Jungle Jim Johnny Weissmüller and Sergeant Bono escort the British Museum's Phyllis Bruce Jean Byron on a tour through a dense African jungle, where curiosity quickly collides with danger. They stumble upon a sacrificial ritual in which the chief religious official, Wombulu Charles Horvath, plans to offer a native to the tiger god Tambura. The scene shatters when the ritualist lunges with a knife, and Jim’s life is saved only when a hunter, Abel Peterson James Seay, shoots him dead. Peterson then invites Jim, Bono, and Bruce to stay at his lodging, setting the stage for a web of pursuit, double-cross, and survival beneath the tangled canopy.
Soon a larger motive enters the frame. Major Bill Green of the United States, accompanied by Commissioner Kingston, arrives to pursue a stolen collection of artworks believed to be in the hands of a jungle operator named Karl Werner. Werner claims ignorance about the looted pieces, while Green accuses him of complicity with the thieves, even labeling him a Nazi collaborator. As the two factions maneuver, Green spots Peterson and his henchmen nearby, confirming the suspicion that they are the masterminds behind the art theft. What follows is a tense clash between rivals, with Werner, Green, Kingston, and Jim briefly sidelined and imprisoned in a cupboard.
The tide shifts when Werner breaks free. He races toward the airfield, overpowers the pilot, and takes control of the plane himself. His attempt to escape ends in chaos as the craft bursts into flames while still in flight. Werner plunges out, accompanied by an exotic dancer who happens to be aboard, and the dancer’s tiger also crashes into the jungle, adding a perilous new factor to an already volatile situation. The native population, initially poised to attack Jim, is momentarily diverted by the sight of the tiger and kneels in reverence before what they perceive as Tambura.
Back on the ground, Wombulu and Peterson form an uneasy alliance aimed at abducting Werner, while Jim and his companions slip away from danger. Jim’s loyal pet chimp, Tamba, detects a hidden dynamite trap and helps thwart it, keeping the group alive. From a distance, the jungle drama intensifies as the dancer’s tiger goes on a rampage and the natives suffer casualties. Peterson seizes Werner and makes a desperate break, only to be stopped by Jim, who frees Werner from Peterson’s grasp. The locals, enraged by the betrayal and the violence, close in on Peterson and his men, killing them off.
In a final gambit, Jim resets the dynamite trap. The blast destroys the last of the danger posed by the voodoo faction, allowing the group to escape with their lives. With the loom of Tambura fading, Major Green declares his feelings for Bruce, bringing a tentative note of personal resolution to a mission fraught with danger, deception, and jungle-wide consequences.
