Johnny Sheffield as
Bomba the Jungle Boy

Johnny Sheffield      Sue England

The Hidden City

Director: Ford Beebe
1950

 

Johnny Sheffield appeared in eight films as Tarzan's son and in twelve more films as Bomba the Jungle Boy. You might say this kid was comfortable in a loincloth. Or, if you were the late writer Boyd McDonald, you might have said: His oeuvre comprises the principal filmed record of the growth during a decade of a boy's flesh, from beginning to end silken, hairless, perfectly rounded. (From Cruising the Movies by Boyd McDonald, 1985) That's all of Mr. McDonald's one-of-a-kind 1985 film guide, Cruising the Movies, we can quote without going to prison! And it's not copyright infringement we're worried about. Let's just say that Mr. McDonald has some unique, insightful, and hilarious observations about various Hollywood hunks -- Sheffield, Elvis, Richard Widmark, Michael Callan, Guy Madison and a number of others -- that we wouldn't dare reprint here. The chapters on David Nelson (that's right, chapters) are enough to earn us jail time in at least 36 states. So we merely offer two images of Johnny Sheffield from our own small collection. And we leave you to draw your own conclusions about his importance in film history. Incidentally, the first six of the Johnny Weissmuller Tarzan movies, featuring Johnny Sheffield in three, are now available on DVD as a boxed set.