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Post by almuric on Nov 19, 2016 9:54:48 GMT -5
I did note that Tarzan Escapes addresses the issue of how the elephants get up the Escarpment. Apparently, the other side of the Escarpment is gently sloped. That would have been nice to know earlier. Certainly it would make it easier on the native bearers.
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Post by deuce on Nov 21, 2016 7:51:24 GMT -5
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Post by almuric on Nov 23, 2016 11:16:11 GMT -5
Tarzan Finds a Son! (1939) - No, not Korak. This is the debut of Johnny Sheffield as Boy. He would spend the better part of the next twenty years running around one jungle or another. It is also another step on the road to this series, which began with a rather adult bent, becoming family fare. First it was Cheta, then the tree house, now this. So Tarzan and Jane finally have a child, but not out of wedlock, because the Legion of Decency would complain. I guess they could pretend that Jane and Tarzan were just holding hands before. No, instead they rescue an infant from a plane crash. In a brief scene aboard the plane before the crash we meet Boy's parents and learn that Boy is the nephew of . . . the Earl of Greystoke?
Say what?
Yeah, despite the fact that MGM's series has largely steered clear of specific elements of the literary Tarzan, we get told that Boy is related to the Tarzan of the novels. We're never told much about the origins of Tarzan of MGM, so who knows if he and Boy are blood relations or not. I'll bet the Wold-Newtonians would have a field day with this. So, five years pass, Boy grows up and then trouble arrives in the form of the fourth expedition to the Mutia Escarpment, sent by Boy's relatives. You know, for a remote, forbidden region "no white man has ever seen", there's getting to be a lot of white men around here.
Maureen O'Hara was getting tired of the series, so, as ERB himself once tried to do, MGM planned to kill Jane off. ERB, having evidently changed his mind since Tarzan the Untamed, objected strenuously. So, after getting a spear in the back, Jane stages the world's quickest recovery and all is well.
Until next time.
Next time: Tarzan and the Mountain of Gold
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Post by almuric on Dec 9, 2016 19:50:21 GMT -5
Tarzan's Secret Treasure (1941) - Wait, don't tell me, there's another expedition up the Mutia Escarpment that brings white men and trouble to Tarzan and his family . . .
Yup.
We're firmly into juvenile territory now. Boy is driving the plots and Cheta is getting more screen time than ever. In this case, Boy's loose-tongued talk about gold on the Escarpment provokes some greedy men to try and rob the Tarzan family. At least the expedition wasn't actually sent to the Escarpment, this time around. They are actually looking for a lost tribe from Asia, which sounds like it could have made an interesting film. Boy runs into them when he runs away from home and climbs down the Escarpment with Cheta. That actually happens. Damn, that kid climbs like a Cimmerian. The "gooney bird" makes a reappearance via stock footage, and the "Jane yell" from the second movie is used again.
It's not bad, but the series is getting rote. We get Weissmuller killing the croc from the second movie for the third time. But the climax, some stock footage aside, is pretty good, with some nice underwater shots of Tarzan swimming through native spears. But the series is in desperate need of a change of pace and scenery.
Fortunately, the next film would have both in spades.
Next time: Tarzan and the Forbidden City
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Post by johnnypt on Dec 10, 2016 9:00:22 GMT -5
Tarzan's Secret Treasure (1941) - Wait, don't tell me, there's another expedition up the Mutia Escarpment that brings white men and trouble to Tarzan and his family . . . Yup. We're firmly into juvenile territory now. Boy is driving the plots and Cheta is getting more screen time than ever. In this case, Boy's loose-tongued talk about gold on the Escarpment provokes some greedy men to try and rob the Tarzan family. At least the expedition wasn't actually sent to the Escarpment, this time around. They are actually looking for a lost tribe from Asia, which sounds like it could have made an interesting film. Boy runs into them when he runs away from home and climbs down the Escarpment with Cheta. That actually happens. Damn, that kid climbs like a Cimmerian. The "gooney bird" makes a reappearance via stock footage, and the "Jane yell" from the second movie is used again. It's not bad, but the series is getting rote. We get Weissmuller killing the croc from the second movie for the third time. But the climax, some stock footage aside, is pretty good, with some nice underwater shots of Tarzan swimming through native spears. But the series is in desperate need of a change of pace and scenery. Fortunately, the next film would have both in spades. Next time: Tarzan and the Forbidden City But you get future Oscar winner Barry Fitzgerald in a Tarzan picture!
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Post by deuce on Jan 22, 2017 14:56:58 GMT -5
John Watkiss has died. He created some good concept art for Disney's Tarzan:
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Post by deuce on Feb 4, 2017 14:18:47 GMT -5
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Post by deuce on Apr 21, 2017 13:29:42 GMT -5
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Post by almuric on Apr 21, 2017 20:13:02 GMT -5
Thanks for the bump. I'll have to continue this soon.
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Post by almuric on Apr 23, 2017 9:54:53 GMT -5
Tarzan's New York Adventure (1942) - Barely a month after the previous entry was finished, work started on what was to be Maureen O'Sullivan's last appearance as Jane and the last of the MGM Tarzans. It starts with an airplane landing on the Escarpment, which would seem to contradict earlier installments where flying over the Escarpment was hazardous, but hey, they needed it for the plot, and it sure beats yet another expedition. The plane carries trappers, who are quite impressed with Boy's ability to train elephants. They kidnap Boy, and Tarzan, Jane and Cheta use some of the Escarpment's gold to make their way to the most dangerous jungle of all --- New York.
It's the most popular installment of the series after Tarzan and His Mate, and it's easy to understand why. The change of pace is welcome and the humor is mostly funny. Jane gets to take the lead briefly, acting as Tarzan's native guide in civilization before Tarzan realizes that he can't rely on civilized laws and rules to save his son. There are many memorable scenes, including Tarzan and Jane in court, defending their unconventional childrearing before a judge, to Tarzan scaling and leaping off of the Brooklyn Bridge. Oh, and Elmo Lincoln, the first screen Tarzan, appears very briefly as one of the circus roustabouts.
It's a grand finale to this phase of Tarzan's cinematic career. Soon the series would move to RKO, where there would be a change of Janes, tone, and even geography.
Next time: Tarzan of the B-Movies.
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Post by deuce on May 15, 2017 17:05:37 GMT -5
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Post by deuce on May 21, 2017 11:19:07 GMT -5
Someone once pointed our to me that, to this day, no one really knows who the first actor was who portrayed Tarzan on film. The first time he's seen on screen, he's a baby--and the baby was "uncredited".
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Post by deuce on Jun 8, 2017 9:18:52 GMT -5
Trivia question: Who was the only Tarzan to have directed one of his own filmed adventures?
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Post by johnnypt on Jun 8, 2017 12:04:26 GMT -5
Trivia question: Who was the only Tarzan to have directed one of his own filmed adventures? Ron Ely-his sole director's credit is an episode of Tarzan
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Post by deuce on Jun 10, 2017 22:56:44 GMT -5
Movie Tarzans up through 2008:
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