User Reviews

Rochelle Hudson was a sweet ingenue of the Madge Evans variety, whose career never really got off the ground. She started out as the good girl in "Are These Our Children" (1932) and as a sweet heroine saved from white slavery in Mae West's "She Done Him Wrong" (1933). Her most prestigious roles were as Jessie in "Imitation of Life" (1934) and as Cosette in "Les Miserables" (1935) but her steadiest employment was as the voice of Honey in the very entertaining "Bosko" series.

Jim Franklin (Walter Byron), a young scientist agrees to join eccentric millionaire Amos Stitch (Harry Myers, in a role he could play in his sleep) on an African safari. They are joined at the docks by a cabbie and his taxi - the cabbie has expressed a desire to Amos that he has always wanted to go to Africa and he is about to get his wish.

Trouble starts soon - Jim finds a partner in Alec Bernouth, who claims there is a legendary white Goddess where they are going. Rochelle Hudson is simply stunning as "The Goddess" - there are countless scenes of her playing with cute leopard cubs and climbing trees in her scanty leopard skin jungle attire. Unbeknownst to them, she continually thwarts their efforts to hunt by releasing their captured animals by night. She is finally caught and thrown in a hut - Franklin intends to let her go but Bernouth has other ideas. After surprising him in her hut, Bernouth is banished from the expedition but starts a native uprising. Franklin is caught and faces certain death in a savage ritual. Amos saves the day by riding shotgun on his cab and now all that is left to do is to rescue the Goddess from the brutish clutches of Bernouth.

"The Savage Girl" was probably made to cash in on the then enormously popular film "Tarzan of the Apes"(1932). It was also an early entry in the jungle girl films later made popular by Dorothy Lamour. It did give Rochelle her first lead even though it was strictly small time.

As long as you never take this film very seriously, it is fun--though I certainly wouldn't call this a good movie! Tarzan-like knockoff films were very popular during the 1930s and 40s as well as female Tarzan-like films. I have seen quite a few and none of them are what you'd consider great films--but they are, in some cases, entertaining. As for this particular film, it's better than some--mostly because the stock footage they use isn't grainy or full of animals from the wrong continent! You may laugh, but many of the jungle films have these problems. In addition, they really have a few real animals they use in scenes with the actors--such as leopards. I have seen a few films where NONE of the scenes involve actual animals--just crappy footage!

This film from tiny poverty row studio 'Commonwealth Pictures' begins with a completely unnecessary prologue telling us that the film MIGHT just be fantasy! Say it isn't so! Anyway, an affable rich drunk decides, on a whim, to fund an expedition to Africa in order to capture live animals for his zoo as well as determine once and for all if elephants are afraid of mice! The elephant in this film is actually an Asian one--but African ones are rarely used in films because they are nasty and unpredictable. At least they didn't feature Asian tigers or kangaroos! Once in Africa, they hear about a white jungle goddess. Actually, she's a hot white lady and you never learned HOW she made it into the jungle. And, unlike Tarzan, she isn't so butch and is apparently VERY hot, as the German guy in the group is constantly wanting to rape her and later in the film the jungle lady starts making lots of sexual overtures towards the nice leader of the expedition. There's more to it than that, but not much.

Overall, an entertaining and silly film with a few intended and unintended laughs. Lovers of B-movies will enjoy this and younger folks will laugh that anyone actually enjoys this sort of silliness. Harmless and dumb fun.

