utterly unconvincing as it tries to choke Jim, and Jim cuts on the spider's legs until it lets go, and well, you can imagine the rest.You don't look for high quality film making in a Jungle Jim film...you just want nostalgia. This one managed to avoid sucking enough that I was able to enjoy it as a flashback to my 8 year old movie watching experience.

I obtained a copy of Fury of the Congo from the same source as the Bomba movies I have.In this one, Jungle Jim, a native woman and another man who is pretending to be their friend and is actually a hunter go and track down a group of hunters who have kidnapped all the native men. These hunters are after a rare breed of horse, the Okongo and want the native men to help them to kill the Okongoes as they are a source of a kind of drug. During the expedition, Jim and his companions face several dangers including dust storms and, best of all, a giant desert spider. The hunters are captured at the end, some of them killed and the native men are reunited with their wives. The Okongoes are safe and well too.As always, Johnny Wiessmuller plays Jungle Jim and the rest of the cast includes Lyle Talbot and William Henry.Fury of the Kongo is worth a look at if you get the chance. Quite hard to get hold of.Rating: 3 stars out of 5.