Ron Ely Tarzan TV Series

Back in February we did the entire run of Tarzan films that were spawned and connected through rights from the MGM series in the 1930’s and 40’s. The series ran from 193- to 196-. At one point during the making of the films the series paused for a couple of years as the Ron Ely Tarzan series ran. The series was supposed to star big screen Tarzan Mike Henry, but doing the films soured Henry on being Tarzan and he walked away. Ely who had been hired to play a Tarzan impostor was bumped up to lead. Recently the Decades TV Network marathoned the first season and a chunk of the second one and I found myself dropping in to a bunch of the episodes over the run.

Based on the ten or so episodes I caught during the run I think the series is absolutely a great addition to the Tarzan mythos. To be quite honest the series is a vast improvement over a good number of the later films especially the final one TARZAN AND THE JUNGLE BOY. While the series hits a good number of cliché points, Cheetah, a Boy stand in, and plots that had been used before, the series over comes the sense of been here and done that by location shooting, a well written scripts and a stunning turn by Ron Ely.

Ely cuts an iconic figure as the jungle king. Not one to shy away from danger the fact that he did his own stunts helps to sell the plots. There are no real cutaways and it makes it all real. It also helps that he carries himself in such a way that you know he’s going to kick the bad guys ass. He’s one of the best Tarzans and his performance is what sold the series for me-to the extent that I’m going to pick up the series from the Warner Archive.

I really loved what I saw and found that I kept trying to find excuses to get back to the TV to watch more.

While the series only lasted two seasons, the ratings and the toll of production cut the series short, it produced some stunning adventures. They were so good that the two part episodes were released as theatrical films. The sad thing is that these films were much better than the final two Mike Henry films which ended the series. The Henry films were completed before the series ran and then were released after it ended.

If you need something to binge watch I highly recommend the Ron Ely Tarzan

Legend of Tarzan (2016)

I was hooked early into the Legend of Tarzan. It was a small detail that hooked me and pulled me in. It was something I noticed on my own before it was commented on-that being Alexander Skarsgård ‘s hands. How he holds his hands are similar to those of a gorilla’s. If he walked on all fours his hands would be held in a certain way and they are. It’s a detail that no Tarzan film I’ve ever seen had and it impressed the hell out of me.

Set several years after Tarzan and Jane have returned to England, the film tells the story of what happens when Tarzan is invited back to see how wonderfully the Belgians are running the Congo. It’s a trap, since an enemy wants Tarzan given over to him for access to the diamonds his tribe controls. Tarzan doesn’t want to go, but George Washington Williams (a real person played by Samuel L Jackson) wants him to go to help stop the slave labor rampant in the country. Joined by Jane who is home sick for Africa, the trio returns home and into danger.

An old school action film with great characters and stunning action set pieces this is the sort of film that they really don’t make any more. Its pure adventure that harkens back to the Edgar Rice Burroughs originals at their best. It’s one of my favorite films of the year because not only is the film a great deal of fun it’s how I have the characters in my head.

The truth of the matter the film is kind of a spiritual sequel to the first two Johnny Weissmuller films. Both Tarzan the Ape Man and Tarzan and his Mate are films for adults with sensuality and danger that was lost with the return of the production code. The third film Tarzan Escapes which was chopped up during production shows signs of that as well. Tarzan loves Jane and don’t anyone dare get between them because Tarzan will get her back no matter the cost. As Jane says "A normal man can do the impossible for the woman he loves. My husband is not a normal man.: What I find strange is that some people don’t like the “modern” Jane but if you’ve seen the early MGM ones, and many of the RKO ones she is a woman of action. The “rethink” isn’t that at all.

Actually many critics have slammed Legend as being a rewrite of history, of the character and other things that they decided the film is or is not. Many seemed to find that the character is just a bad idea because it’s a white guy saving the natives. Perhaps on some small level that maybe the case, except that’s the character. He is a white guy who lives in the jungle- but he’s one that respects everyone and everything in Africa a hell of a lot more than the white world. He is not a leader of men because he’s white, he’s a leader because he kicks ass. He is followed because his actions have earned the respect. He is not the white savior.

