Johnny Sheffield Movies
Child star Johnny Sheffield was the son of British actor Reginald Sheffield, himself a former juvenile performer (he played the title role in the 1913 cinemazation of David Copperfield). A wan, sickly infant, Johnny's health and physical stamina was beefed up by a strict exercise regimen supervised by his father. At age 7, Johnny co-starred in the original Broadway production of On Borrowed Time. This brought the young actor to the attention of the MGM casting department, which was looking for a suitably athletic child to play Boy in the studio's Tarzan pictures. Beginning with 1939's Tarzan Finds a Son, Sheffield played Boy in eight "Tarzan" programmers, remaining with the series when it shifted its base of operations from MGM to RKO. After a brief period of unemployment, the 17-year-old Sheffield was cast as the lead in Monogram's Bomba the Jungle Boy series, which endured for three years and twelve low-budget pictures. Sheffield decided to retire from acting in 1955. He sank his film earnings into real estate -- growing quite wealthy in the process -- and enrolled as a pre-med student at UCLA. When last heard from, Sheffield was living in happy retirement, overseeing his numerous real estate holdings. Johnny Sheffield's film credits should not be confused with those of British character actor John Sheffield. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1952
Number Seven in Monogram's Bomba the Jungle Boy series was African Treasure. This time Bomba (Johnny Sheffield) agrees to help geologist Arthur Space and his team locate a hidden diamond mine. Unfortunately for our hero, Space and his cohorts Lane Bradford and Lyle Talbot are actually jewel thieves. For a while, it looks like the villains have the upper hand, but a convenient landslide changes things. The heroine is played by voluptuous pin-up girl Laurette Luez, whose acting ability is hardly a consideration here. Stock footage from African Treasure later popped up in Monogram's Bowery Boys entry Jungle Gents, which also co-starred Laurette Luez. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Johnny Sheffield, Laurette Luez, (more)
- 1939
This fun-filled spin-off of the Rodgers & Hart Broadway musical by the same name, features Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney as two young children of vaudevillian parents who aren't included in their parents travels, so they set out to produce a show of their own. Rooney's the driver here and he's up against the administrators of a fogy state-run trade school, who think the whole show idea is nonsense. A listening judge gives them 30 days to put on the show and prove they don't belong in the jail-like school. The rest of the action involves the highly talented kids successful efforts to not only stage the show, but to bring the whole troupe to Broadway. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mickey Rooney, Judy Garland, (more)
- 1951
Elephant Stampede was the sixth entry in Monogram's "Bomba the Jungle Boy" series. This time Bomba (Johnny Sheffield) must contend with a pair of scurrilous ivory hunters (John Kellogg and Myron Healey). Not above killing pachyderms, the bad guys show an equal lack of remorse when they murder their guide and kidnap Bomba to lead them to the fabled "elephant's graveyard." Emulating Tarzan (Sheffield "Boy" in the old Tarzan flicks), Bomba vocally summons the neighboring elephants to crush the villains into pulp. One film historian, who made no secret of his disdain for the entire "Bomba" ouevre, grudgingly labelled Elephant Stampede "the hokiest but the best of the series." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Johnny Sheffield, Donna Martell, (more)
- 1952
Jungle Girl was the 7th entry in Monogram's "Bomba the Jungle Boy" series, based on the pulp novels by Roy Rockwood. This time, Bomba (Johnny Sheffield) tries to find the long-lost remains of his parents. He discovers that the person responsible for mom and dad's deaths was evil native chieftain Martin Wilkins. Only after the chief's daughter Suzette Harbin is herself accidentally killed (not by Bomba-rest, easy kids!) does the villain give himself up to the authorities. With the exception of Johnny Sheffield and co-stars Karen Sharpe and Walter Sande, most of the acting in Jungle Girl is strictly amateur night. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1949