When a drunk, a white mouse, and an elephant get more amusement than a scantily clad jungle girl (on whom the film is named after), you know what kind of film you are in for. Rochelle Hudson gets to scream more than any heroine in a Bela Lugosi film here, dealing with the nefarious intentions of sleazy looking Adolph Milar while being rescued by rather portly hero Walter Byron. Milar comes from the Tod Slaughter/Snidely Whiplash school of acting, and fortunately only has minimal screen time. In the meantime, there is stock jungle footage of natives and various wild animals (used over and over), as well as drunken Harry Myers' experiment of finding out if white mice will scare elephants is true. This brings out a few amusing moments. Of interest, I did find out from one source that elephants may be afraid of mice because they are afraid of them running up their trunks and causing them to smother to death. (Talk about the phrase "Junk in your trunk!") Hudson isn't really all that interesting as eye candy here. Maureen O'Sullivan had nothing to worry about, nor did the thousands of others used in "Tarzan" rip-offs such as "Hollywood Party" (Lupe Velez) and "So This is Africa!" (Raquel Torres). While she would go on to better things, this was not a distinguished way to start a career. Other than screaming, her entire dialog consists of repeating words that Walter Byron says in an effort to communicate with her. While you can't really expect all that much out of these "Z" grade films of the 30's and 40's, sometimes you find a gem or something good enough to make them memorable. It's sad to say that a drunk, a white mouse, and an elephant do not have enough screen time to make that the case in this film.

This is somewhat of a camp classic for a few reasons, one of which is undoubtedly Rochelle Hudson (who actually had quite a decent film career) and her absolutely stunning looks in the film. To her credit, she portrays the Jungle Goddess role with some actual effort too, utilizing very little in spoken word and a great deal of nonverbal communicating to the cameras (granted, a great deal of screaming too). The acting is actually not bad by the main characters, and the story's not too shabby either, especially considering this era's standards for such MST3K-ish fare such as this film. However, it's an hour long and it doesn't drag at all, plus it's admittedly fun watching the bad guy get his come-uppance from both the main character and a gorilla buddy of the Jungle Goddess. The film's also quite funny at times, with Stitch actually bringing a taxi driver, cab and all, on the African expedition, and some callback dialogue that never seems forced. Anyone throwing an "old, bad movie marathon" party should track this one down.

THE SAVAGE GIRL is an early jungle adventure outing put out in 1932 just after the advent of the talkies. It doesn't really feel as old as it is, looking and feeling more like a 1940s programmer than a film made this early. The simplistic story is little more than a gender twist variant on the old Tarzan story, with plot elements that creak from overuse.

A bunch of characters decide to head into the African wilds in order to get some game for a millionaire's zoo. One of them tries to show his progressive attitudes by saying he's never killed an animal that didn't attack him first (big deal). The comic relief drunk character is a good addition to the mix.

On arrival in Africa, they're confronted by endless stock wildlife scenes of leopards, chimpanzees, and elephants, and also the titular character, who randomly has a full face of make up despite never having encountered man before. Not much happens other than characters wandering around to waste time, although the titular character's appearance is quite racy for the era.

"The Savage Girl" tells us the story of a rich man financing an expedition into the African jungle to hunt down animals for his future zoo. During this trip, the men are confronted with a white jungle goddess and start to fight over her.

The movie is all in all quite boring. There is no real climax or anything and what happens is already very foreseeable from the very beginning. We have a shining hero, an innocent but handsome wild woman and a barbaric antagonist. We have a bunch of the stereotypes that are typical for this period and we have a goddess that manages to wear make-up despite growing up under wild animals somewhere in the jungle. It is no secret that she probably is also supposed to be of erotic value, too. Unfortunately, all this doesn't really add up in the end and what remains is barely more than the idea of a female Tarzan. Though I appreciate that the movie praises respectful behaviour towards women in a way, it is a bit odd how the female protagonist is not curious but rather begging for physical contact.

All in all this is one of the movies that didn't hold the test of time. You won't miss it if you didn't see it but you can, of course, come to a different conclusion if you're very interested in this kind of stories.