Ultimately this is not the place to do a full on defense of the character or the film against what people perceive the character is and what the history is, that may come at a later time. For now it simply should be pointed out that I’m pretty sure most if not all of the critics writing on the character and the film's "flaws" seem to have no clue about what the the films or the books really are. They have the perception of what they are from pop culture references and not the stories themselves- trust me I know I went through all the film earlier this year and found them different than I thought. I also had one writer who bitched about the film and the use of the character tell me flat out they never saw an Tarzan film before

I highly recommend the film. It’s just a blast and a half. I like that the film exceeded expectations at the box office and that audience reaction is extremely positive- more so than the critical one. I’m hoping that the film does well enough that we do get a sequel because there are more stories to tell. (and if there are sequels bring back Samuel L Jackson)

One of my favorite films of 2016 and one of the best Tarzan films ever made

Tarzan's Revenge (1938)

When is a Tarzan film almost not a Tarzan film?

Odd ball Tarzan film that was released by Fox and produced by Sol Lesser who would take over the series for RKO when MGM would give it up.This is one of the films produced because of the convoluted rights issues that Edgar Rice Burroughs created by signing deals with various producers in the silent days. MGM of course was not happy but considering the film is barely remembered except by Tarzan fans and people who find it in the bargain bins history has had it's revenge.

Lesser had wanted to cast Lou Gehrig in the lead but cast Glenn Morris, an Olympic athlete as the ape man instead. As his Jane he cast Eleanor Holm, an Olympic swimmer who was so popular that he changed Jane's name to Eleanor. Morris would have one more on screen appearance but for Holm this was the only time she'd be on screen.

The film has Eleanor and her family going into the jungle to collect animals for zoos. They have no cages and nothing to catch the animals with, only rifles, which one of their party uses to kill anything he can. Eleanor is engaged to a wimpy guy with very little back bone, Why she is with him is beyond anyone. While on the boat into the jungle Eleanor comes to the attention of a rich Arab with 100 wives. He likes her fire and wants to add her to his harem. Fleetingly Tarzan appears and somehow romances Jane...er Eleanor.

While not the worst Tarzan film ever made this film is no gem.  Its a big screen formulaic film cranked out of the studio system. You can feel the basic Tarzan plot being added to and modified by studio hacks who decided to retread the Tarzan meets Jane story one more time rather than come up with something great or even watchable- I mean not a hell of a lot happens.

The real question is why did they make a Tarzan film where he barely appears?

Half way into the film there is one meeting with Eleanor and some fleeting shots of him, but you could cut them out and you'd never know it was about the ape man. I'm guessing the studio heads were hoping that Eleanor Holm would decide to stay in pictures and they'd have a pre-made star. She is after all not a bad actress. The problem is she was one and done, and this film didn't help her cause not because she's bad but because the movie is.

This movie really is crappy. Its more dull than  anything else. It sets up all sorts of possibilities in the first couple minutes and than dumps them for people wandering around the jungle.

You're probably wondering why after 28 days of Tarzan films I'd choose to end with a clunker. The reason has less to do with quality and more to do with the fact that this was one of the few films that actually competed with the MGM series.  I had previously done THE NEW ADVENTURES OF TARZAN which Edgar Rice Burroughs made himself so that left  the remake of TARZAN THE APE MAN from 1960, which I was too lazy to track down (sorry it's true) or TARZAN THE FEARLESS which starred a young Buster Crabbe as Tarzan and which wasn't remotely interesting enough to sleep through again.  Seriously I've seen the feature version a couple of times and I've fallen asleep every time. I kept thinking it was because it was late and I was tired but I finally saw it one afternoon and promptly fell asleep.  The upshot of all of that the only film left was REVENGE.

And now we return to new releases and lots of festival coverage.

Tarzan and the Jungle Boy (1968)

The end of the line for a film series that stretched back to 1931 and TARZAN THE APEMAN. Its a sad end and probably the weakest film in the entire run.

The film has Tarzan being dragged into help try and track down the son of a missing geologist by some reporters who parachute into the jungle to find him. Along the way they come up against an evil native who wants to seize control of his tribe.

I kind of shut off early when we see the young boys father trying to keep a leopard cub in the sleeping bag of his sleeping son. My twee alarms were going off.  More alarms went off when the reporters dropped in on Tarzan with full on 1960's fashion in place and when we saw Rafer Johnson competing in tribal events that looked exactly like the Olympic events he won his medal for.

For me the film just doesn't work. Its too choppy and blocky and it suffers from the fact that the film is, like the others starring Mike Henry, thrashing about in an effort to be about something and to find it's way in the Tarzan sequence.

Admittedly the film has it's problems due to the trouble in shooting but even so the film never wholly works. Shot with the previous films in close proximity to each other (all three were done before CITY OF GOLD was released) Henry walked away from the film and the starring role in the TV series because he had had enough of the jungle dangers. I would like to think that he also did it because the films didn't really work. I'm guessing the producers were eyeing the TV series more than the films which suffered as a result.

