The Tarzan Collection brings together the first six Tarzan films that were
produced by the MGM studios in one DVD box set. I must confess that I had never
seen the original six Tarzan films. And it wasn't until now that I had no idea
what I was missing. I had only seen the later Tarzan movies that were produced
by RKO, and I wondered how anybody could consider Johnny Weissmuller to be the
definitive Tarzan. To put it delicately, Weissmuller always appeared to be a
little on the flabby side to me, and the Tarzan films that he made for RKO had
the sophistication of a Saturday morning cartoon. To be sure, they were fun
movies, such as "Tarzan and The Leopard Woman", which is my favorite of the RKO
titles. But I could never understand how anybody would consider a Tarzan film
to be a classic of any kind.
Until now.
In the very first film, Tarzan The Ape Man, which was released in 1932,
Weissmuller was lean, fit and utterly believable as Tarzan. And Maureen
O'Sullivan was simply enchanting as Jane Parker, the civilized young woman who
becomes the love of Tarzan's life. In "Ape Man", Jane has arrived at her
father's trading post in deepest Africa, where she plans to join her old man
and friend Harry Holt on a safari to find the legendary elephant graveyard.
However, instead of a pile of elephant bones, Jane finds trouble when Tarzan
abducts her and takes her back to his crib, where she hangs out (literally)
with the swinging apes. Once she sees that Tarzan is not truly a beast (he's a
perfect gentleman who lets her sleep in peace) Jane forms a bond with the big
lug. And that famous line, "Me Tarzan, you Jane" is never uttered in this film.
But what is spoken is rather funny: after Jane makes the introductions, The
Lord Of The Jungle keeps saying "Tarzan, Jane, Tarzan, Jane," over and over as
he gently taps his chest and then Jane on the shoulder repeatedly. O'Sullivan's
frustration when she blurts out for him to finally stop is very funny. Ape Man
has the slow, mannerly pace of most films from the early 1930s, yet it climaxes
with frenzy when the safari has a run-in with a tribe of dwarves (we are told
that they are not pygmies) who capture them and feed them to a huge, ravenous
ape in a pit. This scene is fast-paced and spectacular, and it makes me wonder
if this was where George Lucas got the idea for the Rancor in the pit sequence
in Return Of The Jedi.
If the first Tarzan film was a load of fun, the second, Tarzan And His Mate, is
without a doubt marvelous. This is the true classic of the six MGM Tarzan
movies, both for its epic scope (accomplished by having the biggest budget of
all the MGM Tarzan films) and a well-told storyline. Harry Holt returns to lead
another expedition back to the elephant graveyard, and Tarzan is happy to lead
the safari--until he discovers that they intend to plunder the ivory. When he
refuses to help, Martin, Harry's partner, shoots an elephant, knowing full well
that the dying animal will lead them straight to the graveyard without Tarzan's
help. But Tarzan retaliates by calling forth an army of elephants that stops the
ivory hunters in their tracks. However, Martin's treachery knows no bounds, as
Tarzan soon finds out to his peril.
"Mate" is famous for two things: the famous underwater swimming scene between
Tarzan and Jane, where Jane (actually a double for O'Sullivan) is completely
nude. After being cut from the original release prints, that racy (for its time) scene has been
restored to the DVD version. The other famous thing that "Mate" is well known
for is the skimpy, two piece outfit that Jane wears throughout the film. Having
gone native, Jane is clad in a tank top-style outfit with a flimsy loincloth.
Alas, this would be the only Tarzan film where she would wear this two-piece
garment.
One other thing that I've noticed about "Mate" is how it shows Jane to be a
very resourceful young woman. When caught in a tight spot, such as the climax,
where she faces hordes of hungry lions, Jane fights back as best she can--at first
by picking the cats off with a gun, and when the bullets run out, setting a fire
to hold them at bay until Tarzan arrives. It's refreshing to see Jane is not
your typical helpless damsel in distress, especially in a film from the 1930s.
In Tarzan Escapes, the third film in the MGM series, we start seeing Tarzan and
his Mate settle down into a more domesticated locale. The tree house, with its
various primitive gadgets, makes its first appearance in a Tarzan film. The plot
involves Jane's cousins arriving in Africa to see if she would return to England
to claim an inheritance. If she does not, then all the money will go to bug
research. Jane reluctantly decides to go back, just to settle the inheritance
for her cousins. However, captain Fry, the expedition's guide, has an ulterior
motive for heading into Tarzan's country: he wants to capture the Lord Of The
Jungle, using a special steel cage. Despite the incessant use of stock footage
from "Mate", Tarzan Escapes is another solid entry in the series, as Tarzan
proves to be a far more wily and dangerous prey than Fry had anticipated. And
fans of scantily clad jungle babes will mourn the fact that, from this film on,
Jane is clad in a one-piece dress.
As its title indicates, Tarzan Finds A Son introduces Boy, played by the young
Johnny Sheffield. Tarzan and Jane find a baby boy in the crashed remains of an
airplane. They take him in and raise him as their own son. After about five
years, another pesky safari wanders onto Tarzan's territory, this time
searching for the missing airplane and its passengers. The story then becomes
sort of a remake of "Tarzan Escapes", when relatives of Boy's parents want him to
return with them to England with them. The pacing of "Son" is pretty slow, and
the storyline is somewhat predictable, making this a lesser entry in the series.
The quality picks up somewhat with Tarzan's Secret Treasure. Tarzan, Jane and
Boy are swimming in the river when Boy discovers some shiny rocks on the bottom.
When he shows them to Jane, she tells him that he has found gold nuggets. This
puts the bug in Boy's ear to go visit civilization, which in Tarzan's realm is a
nearby native village that has been struck with a plague. The natives blame Boy
for their problems, and are about to put him to death via burning at the stake
when he is rescued by…you guessed it…another safari. But Boy's saviors turn out
to be a problem once he tells them about the gold. "Treasure" is still enjoyable,
in spite of the endless use of stock footage from earlier Tarzan films. When a
tribe captures Jane, Boy and the Safari members, they witness native bearers
being ripped apart while tied to trees in the exact same footage from "Tarzan Escapes". The same
alligator footage from "Mate" is re-used here, too.
In Tarzan's New York Adventure, the final film in the MGM series, Boy meets
with a safari picking up animals for a circus. When they come under attack by
natives, Tarzan and Jane come to their rescue, only to fall in a ravine when
their vine is cut. Thinking that Tarzan and Jane are dead, the circus men take
Boy back with them to New York City. And so Tarzan, Jane and Cheetah (???) all
go to New York, where a bunch of hijinks ensue. There are some funny moments in
"Adventure", such as when a harried Jane must work frantically to keep both
Tarzan and Cheetah out of trouble in a hotel room, but to be blunt, this is
probably the weakest of the MGM series. I prefer my Tarzan movies to take place
in the real jungles of Africa, rather than the asphalt jungle of the big city.
In addition to the six MGM movies, there is also a superb feature-length
documentary, Tarzan: Silver Screen King Of The Jungle. This documentary, first
seen on the Turner Classic Movies cable network, gets into the behind the scenes
details of the Tarzan films. All in all, the Tarzan Collection is a must have
DVD set for fans of the Lord Of The Jungle. In the Fall of 2006, Tarzan fans
received the second set of Weismuller films on DVD.--SF
Main Review Page | Action/Adventure Reviews |Email Me | Buy The Tarzan Collection on DVD here
