Sheena Queen of the Jungle

Sheena Queen of the Jungle - Episode 5
The Test (© 24 Oct 55)

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PRODUCTION CREDITS

Director

Arthur Pierson

Producer

Edward Nassour

Screenplay

Lawrence Goldman

Story Supervision

Joel Murcott

STARRING

Sheena

Irish McCalla

Bob Rayburn

Christian Drake

Chim

Neal

COSTARS

Dakin

Rock Galvan

Lubana

Virgil Richardson

Mauki

Lee Weaver

Ngamo

Juan Jose Laboriel

PLOT - NOTE: Spoiler warning
An animal trapper named Dakin, who Bob is guiding, has a confrontation with Sheena when she catches him hunting protected okapis (right). He then offends her even more by offering to buy Chim from her and consoles her by giving her a beaded necklace. Dakin's men lure Sheena away from her hut so they can catch Chim in a net. Bob and Sheena chase Dakin and his men across country, but before they catch him Dakin meets the Tobwana tribe, friends of Sheena's. Dakin tells their chief, Lubana, that Sheena sold Chim to him for a beaded necklace and that she also offered to sell him Itaba, the tribe's sacred white hippo. When Sheena arrives wearing Dakin's necklace Lubana believes Dakin's story and Sheena is captured. Bob is also captured because Lubana thinks he is involved in Sheena's scheme. Chim escapes from Dakin and goes straight to Sheena, but when Dakin arrives he insists he bought Chim honestly. The Tobwanas force Sheena and Dakin to drink a poison brew that they say wil reveal which of them is lying. Sheena bravely passes the test but Dakin loses his nerve and reveals his real intentions. Bob takes him to the District Commissioner for punishment.

COMMENTS
This slow-paced episode features quite a lot of "comical" chimp hijinks for padding. There are long passages as Dakin's men behave like a bunch of low-budget Keystone Cops trying to flush Chim out of a tree and chasing him around fields. The no-name guest star, who is billed as Rock Galvan, is actually a Mexican actor named Roc Galván. Virgil Richardson, a recognisable African American actor, who plays the Tobwana chief, makes the first of numerous appearances in the series (see clip below right). In the late-1960s Richardson would again make several appearances as an African native in a jungle series filmed in Mexico when he was a regular guest on the popular NBC series, Tarzan, with Ron Ely (1966-68). One of the other guest stars, another African American, Lee Weaver, makes the first of several apperances in the series. In this episode, he plays Mauki, who Dakin shoots in the back. He would eventually appeared in four other episodes - Eyes of the Idol, The Lash, The Rival Queen and Fair Stranger. The obligatory Sheena-in-bondage scene has her staked out on poles (see film clip below).

MOVING PICTURES

Click on the images below to see two short scenes from this episode:

FRENCH TÉLÉ ROMANS (Photo Novels)

Click on the image below to see the complete episode illustrated with photographs, and with French captions:

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SOURCES
• The production credits and plot were taken from my DVD of this episode
IMAGES
• All of the photos used on this page are screenshots from my DVD of this episode
• The two video clips were uploaded to Youtube by me to use on this web page
• The montage of Télé Romans covers are from my personal collection
CAPTURE
• Bag yourself a copy of this episode on VHS from Moviecraft; beware the high contrast and heavily cropped versions of these episodes currently available on DVD

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