While not an complete disaster, this isn't a film you'd really want to watch. It's more a time killer than a time passer and its the sort of thing I'll watch when nothing else is on TV rather than something I'd put on TV to watch.

A whimpering end to a great film series.

Tarzan and the Great River (1967)

The Tarzan series is winding down with the one entry that was all over the Medved's Golden Turkey Award and 50 Worst films books.

You remember those don't you? They were the books that proclaimed PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE the worst film of all time and Ed Wood the worst director. Neither is of course true. The books were an easy way for lazy film fans to dabble in cinematic badness and seem hipper than their friends. The books were fun reads but if you actually read the books you realized what absolute shit they were. Seriously they were. If you need proof consider that no one talks about them any more, the result of their pre- home video ramblings of half remembered films have been proved to be dead wrong in many things like plot and the quality of films.

That said this is one of the blander entries in the Tarzan series. Its the result of too many plot points we've seen before and a drive to be more spectacular over the need to tell a great story.

The plot has Tarzan summoned to Brazil to look into a jaguar cult in the jungle with is raiding villages and killing or enslaving the people. The authorities don't know they reason since anyone they send to find out disappears. In desperation they send for Tarzan who they feel is the only one who could stand a chance of surviving long enough to find out whats going on.Along the way he picks up a beautiful doctor and a boat captain with his young friend. The captain is played by comedian Jan Murray to mixed effect.

This is a spectacular film that looks fantastic in its on location setting. It looks like they spent a penny or two with shooting in real places. If the film flounders by inserting a shot of hippos in a Brazilian river it can be forgiven with a chuckle.

The real problem here is the script and the pacing. There isn't any thing we haven't seen before. Things just sort plod along with stock characters that have played out in earlier variations in the series and in film history. It would be fine but the pace is slack and the action sequences, which could have been exciting seem to have been put together with no real sense of urgency so some of the final battle between Tarzan and Barcuna the head of the cult comes off as 'eh"  in stead of "OH YEA".

While not the absolute worst in the series it's kind of clear things were coming to an end. In truth there is a reason that the film is better known for the tale of Henry and the Chimp  rather than for the film itself.

(For those who don't know Mike Henry was bitten by Dinky the chip and severely injured. He end up with monkey fever for three weeks and the animal had to be destroyed)

Tarzan and the Valley of Gold (1966)

First of the Mike Henry Tarzan's has him acting more as a man of action on the order of James Bond than a jungle man.

The film opens with Tarzan's arrival in Mexico. He's been brought into protect a boy who knows the location to a city made of gold. The boy is wanted by a crazed millionaire who sends his enemies booby trapped watches and kills them with wild gadgets. Tarzan heads off into the jungle with only a leopard, lion and chimpanzee to help him.

This is an entertaining film, but you can feel the series starting to break down. Mike Henry proves to be a kick ass Tarzan, and makes you regret he got type cast by his role as Jackie Gleeson's son in the SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT films, but at the same time he can't sell this new superhero ape man. The real problem here is the script which is more TV spy show than Edgar Rice Burroughs.

Having seen all of the Mike Henry films its kind of sad that he didn't become a bigger action star. His physical presence is commanding and he has an great ease with action sequences. The problem with his Tarzan stint was I don't think the producers knew what to do with the character in a changing world. This is easily the best of the three films Henry appeared in and the one must see,if not for an okay adventure then to reclaim Henry's standing in your mind as something other than being the son of Sheriff Buford T Justice.

Tarzan's Three Challenges (1963)

The Tarzan world tour continues....

The film begins as the last film with Tarzan leaping from a plane into the adventure in Thailand. It seems  Tarzan has to  help a friend who he had met in Africa. It seems that he is need to get the successor of the kingdom to his coronation. The successor is chosen in a manner like the Dali Lama and the boy's uncle doesn't like that and he wants the position for his son. His plan to stop Tarzan is to have one of his men intercept him, allow Tarzan and the boy to get on the road and then kill him, but they don't know Tarzan and the whole thing becomes chase of sorts

At this point Tarzan's adventures began to resemble those of Maciste whose adventures were part of the swords and sandals cycle happening in Europe. Think about it, Tarzan like Maciste runs around in a loin cloth. Though set in modern day, we know this because of the plane, the swords and dress of the characters would lead one to believe this is a period piece. In a weird way the film reminded me of SAMSON AND THE SEVEN MIRACLES (aka Maciste at the Court of the Great Khan) which has the muscle man helping out in an Asian country.