There is nothing savage about the jungle cutie that lip-stick wearing Rochelle Hudson plays in this publicity stunt of a movie. Contrived from start to finish, this adventure in the African jungle is low-budget hokum. A big game trapper, Jim Franklin (Walter Byron of "British Agent"), agrees to take an alcoholic millionaire, Arnold Stitch (Harry Myers of "City Lights") on a safari, so the latter can bring some beasts to stock a zoo on his sprawling estate. While Franklin is inclined to treat Stitch with something less than respect, Stitch's friends warn him that there is more to the man than appears. Together, Franklin and Stitch set sail for the dark continent. The British cabbie who delivers them at dockside observes that he has never been to Africa and that he wishes he could go. The next thing you know, they are unloading his cab and himself on the dock in Africa. Before the tipsy millionaire leaves America, he buys a box of white mice to find out if elephants are frightened of them. Once they arrive in Africa, Franklin introduces Myers to a cohort, Erich Vernuth (Adolph Milar of "The Perils of Pauline"), and they set out to lay traps. No sooner have they left civilization behind than they encounter the 'white goddess' (Rochelle Hudson of "Rebel Without A Cause") as she is petting animals in the jungle. She attracts the attention of Franklin and company when she releases the lion that they have trapped. The conflict starts when Vernuth gets fresh with 'the Girl,' and Franklin runs him off. The jealous Vernuth stirs up a tribe of headhunters, and they capture Franklin and tie him up to a stake. Stitch comes to his rescue, and Franklin whips Vernuth in a fair fight. Our eponymous heroine barely knows how to speak English, and she learns her first few words from Franklin. The miracle is that this babe could have survived as long as they did. She is dressed in a one-piece leopard outfit that doesn't look like it has spent a day in the sun, and her hair is immaculate. No, she doesn't look like she has spent a day, much less a lifetime in the jungle. If you're expecting a hellcat, you'll be disappointed. The only thing that 'the Girl' knows how to do is scream when she is attacked. Truly, she qualifies as a damsel-in-distress. I guess that I was expecting more from "Batman" director Harry Fraser and scenarist Brewster Morse. Sadly, "The Savage Girl" doesn't even deliver camp. Despite looking sexy in her outfit, 'the Girl' isn't an interesting character.

The usually ultra-demure Rochelle Hudson, of all people, stars in this pleasing fantasy as a female Tarzan. She swings through the jungle on vines, her companions are animals (including, of course, a friendly chimp), and her English vocabulary is limited to four or five words. Like her male counterpart, she wears an abbreviated skin costume—and absolutely delicious she looks too! No-one will blame the rather staid hero, Walter Byron, for falling for her. (I would carry her off myself). Naturally, the heavy is smitten too and that inevitably leads to a plot complication that is not entirely unforeseen. However, help is on the way through the agency of an eccentric millionaire whose besetting vice is liquor rather than lust, so the story finally works out—via all the customary jungle thrills (which allow for a not unexpected bit of action from an over-sized ape)—just fine and dandy!

From the above remarks, you may have received the impression that The Savage Girl offers little more entertainment than your average, routine Poverty Row yarn. That idea needs considerable adjustment. This effort lifts its game with some bizarre features that almost place it in the connoisseur category. The Harry Myers character is unusual in that (as with his similar characterization in Chaplin's City Lights), he is a main, indeed a key player, not just a comic drunk on the sidelines. Here, however, unlike the 1931 Chaplin-scripted millionaire, he is never sober. Never! His constant, half-sloshed, spur-of-the-moment eccentricities not only set the story in motion but give rise to several really outlandish plot devices, most notably the introduction of a London taxi-cab as a means of transportation in the African jungle! (And is it really Ted Adams, the fiendish heavy of Song of the Gringo, who plays the cabbie with such a winningly comic nonchalance?)

Acting honors fall naturally to Miss Hudson, though Harry Myers, Ted Adams and "Oscar" are not far behind. All four are most appealing.

Edward Kull, later to co-direct and co-photograph the 1935 New Adventures of Tarzan, has contributed the expert cinematography. Director Harry L. Fraser, who handled some real clunkers both before and since, has risen to the occasion nobly. After a slow, static beginning (doubtless designed to allow cinema latecomers to find their seats), the pace picks up a treat and it's to Fraser's credit that, despite many opportunities offered by the screenplay's weird elements, he never allows the proceedings to tip right over into a knockabout farce or even a heavy-handed spoof—though doubtless viewers who are determined to find The Savage Girl ultra-campy will do so. In any case, by the humble standards of Poverty Row, direction must be rated as "polished", and production values chalked up as remarkably lavish.