Bomba on Panther Island was the second in Monogram's series based on Roy Rockwood's "Bomba the Jungle Boy" adventure stories. The plot is set in motion when agriculturist Robert Maitland (Henry Lewis) accidentally stirs up restlessness within the native population. The locals assume that Maitland is responsible for the recent spate of vicious attacks by a black panther, who is regarded as the Devil Incarnate. Bomba (Johnny Sheffield) proves that the panther is just another overgrown kitty-cat in a climactic human vs. animal battle. For those not interested in the plot or the papier-mache sets, Bomba on Panther Island offers two comely leading ladies, Lita Baron and Allene Roberts. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Johnny Sheffield, Allene Roberts, (more)
Inspired by the adventure-book series by Roy Rockwood, Monogram's Bomba the Jungle Boy was the first of a series of twelve "Bomba" pictures. Johnny Sheffield, formerly "Boy" in the Tarzan pictures, stars as Bomba. Another former child performer, Peggy Ann Garner, co-stars as Pat Harland, who with her father George (Onslow Stevens) has arrived in Africa on a photographic expedition. Bomba ends up rescuing Pat from a wide variety of jungle villains. Much of the film is built around stock footage from a 1930 documentary, Africa Speaks. Economically produced, Bomba the Jungle Boy proved a profitable beginning for one of Monogram's most successful series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Johnny Sheffield, Peggy Ann Garner, (more)
- 1954
In this adventure Bomba the Jungle boy helps a Hollywood movie star search the dark, dangerous jungle for her missing husband. As they search, they encounter a man-eating leopard. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Knute Rockne-All American was Pat O'Brien's finest hour: thanks to intensive rehearsals and numerous makeup applications, he so closely resembled the title character that, in the words of Rockne's widow, "I almost expected him to make love with me". The life of the legendary Notre Dame football coach is recounted from his childhood, when young Rockne (played by Johnny Sheffield) startles his Norwegian-immigrant parents by announcing at the dinner table that he's just been introduced to "the most wonderful game of the world." As an adult, Rockne works his way through Indiana's Notre Dame university, under the watchful and benevolent eye of Father Callahan (Donald Crisp) A brilliant student, Rockne is urged by Father Nieuwland (Albert Basserman) to become a chemist, or at the very least remain a chemistry teacher. Newly married to Bonnie Skilles (Gale Page), Rockne at first sticks to academics, but the call of the gridiron is too loud for him to ignore, and before long he has built his reputation as the winningest college football coach in America. One of his most significant contributions to the game is the invention of the tactical shift, inspired by the precision choreography of a team of nightclub dancers! Among the players nurtured by Rockne are the immortal Four Horsemen-Miller (William Marshall), Stuhlreder (Harry Lukats), Laydon (Kane Richmond) and Crowley (William Byrne), and of course the tragic George Gipp, superbly enacted by Ronald Reagan. His career continues unabated until his death in a plane crash in 1931. The screenplay of Knute Rockne-All American tends to be all highlights and little story, with several of the more dramatic passages telegraphed well in advance (just before her husband's death, Bonnie Rockne comments forebodingly "It's gotten cold all of a sudden"). Still, the film remains one of the best and most inspirational sports biographies ever made, with a heart-wrenching conclusion guaranteed to moisten the eyes of even the most jaundiced viewer. Ironically, the film's most famous scene, George Gipp's deathbed admonition to "Win one for the Gipper", was for many years excised from all TV prints due to a legal entanglement stemming from an earlier radio dramatization of Rockne's life; fortunately, this and several related scenes were restored to the film in the early 1990s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pat O'Brien, Gale Page, (more)
- 1940