The film has it's moments. Certainly the film is spectacular thanks to it having been shot in Thailand. And the action sequences when they come are great. Sequences like the fire, and the final battle between Tarzan and the evil and dubbed Woody Strode is great and I understand why that's what most people remember about the film.

And as great as the action sequences are the film over all isn't as good as it should be. There is way too much talk and too many travel sequences. The addition of the cute baby elephant wasn't needed, nor were the sequences showing the elephants lounging in the river. The film really could have been trimmed down  by ten minutes or more.

While my feelings for the film are mixed, I love sections and like others, I still think this is good film and definitely worth seeing if you can see it big and widescreen.

Useless bit of  information-Jock Mahoney who played Tarzan decided to swim across one of the rivers of Thailand in a show of machismo. Woody Strode warned him against it but he did it anyway and contracted various diseases which laid him up for the better part of two years and wrecked his health for the rest of his life. He dropped over 50 pounds during filming and if you watch Mahoney through the film you can see his body size change.

Tarzan Goes to India (1962)

Tarzan goes to India to help a Rajah save a heard of elephants from an impending dam. The project is being headed in part by an old enemy of Tarzan's who built a damn and used it as cover for hunting elephants for ivory.

The modern Tarzan marches on in a film that benefits from being shot on location. The change in location adds greatly to the proceedings as does the widescreen. I'm guessing the change of location to India was financial, but it was a coup in many ways since it allowed for epic scale sequences such as the vast dam site. It may look a tad clunky, but t the same time it has a weight over what they would have done today with computers at 100 times the cost.

If the film gets a bit twee with the little kid who lives in the jungle with the elephants things are more than made up for by the action sequences which kick in at the opening as Tarzan doesn't land in India so much as leap from a plane into the lake outside the Rajah's  palace, from there there are elephant attacks, cobra attacks, construction accidents and general man on man nastiness. For my money the only real problem is the damn builders are dicks because they can be rather than for any viable reason.

I know this film isn't particularly highly rated at IMDB but I'm not sure why.  Perhaps most people only saw this in a crappy pan and scan TV version because sitting at home and watching this on a big screen TV I was completely enthralled. Is it perfect, not but it is entertaining as all hell. I would gladly watch this again, and I will soon with a big bowl of popcorn.

A must see for anyone who wants to see a grand old school adventure.

Tarzan the Magnificent (1960)

Last of the Gordon Scott Tarzan's has him attempting to drag bad guy Coy Banton to jail. Banton is played by Jock Mahoney who would take over the role from Scott in the next film TARZAN GOES TO INDIA. The resulting battle of manliness has so much testosterone that women seeing this should be warned they may leave the film with full growth beards.

The plot of the film has Banton and his bad guy crew robbing a bank and shooting up the town. The police chief gives chase and manages to spirit Banton away in the middle of the night. Banton's men lay an ambush and kill the cop. Tarzan then does a number drags Banton to a trading post. He wants to put him on the ferry to the city but the people at the post are afraid, more so after Banton's men kill the ferry captain and burn the ferry. Tarzan is stuck taking the overland route which he does, dragging some stranded travelers with him. Things then become a cat and mouse game as Tarzan and party are pursued by Banton's men. (the film is a riff on the plot of the last film TARZAN"S GREATEST ADVENTURE)

A great cast, which in addition to Scott and Mahoney also includes Lionel Jeffries, Betta St John and John Carradine, manages to make this one of the tensest of all th Tarzan films. It helps that Banton and his men are just pure evil. They will just shoot you for no reason and you fear for Tarzan and his party. The tension continues straight to the end when Tarzan gets his ass kicked in a final battle with Banton.

One of the better Tarzan's is definitely worth a look

Tarzan's Greatest Adventure (1959)

This film is a game changer. Gone are almost all of the trappings of the previous films, key among them Jane and the pigeon English. It is the rebirth of the ape man as an adult character. Its is considered to be one of the best, if not the best Tarzan film ever made. I would have no trouble calling it one of the best in the series, certainly the best of the post Weissmuller films.

The plot of the film has Tarzan (Gordon Scott) trying to hunt down an old "friend" named Slade (Anthony Qualye). He and his men had been raiding villages getting supplies dressed as natives. When one someone in the village recognizes Slade, he shoot the man but not before moaning Slade's name. Its a clue which Tarzan is able to follow.  Heading off down the river Tarzan ends up joined by Angie (Sara Shane), a female pilot and model. The majority of the film is the cat and mouse game between Slade and Tarzan.

