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Post by ChrisLAdams on Feb 1, 2018 11:38:08 GMT -5
I like that cover photo of Weissmuller - first time I'm seeing it. ...... Yes it's a killer photo. Great book all the way around. Has lots of neat movie trivia and plenty of photos. I recommend getting it if you are a Burroughs collector. And these are cheap. I thought I stole it at $4 but if you check on AbeBooks that's pretty much what they run - $5-$6 for a decent copy is common. Of course, I didn't have to pay shipping - just sales tax. There is a hardback and a paperback, and I believe I also saw a later reissue of this title. MIne is a Citadel Press 1968 print. Click here to check them out on Abe. Love that site - you can find lots of good deals on rare items. www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?sts=t&an=gabe+essoe&tn=tarzan+of+the+movies&kn=&isbn=
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Post by almuric on Apr 29, 2018 9:15:57 GMT -5
Set your PVRs for May 8th, 9th and 10th*, folks. TCM is airing a whole slew of Tarzan movies, from Weissmuller to Barker, followed by the Bomba movies. I can start my reviews again shortly.
*Edited because I screwed up the dates. Sorry.
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Post by almuric on May 14, 2018 20:54:07 GMT -5
Now, where was I? Oh yes, RKO.
Tarzan Triumphs (1943) - Tarzan had changed studios, was about to change Janes and the world had changed. WW2 cast its shadow over pop culture and Hollywood's heroes were taking up the fight. Jane is off in England, serving as a nurse while Boy and Tarzan get letters dropped by airplane. Meanwhile, in the nearby city of Palandria . . .
Wait, what?
Yes, despite some lip service in later films, the old geography is out the window. There are now numerous lost cities and colonial outposts within a day or two of the Treehouse and people travel to and from the Treehouse via river, which should be impossible if they were still on the Mutia Escarpment. I suspect the producers had realized how limiting the old setup was and quietly changed it. Palandria is the kind of place we'll be seeing a lot of in the next few movies: a generic lost city of indeterminate origins inhabited by Caucasians who conveniently speak English. Zandra, (played by the lovely Frances Gifford, Republic's Nyoka the Jungle Girl) realizes that the Germans are no good and runs to get Tarzan's aid. Tarzan, echoing America's pre-Pearl Harbor isolationism, doesn't want to get involved until the fight comes to his home turf. Once the Nazis are enslaving the Palandrians and slapping around Boy, he draws his knife and gets down to it. And boy, is it glorious. Nazis get stabbed, pushed off cliffs by elephants, fall into lion pits, get eaten by cannibal fish, etc. Of note is the climactic battle where even Boy and Cheeta get in on the Nazi-killing. That's right, the pre-teen kid and the comic relief mascot gun down Nazis! And Cheeta's hooting into a radio is mistaken by the listening Germans for the rantings of Hitler.
This is goofy but kind of fun. RKO's brief running times and emphasis on action means that the first few at least don't lag much, even when we get time-killing filler with Cheeta. And there's no obvious stock footage from the earlier films, which is a great relief. Of note are the rather odd "Nazi" uniforms, which only barely resemble the real thing. I've noticed this in several early WW2 movies and I'm guessing that the costumers simply didn't have enough reference to make authentic uniforms.
Next: Tarzan the Mysterious
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Post by johnnypt on May 15, 2018 6:35:38 GMT -5
Now, where was I? Oh yes, RKO. Tarzan Triumphs (1943) - Tarzan had changed studios, was about to change Janes and the world had changed. WW2 cast its shadow over pop culture and Hollywood's heroes were taking up the fight. Jane is off in England, serving as a nurse while Boy and Tarzan get letters dropped by airplane. Meanwhile, in the nearby city of Palandria . . . Wait, what? Yes, despite some lip service in later films, the old geography is out the window. There are now numerous lost cities and colonial outposts within a day or two of the Treehouse and people travel to and from the Treehouse via river, which should be impossible if they were still on the Mutia Escarpment. I suspect the producers had realized how limiting the old setup was and quietly changed it. Palandria is the kind of place we'll be seeing a lot of in the next few movies: a generic lost city of indeterminate origins inhabited by Caucasians who conveniently speak English. Zandra, (played by the lovely Frances Gifford, Republic's Nyoka the Jungle Girl) realizes that the Germans are no good and runs to get Tarzan's aid. Tarzan, echoing America's pre-Pearl Harbor isolationism, doesn't want to get involved until the fight comes to his home turf. Once the Nazis are enslaving the Palandrians and slapping around Boy, he draws his knife and gets down to it. And boy, is it glorious. Nazis get stabbed, pushed off cliffs by elephants, fall into lion pits, get eaten by cannibal fish, etc. Of note is the climactic battle where even Boy and Cheeta get in on the Nazi-killing. That's right, the pre-teen kid and the comic relief mascot gun down Nazis! And Cheeta's hooting into a radio is mistaken by the listening Germans for the rantings of Hitler. This is goofy but kind of fun. RKO's brief running times and emphasis on action means that the first few at least don't lag much, even when we get time-killing filler with Cheeta. And there's no obvious stock footage from the earlier films, which is a great relief. Of note are the rather odd "Nazi" uniforms, which only barely resemble the real thing. I've noticed this in several early WW2 movies and I'm guessing that the costumers simply didn't have enough reference to make authentic uniforms. Next: Tarzan the Mysterious
Astonishingly, there's not a stand alone video of what is likely Johnny Weissmuller's single greatest utterance as the Lord of the Jungle outside of "Tarzan...Jane...": Now Tarzan make war! There's just a very low quality version of the trailer where it's included.