Little Orvie (Johnny Sheffield) is a small boy whose stern father (Ernest Truex) and by-the-book mother (Dorothy Tree) refuse to buy a dog. Orvie befriends a stray mutt, which of course follows him home and just won't leave. Failing to keep the dog's presence a secret, Orvie is ordered to give up the canine. Orvie's dad finally weakens his resolve and reveals himself to be a sentimentalist. Based on a story by Booth Tarkington, Little Orvie provided an unusually "normal" assignment for young Johnny Sheffield, best remembered for his appearances as Boy in the Tarzan pictures and his later starring stint in Monogram's "Bomba the Jungle Boy" series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Johnny Sheffield, Ernest Truex, (more)
- 1955
This jungle adventure is the final entry in the "Bomba the Jungle Boy" series. This time Bomba (played by 24-year-old Johnny Sheffield who felt he was getting a tad old for the role) must slaughter a destructive herd of rogue elephants. He is heartsick at the prospect and so devises an ingenious compromise. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1940
Despite the title, the Cisco Kid (Cesar Romero) doesn't feel too lucky at the beginning of this film. It seems that someone else has been committing crimes while passing himself off as Cisco. The scheme was cooked up by a corrupt judge (Willard Robertson), who hopes to drive the settlers off the land and buy it up himself, all the while placing the blame for the reign of terror on the Kid's shoulders. But with the help of his paunchy pal Gordito (Chris-Pin Martin), our hero puts an end to the skullduggery. As a bonus, he finds time for romance in the arms of gorgeous widow Mrs. Lawrence (Evelyn Venable). Mary Beth Hughes has one of her better earlier roles as a brassy dance-hall doxie. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cesar Romero, Mary Beth Hughes, (more)
- 1941
In this upbeat drama, a lovely European heiress is disturbed to discover from her lawyer that her father made his fortune by cheating his own partner. This precipitates her hasty return to the US where she meets the partner's granddaughter. The heiress then moves into the girl's boarding house and gives her a million dollars. Unfortunately, her newfound wealth causes the girl, untold trouble as her lover, a proud musician, refuses to marry a woman with more money than he. The girl solves the problem by donating her fortune to charity. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Priscilla Lane, Jeffrey Lynn, (more)
- 1945
This odd combination of roughneck comedy and serious domestic drama was adapted by Louise Randall Pierson from her own autobiographical novel. Rosalind Russell is cast as young Louise Randall, the headstrong daughter of a New England merchant. Inheriting her father's business, Louise intends to persevere in a "man's world," and to that ends takes business courses at Yale. Here she meets and marries banker's son Rodney Crane (Donald Woods), with whom she has four children. When wishy-washy Rodney runs off with another woman, Louise marries a second time to irresponsible but likable gambler Harold Pierson (Jack Carson) -- and gets pregnant again. Though Louise and Harold are as different as night and day, theirs is a lasting union, which remains solid despite whatever misfortunes come their way. The story ends at the outbreak of WW II, with Louise and Rodney bidding a tearful but hopeful goodbye to their three grown sons as the boys prepare to enter military service. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ray Collins, Kathleen Lockhart, (more)
- 1953
Safari Drums was the ninth entry in Monogram's "Bomba the Jungle Boy" series. Johnny Sheffield once more stars as Bomba, while his usual director Ford Beebe calls the shots. The villain is an avaricious guide (Douglas Kennedy) who has murdered a famed geologist. The killer is a member of a film-making unit that has come to Africa to lens a documentary. His motivation for the murder was a fortune in diamonds. Bomba disposes of the baddie by summoning aid from his animal friends. Ironically, this same solution was used in the like-vintage Tarzan and the She-Devil -- and as everybody knows, Johnny Sheffield used to play "Boy" in the Tarzan pictures. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Johnny Sheffield, Douglas Kennedy, (more)
- 1939
Tarzan Finds a Son was to have been Maureen O'Sullivan's final Tarzan film, with Jane getting killed in the final reel. But Edgar Rice Burroughs refused to allow MGM to kill his character, so MGM had to increase her salary a substantial amount to do a few more Tarzan adventures. Tarzan Finds a Son was also the first MGM Tarzan film in three years and it introduced a new character --Boy (Johnny Sheffield). Tarzan (Johnny Weissmuller) finds Boy as an infant in a plane-wreck deep in the heart of the African jungle. He takes the baby to his jungle home where he and Jane (Maureen O'Sullivan) raise him as their own son for five years. When Boy's relatives find out that he is alive, they are less than happy, since he stands to receive a large inheritance. An evil African tribe then captures Tarzan and Jane and it is left to Boy to try to rescue them. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Johnny Weissmuller, Maureen O'Sullivan, (more)