Gritty, realistic and nasty, this was no longer your grandfather's Tarzan. This was closer to Edgar Rice Burroughs idea of Lord Greystoke. Scott completely comes into the role in this film and it's shame he had only one more outing in the role. Its also completely understandable that he ended up in Italy doing Maciste films.

The film is notable for any number of reasons but of semi-major interest is the appearance of a young Sean Connery as one of Slade's cronies. He's a mean spirited and nasty man who loves to torment people. It ends up getting people, including himself killed.

One of the things that I really like is the relationship between Taran and Angie. What starts off as neither caring for the other much, but being intrigued and turns into something much more complex. How it unfolds is atypical not only of the series, but of most films period. The resolution is kind of to be expected, except you'd think it was to happen between films.

The psychology of everyone in this film is intriguing more so when you consider when the film was made. The allusions to sex (characters are clearly horny for each other) and the outright graphic violence as part of a character's psyche is shocking in what may very well have been deemed a kids film (something the Tarzan films were often considered). The fact that Tarzan yells triumphantly after pitching a foe off a cliff is both cathartic and makes you wonder who the hell our hero really is. There is a complexity here that ended up being lost when Scott left the role after the next film and the focus changed.

This is a great film on any level. Its just a solid trip into the jungle where bad things happen to bad people. You have a great hero and a great group of villains interacting in a series of great action set pieces. Its a film that has you on the edge of your seat for it's entire running time.

A must see for anyone who likes damn good films, never mind Tarzan or adventure films.

(There is a kind of inversion of this story with Tarzan hunted in the next film, the really good TARZAN THE MAGNIFICENT)

Tarzan's Fight for Life (1958)

Twenty one films into the Tarzan sequence and I’m at the point where how I see films is playing very differently than those who are just wandering into the series randomly. What I mean by this is that over the course of the last few weeks I’ve been watching all of the films that followed the rights leading outward from the first Johnny Weissmuller film in 1932. Every film in the original MGM series, which shifted to RKO and onward as the rights shifted ownership. How I’m seeing the films days apart is different than anyone seeing the films weeks, months or even years apart. I know my reaction to the films is different than other people because I have the other films to compare them to.

For example in checking a few details for TARZAN’S FIGHT FOR LIFE I went to IMDB and found that reaction to the film was much less positive than what I felt. To me the film is an enjoyable one, filled with more intrigue than action. I liked that the film concentrated more on plot than most of the other films. Several people on IMDB were less thrilled with the talk and African lensed footage. I liked the change of pace, which many of the people just taking it as a random film were unimpressed.

Their loss. I really liked this film a great deal.

The plot of the film has Tarzan trying to help Dr Sturdy who is setting up a hospital in the jungle. The doctor is running on the bad side of Futa a witch doctor who feels threatened by the medicine. It’s something Tarzan tells his former friend out right early in the film in an intriguing exchange that foreshadows modern politics where unless you believe in lock step with a leader you’re labeled an enemy. The film becomes a battle between the two sides as Futa tries to ruin the hospital and the doctors try to remain safe.

For me the joy of the film is the back forth. I like that while we know Tarzan will come out on top, we don’t know how we are going to get there. Characters die, actions have consequences, future events are foreshadowed. It’s a much more complex film than pretty much any film in the series since the third or fourth Weissmuller. To me this is light years above the previous three films in the series.

Tarzan and the Trappers (1958)

Oddball and atypical Tarzan movie was not supposed to be a movie at all but rather the pilot for a TV series. When the series collapsed the three episodes that were made were cut together to form a movie, which is really clunky in the telling.

First Tarzan deals with some trappers who are poaching animals. Next he has to deal with one of the poachers brother who hunts people and thirdly there is some nonsense concerning a hidden city.

While the three stories keep things moving they never come together and you can feel how one bit bleeds into the next. Equally jarring is the mix of studio footage and stuff shot in the jungle. The footage is not only all over the place but it involves material that originally appeared in other films. The film also has the return of Jane and of Boy who are completely out of place if you try to put the film in a sequence with the previous 19 films.

While not the absolute turkey some have made it out to be, it still isn't as good as some of the others,  Worth a look if you run a cross it  (its available free at the internet archive) or at the Warner Archive

Tarzan and the Lost Safari (195-)

This was the first Tarzan film to be released in color, though not the first one shot that way(that was TARZAN'S PERIL which was shot on location and suffered from processing issues which wrecked the color for half the stock). It’s a film that is lifted by the color spectacle and the location shooting.

