THE HIDDEN CITY (1950)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *uncanny*
MYTHICITY: *fair*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTIONS: *sociological, metaphysical*

Though the third film in the Bomba series was a letdown, THE HIDDEN CITY, fourth in line, proves that it's still possible to get good value out of even the most modest productions. 

CITY is a quickly-paced, occasionally humorous jungle-adventure whose only stopping point is the title.  It suggests the possibility of that old Tarzan-standby, "the lost city," which would have required sets far beyond the means of a Monogram production like this one.  Instead, the city in question-- which is never called anything but "the Hidden City"-- isn't the least bit hidden.  It seems to be nothing more than a regular Muslim city somewhere in Bomba's nebulous Africa.  Why is it called hidden, since a major plot point is that the villain takes over the governance of the city but fears retribution from some central governing body?  The film carries no answers.

Scripter Carroll Young, already a veteran of both Tarzan and Jungle Jim franchises, spins out your basic "foundling-finds-another-foundling" tale.  White hunter Johnson is our initial viewpoint character: he travels to the City to meet with its new ruler Hassan-- following the mysterious death of the previous governor and his family-- and finds out that Hassan has a mad on for the mysterious "jungle devil" Bomba.  In time the audience finds out that Bomba witnessed the killing of the old governor and his wife, though neither Bomba nor Hassan knows that the couple's child Zita escaped the assassination and lost her memory.  For amusement Hassan takes Johnson on a safari to capture Bomba, but Hassan's man has secret instructions to kill the jungle boy.  The assassin almost succeeds, but Bomba escapes.

The hero is given aid in the village of Zita (Sue England), who was herself taken in by a childless man.  However, that old scalawag hopes to please Hassan by getting him to select Zita when Hassan comes looking for a a new serving-girl.  Since the Bomba series was aimed at kids, no direct allusions are made to Hassan's lascivious plans for the new girl, but it's surely no coincidence that the villain wants him a purty girl.  He chooses Zita, but Bomba, somewhat recovered from his wound, takes her away.  Actually, the strong-willed Zita pretty much forces the dumbfounded Bomba to spirit her off, and the film gains considerable humor from the scenes in which she badgers the usually-indifferent hero into doing the right thing.

In due time, Johnson, Bomba and Zita are all on the same page as to her origins and they defeat Hassan's attempt to kill them.  There's nothing new in the film's low-level hijinks, but its quick pace and moments of humor redeem this entry.