- 1943
World War II rears its ugly head in this patriotic (if somewhat nonsensical) Tarzan picture. When a Nazi pilot (Rex Williams) crash lands in the jungle, he is nursed back to health by Tarzan (Johnny Weissmuller) and Boy (Johnny Sheffield). The isolationist ape man is vaguely aware that the Nazi is part of an invading German force, but he refuses to become involved with the problems of the world. The Nazis march into a "lost" jungle kingdom, enslaving the citizens and threatening the life of their princess (Frances Gifford). Gradually Tarzan becomes convinced that the Nazis are up to no good, destroys their invasion plans, and restores the princess to her throne. Don't miss the Tarzan Triumphs scene in which Cheeta the chimpanzee is mistaken for Adolph Hitler! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Johnny Weissmuller, Johnny Sheffield, (more)
- 1945
Tarzan (Johnny Weissmuller) must once more contend with outsiders who invade his jungle domain to hunt for gold. Guarding the valuable ore is a tribe of hostile Amazons, led by Maria Ouspenskaya. The Amazons regard every man as their enemy, and very nearly kill Tarzan before he can rescue them from the villains. Also in the cast are Brenda Joyce as a blonde Jane, Johnny Sheffield as Boy, Barton MacLaine as the principal heavy, and "cult" horror star Aquanetta as an Amazon maiden. Tarzan and the Amazons was Johnny Weissmuller's ninth appearance as the Lord of the Apes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Johnny Weissmuller, Brenda Joyce, (more)
- 1947
Tarzan (Johnny Weissmuller) goes on one of his occasional pro-ecological kicks in Tarzan and the Huntress. This time, the Lord of the Jungle runs afoul of an animal-trapping exposition headed by titular huntress Tanya (Patricia Morison). Not wishing to see his jungle friends packed in crates and shipped off to zoos, Tarzan does everything he can to discourage Tanya from seeking out specimens in his territory. The plot then goes off on a different tangent, as Tanya's unscrupulous partner Weir (Barton MacLane) conspires with aspiring despot Prince Ozira (Ted Hecht) to knock off the Prince's benevolent uncle, King Faroud (Charles Trowbridge). Tarzan saves the day by summoning his elephant pals to trammel the villains, but not before his mate Jane (Brenda Joyce) and his adopted son Boy (Johnny Sheffield) are placed in the usual deadly peril. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Johnny Weissmuller, Brenda Joyce, (more)
- 1946
Johnny Weissmuller's ninth Tarzan film is based on an interesting script by Carroll Young. Tarzan, Jane (Brenda Joyce), their son Boy (Johnny Sheffield), and faithful sidekick Cheta the Chimp stumble upon an entire village in which a peaceful tribe has been wiped out by what looks like murderous leopards. Investigating further, Tarzan confronts Lea (Acquanetta), the queen of a ruthless secret cult of cat people who wear iron claws. It is she who was responsible for the murders, and her followers capture Tarzan, Jane and Boy, and prepare to offer them as sacrifices to their feline dieties. Cheta is their only hope for escape. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Johnny Weissmuller, Brenda Joyce, (more)
- 1943
During WWII, Johnny Weissmuller and his Tarzan character proved useful for Allied propaganda purposes. In the film Tarzan Triumphs, the plot had the ape man fighting Nazis in Africa. In Tarzan's Desert Mystery, released at the height of the war in 1943, he is once again battling Brownshirts in the Libyan desert. Tarzan meets up with Connie Bryce (Nancy Kelly), an American showgirl, and tangles with mercenary Arabs, legions of Nazi warriors, a giant spider, and a bunch of dinosaurs who somehow escaped extinction. In short, it's Tarzan against every evil villain an American filmmaker could have imagined at the time. The film included Johnny Sheffield as Boy, Tarzan's son, along with Tarzan's customary sidekick Cheta the Chimp. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Johnny Weissmuller, Nancy Kelly, (more)
