Killer Leopard (1954)

By CinemaSerf

There's a lot of "King Solomon's Mines" to this "Bomba" adventure, only this time it's Hollywood legend "Linda" (Beverly Garland) who has turned up looking for her husband "Fred" (Donald Murphy). She's sort of panic-stricken which encourages the commissioner "Barnes" (Leonard Mudie) to ask our hero (Johnny Sheffield) to help her go up-river to find him. This is all whilst the titular beast is marauding the countryside terrifying all it meats/meets/eats. When he does manage to track down the man, it appears that he's quite lukewarm about any sort of rapprochement with his wife - and for good reason. Indeed, it's such a good reason that he's prepared to kill or be killed - perilous for the fair-minded "Bomba" with just his spear and rather revealing loin-cloth for protection. I have enjoyed many of these series of films. Sure, they are pretty straightforward "Tarzan" rip-offs, but Sheffield has a bit of charisma and there's always something (predictably) decent about the plot, the rationale and the cheery - virtuous even, denouement. This one, though, really does demonstrate that the cow has now been well and truly milked. The acting and dialogue are almost as tired as the sets and the stock footage of the leopard is just devoid of any sense of menace. Sheffield looks too old for the part now, and perhaps it's time to find his own "Jane" and settle down?