ELEPHANT STAMPEDE

Johnny Sheffield as Bomba and Donna Martell as Lola

ELEPHANT STAMPEDE (1951). Writer/director: Ford Beebe.

"If I was thinking of myself, I wouldn't have come to Africa." -- Miss Banks

Some evil men have come to Africa to, naturally, get some ivory, and, also naturally, don't care who gets hurt as they take after some tusks. Bob Warren (John Kellogg) and Joe Collins (Myron Healey of Varan the Unbelievable) murder Deputy Commissioner Mark Phillips (Guy Kingsford), with Warren pretending to be the dead man so he can ingratiate himself with some villagers and their white teacher, Miss Banks (Edith Evanson of Life with Henry). The villagers know of a secret cache of ivory that can pay for their continued schooling, but the bad guys have other plans. Enter the almost mythical Bomba (Johnny Sheffield), who routs the villains, saves the ivory, and breaks the heart of pretty little native girl, Lola (Donna Martell of Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff), who teachers Bomba how to read but gets swimming lessons in return instead of kisses. Dumb Bomba! Leonard Mudie is back as the official, Andy Barnes, and Martin Wilkins plays Chief Nagala. The elephants create a minor ruckus at the end of the film,. but it can't really be called a "stampede" -- the budget for this Monogram cheapie was too low. The film has a kind of bittersweet coda involving the non-lovers.

Verdict: Sheffield and Martell make an appealing almost-couple. **1/2.

LIFE WITH HENRY

LIFE WITH HENRY (1941). Producer/director: Jay Theodore Reed.

"Ever since I was a kid everybody discouraged everything I wanted to do."

Jackie Cooper returns as high school student Henry Aldrich in this sequel to What a Life. At the end of the previous film Henry was planning to go to art school, and his girlfriend was Barbara, but the art school business has been dropped and Barbara is nowhere to be seen. Instead Henry has special feelings for Kathleen (Leila Ernst) and now has both a sister, Mary (Kay Stewart), an Aunt Harriet (possibly Mary Akin?), a best pal Dizzy (Eddie Bracken), and for the first time we see his father, played by Fred Niblo. [Hedda Hopper is back as his mother.] Rod Cameron is cast as an older man who befriends Henry and gives him advice, and Pierre Watkin is the aforementioned Kathleen's disapproving father. The storyline has Henry desiring to go on a trip to Alaska that is being put together by a wealthy businessman, Sattherwaite (Moroni Olsen) looking for boys with initiative who can raise a hundred dollars. Mr. Aldrich fears the whole thing is a scam, but Henry cooks up a scheme to raise the cash by selling a soap that's so toxic it destroys most of the buyers' clothing! While the opening title presents the film as an "Aldrich Family" adventure, Henry is still very much the star. Life with Henry is well-acted and amusing, and is in some ways a paean to an independent spirit and unconventionality. Edith Evanson, who plays the Aldrich maid, also appeared in Journey to the Center of the Earth as an inkeeper, was another maid in Woman of the Year, and Joan Crawford's mother in The Damned Don't Cry.

Verdict: More fun with Henry. ***

THE JADE MASK

THE JADE MASK (1945). Director: Phil Rosen.

In an old mansion surrounded by the unloving members of his family and others, a scientist named Harper (Frank Reicher) is murdered. Since Harper was working on a government project, Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler) is called in on the case. You would think the first question Chan would ask everyone is why everyone hated the dead man so much -- was he a control freak, perhaps? -- but this is never satisfactorily answered, giving everything a more unintentionally comical cast than usual. Before long there are more corpses found in the house, and Chan's helpmate (or whatever he is) Birmingham Brown (Mantan Moreland) is having conniption fits. The movie holds the attention, and while it's confusing at times, it's effective enough as a decidedly minor mystery. Toler is fine as Chan, and Moreland is as lovable as ever (figuring in the funny finale). Cyril Delevanti is the butler, Roth, and Harper's sister, Louise, is played by Edith Evanson, who was the innkeeper in Journey to the Center of the Earth. Edwin Luke is Chan's number four son, Eddie.

Verdict: A not bad Chan adventure from lowly Monogram. ***.