The plot of the film has Tarzan helping a group of travelers who stranded after their plane is brought down by a flock of migrating flamingos (no really). The group are hounded by a tribe of natives who are I cahoots with and evil white man. The natives hope to sacrifice the group to their god.

A run of the mill story is made better by the color photography which frequently gives us some truly spectacular images to look at. It also gets bonus points for including footage that appears to have been shot on location. Seeing the king of the jungle actually in the jungle, in rivers and running across the grasslands is really cool.

As Tarzan films go this is probably the blandest. It is not a bad film, rather it’s a film that seems more concerned with showing off the color photography than it is with being a completely exciting film. It’s a film that just sort of is and which goes through the motions. Yes there are moments of action, but it’s not as exciting as it had been in other films. The film is also saddled with uneven marrying of studio sets with the real world. Watch how Tarzan runs through real grasslands to the set where the crashed plane is hanging by vines. Tarzan’s pursuit of the woman who is kidnapped bounces between sets and real locations. Yes I was willing to go with it but at the same time I was never fully invested, or as invested as I was I the other films in the sequence.

While I would definitely watch the film if I ran across it I’m not sure that I would ever pull it out and just put it on.

Tarzan's Hidden Jungle (1955)

Gordon Scott takes over and the series begins to break away farther from the past and move more into the modern world. Tarzan's pigeon English is less pronounced and Jane is nowhere to be found.

The plot has Tarzan helping a pair of doctors (Peter van Eyck and Scott's future wife Vera Miles) in the jungle who get mixed up with a group of poachers. The poachers are running afoul of a hidden kingdom where animals are sacred by driving the animals across a river and killing them.  Since the medicos had vouched for the poachers (they didn't know their evil intentions) the King holds them responsible. Its up to Tarzan to sort it all out.

While in it's way a throw back to some of the earlier films with it's frequent use of studio and backlot sets the film does score over some other in the series by moving along at a good clip. Things happen and and the plot moves. There isn't really any wasted time on cuteness or unnecessary nonsense.

If there is any real problem it's that Scott looks a bit uncomfortable running around in a loin cloth. Actually he looks uncomfortable just being before a camera. Its understandable since this was Scott's first film and unless he's doing something he is very self aware. That would of course disappear since he had five more Tarzan's head of him plus he would become a staple of the Swords and Sandals genre making 14 appearances in muscle man movies..

Worth a look

Tarzan and the She Devil (1953)

After a film that was a bit juvenile and largely lacking in tension we’re back in the middle of a film that’s much more adult and filled with real tension. It’s all do to a stellar supporting cast that manages to generate real menace from a group of nasty villains.

The basic plot has Tarzan and Jane going to head to head with a group of Ivory poachers. The “brains” of the operation is played by Monique van Vooren a deadly beauty who uses her muscle Tom Conway and a truly demonic Raymond Burr to kill as many elephants as possible. Of course Tarzan is running interference and hobbles the poachers every chance he can.

The film works because the bad guys are bad. I mean really bad. Raymond Burr is evil personified, kidnapping the manpower he needs to transport the ivory at the drop of a hat. These guys and gals are so bad that tension hangs over the proceedings from the get go. We hate them from the instant we see them, before we even see them do anything. They ooze evil.

I find it funny that outside of Godzilla, until Perry Mason, Raymond Burr was primarily a villain, and a damn fine one too. His big and bulky frame worked wonders as an imposing brute of a man. We have no trouble believing he is as bad as they come and we are thrilled when he gets his in the end.

The interesting twist of the film is that at a certain point Tarzan stops being the prime mover and Jane becomes the focus. When a kidnap attempt goes horribly wrong and the tree house is consumed by fire everyone, including Tarzan, assumes Jane is dead. Tarzan slides into not caring he simply sits as the bad guys capture him and drag him along in the hope they can force him to help with the elephants. Jane meanwhile tries to find Tarzan  and once she finds out he has been captured to rescue him. Its an interesting twist that keeps what should have been a slow portion of the film interesting.

Its a good little film and a great way to remember Lex Barker in his final doning of the loincloth.

Tarzan's Savage Fury (1952)

TARZAN'S SAVAGE FURY was a step in the wrong direction as far as the series was concerned. After the experiment of shooting in Kenya and a harder edge to the action we are once more back in the studio and dealing with a Joey, a Boy stand in ,as well.

The thrust of the film has imposters posing as one of Tarzan’s cousins and trying to get him to take them to a diamond rich area of the jungle.Tarzan doesn't want to do it but Jane talks him into it- even though it means heading into a region even he is afraid to go to.