- 1942
This final "Tarzan" entry from the MGM assembly line is arguably one the least effective of the series, though it certainly has its adherents. It all begins when Boy (Johnny Sheffield), adopted son of Tarzan (Johnny Weissmuller) and Jane (Maureen O'Sullivan), is kidnapped from the jungle by crooked circus promoters Rand (Charles Bickford) and Shields (Paul Kelly) and spirted off to America. This requires Tarzan and his mate to adopt "civilized" clothes and head to New York City, with the troublesome Cheeta the Chimpanzee along for the ride. There are some amusing moments as Tarzan tries to acclimate himself with the Big Apple, and some less amusing ones as Cheeta gets hold of a powder puff and lays waste to an expensive hotel room. The film's highlight, Tarzan's leap from the Brooklyn Bridge, comes at the film's halfway point, and accordingly things slow down considerably during the final reels. Tarzan's New Adventure works better as a stunt than as an official series entry, but it is still preferable to some of the so-so RKO Radio Tarzan films which were to follow. One racially questionable sequence involving black comedian Mantan Moreland has been understandably removed from some TV prints. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Johnny Weissmuller, Maureen O'Sullivan, (more)
- 1941
Judging by the number of times it's popped up on TV, Tarzan's Secret Treasure was one of the most popular of the MGM "Tarzan" pictures, though it's hardly the best. This time around, a group of gold hunters invade the domain of Tarzan (Johnny Weissmuller), Jane (Maureen O'Sullivan) and Boy (Johnny Sheffield). Expedition leader Professor Elliot (Reginald Owen) is an honorable man, but his assistants Medford (Tom Conway) and Vandemeer (Philip Dorn) are scoundrels, while the party's aggressively Irish general factotum O'Doul (Barry Fitzgerald) remains an enigma until the final reel. Thinking they've done away with Tarzan, Medford and Vandemeer force Jane and Boy to lead them through the jungle to a hidden gold mine, only to be captured by a hostile tribe which specializes in literally tearing its captives apart (via tastefully gruesome stock footage from 1936's Tarzan Escapes). Will ol' Tarz revive in time to rescue his loved ones from fierce tribesmen and even fiercer crocodiles? Perhaps the "campiest" of MGM's "Tarzan" entries, Tarzan's Secret Treasure is chock full of laughable vignettes, one or two of them intentional. Best line: When Jane asks Boy what he's been doing all day, the plucky youngster, who's just survived a series of hair-raising perils culminating with his nearly being burned at the stake by superstitious natives, replies "Oh, nothing much." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Johnny Weissmuller, Maureen O'Sullivan, (more)
- 1954
In this entry in the Bomba series of jungle adventures, the jungle boy must retrieve a valuable Watusi statue after it is swiped by an Arab chieftain. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1950
Former Tarzan regular Johnny Sheffield stars as Bomba the Jungle Boy in this 71-minute adventure. Bomba comes to the aid of Leah (Sue England), an orphaned jungle girl who has no idea who her real family is. Leah is being promoted as a "white goddess" by the scheming ruler (Paul Guilfoyle) of The Hidden City. Leon Belasco provides comedy relief, while black actor Smoki Whitfield shows up long enough to remind us that the story is supposed to be taking place in Africa. Bomba and the Hidden City was the fourth in Monogram's "Bomba" series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Johnny Sheffield, Sue England, (more)
- 1951
Bomba the Jungle Boy--aka Johnny Sheffield--makes his fifth screen appearance in Monogram's Lion Hunters. Bomba's task this time out is to stem the activities of crooked animal hunters Forbes (Morris Ankrum) and Martin (Douglas Kennedy). The villains have set up camp in the land of the Masai, who consider lions to be sacred. Forbes and Martin pay no attention to local native customs, going so far as to kidnap Jean (Ann Todd) to prevent Bomba from interfering with their ecological plunder. Needless to say, the bad guys are hoist on their own petard by film's end. As was the case in previous Bomba efforts, most of the action footage is culled from the 1930 documentary Africa Speaks. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Johnny Sheffield, Morris Ankrum, (more)