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Post by almuric on Jun 1, 2018 19:23:01 GMT -5
Tarzan's Desert Mystery (1943) - This is not one of the more popular Weissmuller Tarzans. Does it deserve it's bad rap? Well . . .
Jane is still absent, and we see from the scene where Boy reads out the letter that Tarzan is illiterate. Sigh. No wonder the public perception of Tarzan was that of an oaf. The Escarpment is mentioned, but once again it doesn't seem to be the obstacle it once was. Now there's an Arab city within walking distance of the Treehouse, and an oasis full of monsters near the city. It's certainly getting crowded around there. Once again we have a German villain in the form of frequent screen Nazi Otto Kruger, out to bring Bir Hirari under German control. Nancy Kelly as magician Connie Bryce is the saving grace of the movie. She brings a lot of energy, holding things together during Tarzan's long absences from the plot. She's clearly having fun. We get some standard wartime spy shenanigans with secret coded messages and Tarzan getting framed.
Then, abruptly, for the final 15 minutes, this becomes a Lost World story. The oasis has giant lizards (stock footage "dinosaurs" from the original One Million BC), giant spiders and carnivorous plants. That's a pretty complex ecology for an oasis. Evidence suggests that there were rewrites which added this fantastic element to what had been a slightly more realistic (by the standards of this series) story.
Is it great? No, but it's not terrible either. It's certainly better than some of what was to come (Tarzan and the Mermaids, I'm looking at you) and that should count for something.
Next: Tarzan and the City of Women
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Post by johnnypt on Aug 15, 2018 8:11:01 GMT -5
Happy 82nd birthday to Lord Grandrith...I mean, the late 60s movie Tarzan, Mike Henry.
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Post by themirrorthief on Aug 15, 2018 19:18:01 GMT -5
I love the old gold key Tarzan covers and Russ Manning...also love the old Korak and Turok comics...and of course, when I was a wee one the old Weissmuller movies just totally blew my mind Never could relate well to any other Tarzans after that Johnny WAS Tarzan and always will be to me...my gosh, my love for him and Shirley Temple the old Spider Man toons and the Three Stooges...it was pure movie magic
almost forgot Magnus, Robot Fighter and Star Trek...man Tv used to rock...now not so much
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Post by johnnypt on Aug 16, 2018 8:58:36 GMT -5
Happy 82nd birthday to Lord Grandrith...I mean, the late 60s movie Tarzan, Mike Henry. Any film that has a villain being crushed by a giant runaway coke bottle is okay by me. But he'll always be Junior Justice to me - "Soon as I get home, first thing I'm gonna do is punch yo mamma in the mouth!" ...... The beginning of the exchange is the first selling point: "There is no way...no WAY that you could come from my loins..."
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Post by ChrisLAdams on Aug 16, 2018 10:03:55 GMT -5
I picked this up from Tracy at the 2018 Dum-Dum. It's an excellent companion to my Tarzan of the Movies by Gabe Essoe. Of just as much interest was listening to Tracy elaborate in-person on the many anecdotes. This is an excellent Tarzan movie reference work, with signed editions available from the ERB Inc web store. Tracy was kind enough to sign a personal note in my copy (thanks Tracy!).
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Post by ChrisLAdams on Aug 16, 2018 18:47:42 GMT -5
I picked this up from Tracy at the 2018 Dum-Dum. It's an excellent companion to my Tarzan of the Movies by Gabe Essoe. Of just as much interest was listening to Tracy elaborate in-person on the many anecdotes. This is an excellent Tarzan movie reference work, with signed editions available from the ERB Inc web store. Tracy was kind enough to sign a personal note in my copy (thanks Tracy!). On the cover, Chris, is that Mike Henry second from the right? Or Gordon Scott? Can't quite tell for sure. ...... Kail, It's Gordon Scott from the 1958 Tarzan's Fight For Life. www.imdb.com/title/tt0052275/Edit: I was doing some reading on the first Tarzan movie, and found that the actual true first Tarzan, Gordon Griffith (another Gordon!) died the same year, 1958, as Tarzan's Fight For Life premiered. He played the boy Tarzan in the first parts of the 1918 silent film, Tarzan of the Apes, with Elmo playing the part of the grown man, and died 50 years after TotA debuted.
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Post by almuric on Jan 19, 2021 11:13:58 GMT -5
Oh dear. They got a guy who at least looks like Tarzan in the lead, but everything else about this looks very, very cheap. The most charitable thing I can say is that it looks like a very ambitious fan film. Expectations are not high.
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Post by Char-Vell on Jan 19, 2021 11:28:00 GMT -5
This looks like my bag!
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Post by zarono on Jan 19, 2021 11:57:16 GMT -5
Oh dear. They got a guy who at least looks like Tarzan in the lead, but everything else about this looks very, very cheap. The most charitable thing I can say is that it looks like a very ambitious fan film. Expectations are not high.
I want to see this!
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Post by almuric on Jan 19, 2021 12:25:49 GMT -5
Googling this, I see that the director DeWet De Toit does seem to have a genuine passion for the character and has made several short Tarzan films already. I am somewhat curious to see the finished result.
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Post by johnnypt on Jan 19, 2021 12:33:57 GMT -5
Hope ERB Inc. doesn't come down too hard. It looks like it could've been a story Burroughs wrote right before he shipped out for WWII, between the short stories and Foreign Legion.
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