Ultimately this is nothing we haven’t seen before in the other films and isn’t particularly well handled. I kind of lost interest when the pair did some magic tricks for Jane and Tarzan since all I could think was after traveling all through the jungle that still managed to carry their tricks with them. Worse much of the film has very little action with talk about going to the diamonds or an extended trek to the village.

I wasn’t particularly happy with the inclusion of the young boy as a Boy stand in. The kid was obviously added as a means of playing to the kiddie audience but other than a means of rescuing Tarzan late in the film he really serves no purpose.

What bothers me is that up to now the films had been moving in a more mature, more adult direction but this pulled it back to a kind of silliness. Part of it is the result of Joey being there and part of it is the ham-fisted magic tricks. Worse there is no real tension. While there are some nice violent set pieces I loved that Tarzan meets Joey when he was being used as live bait to capture alligators, or the hippo attack where some one is eaten or even the attack by the natives at the lost city, they are moments and not the whole film.

In fairness I think that had I not seen this in sequence, this would have played better. Had I not seen it 16 films in or even four films in to Lex Barker's run I would have liked it more because I would have been less aware of the greatness  of TARZAN'S PERIL. I know taking this on it's own terms it's a good adventure, however in sequence its just as okay.

Tarzan's Peril (1951)

Oh what a difference location shooting can make...

This is the first Tarzan film to have been shot on location in Africa and not just use stock footage. It was also a film whose shoot was filled with troubles such as too much overcast so that Lex Barker's tan disappeared, the corruption of a good chunk the color film so it had to be released in black and white and the weather being such that Cheetah was not being cooperative and had to have his part greatly reduced.  The result, in my eyes, is one of the more exciting films in the series.

This time out Tarzan is pitted against an old foe, a man named Redijeck a gun running slaver who managed to arrange his escape from the gallows. Along the way he manages to kill both the old and new commissioners and cause all sorts of havoc when he puts his guns into the hands of a war like tribe. Tarzan life is of course in danger as he tries to run down the bad guy who hates not only Tarzan but Jane as well.

The longest film in a several entries the film is nicely given room to breath. I don't think Tarzan even appears in the film for ten or fifteen minutes as the film lays out the situation in the jungle and who all of the new characters are.I like that nothing feels rushed, that we given time to get acquainted with this world and the positions of all the players. I especially love how the lack of Cheetah works to the films advantage with the humor kept to a minimum. This is a film fraught with danger and there is no humor to take the edge off things.

In reading on the film at IMDB and some other message boards there was some grousing that the plot line isn't entirely new but is essentially a stock western plot. Perhaps, but to a large degree not only all western plots are stock, most film plots are and it's only the dressing that makes the difference.

Here the dressing is a bunch of location shooting. To be sure there is a a lot of studio shooting as well, but the stuff shot on location in Kenya is a major plus. Its nice not only to see Tarzan and Jane in actual locations, but its nice not to see the same jungle sets for what seems like the 100th time.

The film marks Virgina Huston as the third Jane in as many films and for the most part she really has nothing to do. After Brenda Joyce carried over from the Weissmuller films and was a key player in the action in MAGIC FOUNTAIN and Vanessa Brown was in SLAVE GIRL, Huston does very little except end up in peril in the final moments here. While she is convincing in conveying the real terror at seeing Redijack again, she doesn't do anything other than just hang around. Granted she is barely in the film to begin with but she could have been cut out with no loss to the story.

For me the film is one of the most tense in the whole series. George Macready as Redijeck is pure evil, You really get a sense of how vile he is. You completely understand why Tarzan hates and fears him. There is a sense of danger that he brings to everything that caries over to the action sequences. And if his sole mistake is not shooting Tarzan outright but allowing him to be tossed into a river unconscious, you still feel that maybe this time Tarzan won't come out of it.

This is a super film and a must see for anyone who loves adventure film.

Tarzan and the Slave Girl (1950)

Lex Barker continues on as Tarzan in a mostly exciting jungle tale.

Starting almost from frame one, the action begins as the betrothed of a jungle prince is kidnapped. Tarzan and Jane track down the kidnappers but all but one escape. When the one that didn't get away dies from what looks to be a terrible disease, Tarzan summons a doctor who diagnosis's deadly but treatable malady. However things heat up when Jane and the doctor's nurse are kidnapped. This sends Tarzan, the doctor and some others on a trek to find the bad guy

Pretty much exciting from the get go the film keeps your interest with lots of action and a great deal of peril. The chase to rescue Jane and the nurse is fraught with danger as the group is stalked by a bunch of camouflage clad natives who block the way as well as other perils.

