The Jungle ** (1952, Rod Cameron, Cesar Romero, Marie Windsor) – Classic Movie Review 11,542

‘FILMED IN SEPIA IN THE MYSTIC HEART OF INDIA! ‘

Director William Berke’s 1952 Indian-American sci-fi jungle adventure film The Jungle stars Rod Cameron, Cesar Romero, Marie Windsor. Despite its low budget of $125,000, it has the distinction of being shot partly in India on eye-catching locations, with plenty of animal footage, though in black and white (Sepiatone, original release). However, it was also filmed in the studio at Modern Theaters Studio, Salem, Tamil Nadu, India, and at Universal Studios, Universal City, California, and at the Iverson Ranch, Chatsworth, Los Angeles,

Rod Cameron plays great white hunter Steve Bentley, who joins an Indian Princess Mari (Marie Windsor) to trek into the Indian jungle to investigate wild animal stampedes that have killed many. While the hunter and Rama Singh (Cesar Romero) fight over, they discover a herd of prehistoric woolly mammoths are responsible for the terror.

Though there is a lot of boring dialogue and tedium even in the short 73-minute running time, the stars do well enough, and the film is sufficiently brisk and capable. The woolly mammoths arrive belatedly, which is just as well as they are as lame as expected.

The cast are Rod Cameron as Steve Bentley, Cesar Romero as Rama Singh, Marie Windsor as Princess Mari, Sulochana as Aunt Sumira, M. N. Nambiar as Mahaji, David Abraham as Prime Minister, Ramakrishna as Babu, and Chitra Devi as Dancer.

Marie Windsor (born Emily Marie Bertelsen; December 11, 1919).

Marie Windsor’s character name is credited as Princess Mari but her name in the movie is Princess Sita.

The film was the first science fiction film in India. It was released on 1 August 1952.

The working title was Shikarl, Tamil for Hunter.

The writers are Carroll Young (screenplay) and Orville H Hampton (additional dialogue).

Marie Windsor (born Emily Marie Bertelsen; December 11, 1919 – December 10, 2000) was known as The Queen of the B-Movie but is best remembered for her femme fatale roles in the film noir classics Force of Evil, The Narrow Margin and The Killing.

Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,542

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