If the film as any real flaw it would be a slow down in the  middle for a bit as Tarzan treks and the kidnapped women have to deal with court intrigue in the kingdom to which they were brought. Thankfully once Tarzan gets to the city the action picks up as the bad guys try to stop Tarzan by any means at hand.

This is another good Tarzan. Its the sort of film that explains why the series had been running for 17 years and 14 entries. This is the sort of movie you could curl you with on a rainy afternoon with a bowl of popcorn and just get lost for a while. The film also marks the midway point in the series and where many series would seem to be coasting or winding down the change in leads seems to have invigorated the series. While I know that some of the films to some maybe bumpy, I do like how the series was trying to do more than coast.

I can't wait to see the next film.

Tarzan"s Magic Fountain (1949)

A change in Tarzan will do the world of good. This is the first non- Johnny Weissmuller film in the series and its a bump up from the previous entries with less a sense of being by rote even if it is.

The plot has a note book belonging to a long missing actress/heiress being discovered in the jungle. When tarzan gives it to the authorities he finds out that there is are several rewards for her return including one because she can get a man out of prison where he's been for 20 years. Tarzan doesn't let on that he knows where she is and goes to ask if she would return with him. She does and the fact she looks 20 years younger than she is leads everyone to suspect that she is where the fountain of youth can be found. This sets the baddies into action.  When the actress returns with a husband wanting to go home Tarzan refuses to take her. Jane horrified at Tarzan's attitude agrees to try to get them there. Of course the baddies follow.

Lex Barker starts his stint as Tarzan in this film and he is actually quite good. Much more serious than Weissmuller had been at the end of his run he brings gravity back to the role. He is helped a great deal by the production which takes the by rote plot line an adds in some real chills and excitement. Nothing like flaming crossbow bolts through your chest to ruin a day. Here for the first time in long time you actually worry if someone is going to get hurt.

After going through the previous 12 films I found my attention flagging toard the end. To be honest the last ouple or so films were tough to get through. Had I not been doing all of the films I ould have bailed and gone on to other film before eventually circling back.  Seeing MAGIC FOUNTAIN my desire to keep going was renewed. I found why I like these films all over again. I can't ait to see what's next.

Onward and upward.

Out on DVD from the Warner Archive

Tarzan and the Mermaids (1948)

And he is out of here…..

With TARZAN AND THE MERMAIDS Johnny Weissmuller hung up his loin cloth and put on the khakis of Jungle Jim. It’s a breezy entry in the series and while nowhere near the best, it’s far from the worst as well.

The film has Mara, one of the sea people of the title, fleeing her home when an evil priest in co-hoots with an evil outsider use heir god as a means of getting pearls from the people. Mara is to be married to the god, but she suspects the truth and will have none of it and leaps from a cliff only to pursued by henchmen. Eventually ending up in the jungle she meets Tarzan and Jane who offer to help her.

Oddly constructed and paced film the film begins with a 10 minute or so sequence that has Mara escape from the clutches of the bad guys. The film then shifts to the jungle where Tarzan and Jane get an update on Boy who is off at college. The sequence feels stretched and more like filler. More time passes before Mara meets Tarzan and he agrees to help. By the time he’s heading off about half the film is done and very little has actually happened. However once Tarzan gets to the “mermaids” the film picks up and races to the ending.

Basically it’s a good first 10 minutes and a very good last 35 minutes surrounding a mediocre central 20. The last 35 minutes are the reason to see the film.

As the Weissmuller films come to a close and we move on to Lex Barker who takes over for several films, it’s time to take stock of the series so far and of the man most identified with Edgar Rice Burroughs ape man.

While there is no doubt the best of the run are the earlier MGM films, many of the later films have a certain charm. Weissmuller never was much of an actor and he never tried to be. 99% of his output was the Tarzan or Jungle Jim film (considered to be Tarzan with clothes). The end run of the Jungle Jim films gave no pretense who was on screen, it was Weissmuller since the series carried his name when the right to use Jungle Jim was lost. The final Tarzans are like that as well with the early cinematic incarnation of the ape man gone and the literary one all but obliterated.

Despite the films use of stock footage and stock situations the films managed to pump enough action and excitement into the plot lines that you kept watching. Even in the weaker efforts I would perk up once the set pieces kicked in.

Would I watch the films again? Most certainly. Actually except for one or two I’m even looking forward to going back and watching them again after I make it all the way through all of the films in the sequence.