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Post by almuric on Aug 9, 2023 10:40:07 GMT -5
I can accept the trope of a lost white race in Africa for fictional purposes. I do like Farmer's Opar series, where he tries to make a plausible background for the lost civilizations of Burroughs and Haggard. But when you see a bunch of these in a row it gets goofy. In Palest Africa.
As to Lex Barker, I did see his first Tarzan. All I remember is that Barker looks like a younger, fitter version of Weissmuller. And the fact that I can't tell you anything else about it might tell you everything about the movie.
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Post by kemp on Aug 9, 2023 21:03:09 GMT -5
I hear you, they probably over did the 'lost white civilisation' thing a bit, I would have stuck a few lost civilisations by the sub Saharan peoples, plenty of inspiration from historical examples such as the Kush pyramids in Meroe. However, we are talking about the early decades of the 20th century and western audiences were brought up on certain stereotypes, no era is perfect, you take the good with the bad. I still found the movies enjoyable to watch, but even as a kid found some aspects questionable.
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Post by kemp on Aug 9, 2023 21:38:51 GMT -5
I recall a greedy big game hunter in a few of the Johnny Weismuller Tarzan films. There was this scene where some of the natives carrying the expedition equipment through the jungle became superstitious and too frightened to go on and started to run, turning back the other way, the expedition leader shot a few of the deserters in the back as they ran away, there was no repercussion for the murderous act, like they where animals not deserving of consideration. In the normal world he would have been tied up and brought back to the authorities, that or someone would have shot the maniac, but hey, it's the 40's and why hold up the story over that, it's not like he shot 'whites'. Again, I still enjoyed the movies, and he was the villain who got it in the end, could have been the Amazon or Huntress one, think it might have been Barton MacLane, the actor who played General Peterson in 'I Dream of Jeannie', but I could be wrong.
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Post by kemp on Aug 9, 2023 21:47:43 GMT -5
Taking a trip down memory lane could not help but notice Jane from the movies.
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Post by johnnypt on Aug 10, 2023 6:50:48 GMT -5
Taking a trip down memory lane could not help but notice Jane from the movies. Johnny had Maureen O’Sullivan at MGM and Brenda Joyce (eventually) at RKO. Lex Barker went through one per picture! Looks-wise Bo was probably the closest to the book description followed by Margot and Joyce. Eva Brent would also be in the conversation.
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Post by themirrorthief on Aug 10, 2023 23:31:22 GMT -5
going nearly naked twenty four hours a day seemed to really appeal to the ladies....I may try it
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Post by almuric on Aug 19, 2023 20:22:38 GMT -5
August 29, TCM is airing Tarzan's Fight For Life and Tarzan's Three Challenges, which means I get two more to review.
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Post by johnnypt on Aug 20, 2023 6:51:27 GMT -5
August 29, TCM is airing Tarzan's Fight For Life and Tarzan's Three Challenges, which means I get two more to review. Must be Woody Strode Day.
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Post by almuric on Aug 26, 2023 17:08:19 GMT -5
Tarzan's Greatest Adventure (1959) - Let's cut the chase here: this movie lives up to its name. A gang of thieves hunting for diamonds raids a native village for dynamite, killing two people in the process. Tarzan (now played capably and articulately by Gordon Scott) learns of this and discovers that the culprit is an old enemy, Slade and goes into Kreegah! Bundolo! mode. Cheeta's staying home this time. No elephant's graveyards or lost cities this time: this is a serious crime drama that just happens to star Lord Greystoke. Quayle is great as Slade, though I have to wonder why he'd risk antagonizing Tarzan a second time after surviving a previous encounter. Maybe he wants to commit suicide by Jungle Lord. Like a lot of the later Tarzans there's no Jane, so the female lead is American adventuress-aviatrix Angie, played by Sarah Shane. Filmed on location in Kenya.
One of Slade's henchmen is played by young Scottish actor Sean Connery. The producers loved him so much they wanted him for the sequel, despite the fact that his character dies, but Connery was busy filming a new spy movie. And that spy movie would end up having an impact on a future installment of the Tarzan series . . .
Next time: The name's Clayton, John Clayton.
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Post by johnnypt on Aug 26, 2023 22:01:32 GMT -5
Tarzan's Greatest Adventure (1959) - Let's cut the chase here: this movie lives up to its name. A gang of thieves hunting for diamonds raids a native village for dynamite, killing two people in the process. Tarzan (now played capably and articulately by Gordon Scott) learns of this and discovers that the culprit is an old enemy, Slade and goes into Kreegah! Bundolo! mode. Cheeta's staying home this time. No elephant's graveyards or lost cities this time: this is a serious crime drama that just happens to star Lord Greystoke. Quayle is great as Slade, though I have to wonder why he'd risk antagonizing Tarzan a second time after surviving a previous encounter. Maybe he wants to commit suicide by Jungle Lord. Like a lot of the later Tarzans there's no Jane, so the female lead is American adventuress-aviatrix Angie, played by Sarah Shane. Filmed on location in Kenya. One of Slade's henchmen is played by young Scottish actor Sean Connery. The producers loved him so much they wanted him for the sequel, despite the fact that his character dies, but Connery was busy filming a new spy movie. And that spy movie would end up having an impact on a future installment of the Tarzan series . . . Next time: The name's Clayton, John Clayton. The story they came up with for this one was better than most of the latter Burroughs novels in the series. Too bad it didn’t really last long. Sy Weintraub wanted to sign Scott to a seven picture deal. He did make the seven films, just with three different Tarzans! BTW-will likely finish up the Tarzan at the Movies podcasts after Foundation is done. The moving of Dune to March opened up my schedule for it.
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Post by zarono on Aug 27, 2023 7:47:25 GMT -5
Just skimming this thread and thought of Casper Van Dien's Tarzan and the Lost City. I remembered going to the movies to see this one weekend in 1998 and being very disappointed, haven't watched it since and curious if anyone else has. I have almost no memory of it but those 90's cgi skeletons warriors intrigue me
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Post by kemp on Aug 27, 2023 8:30:49 GMT -5
I remember 'Tarzan's Greatest Adventure', that was the one were Sean Connery did a bad American accent, he made an ok bad guy, but Connery couldn't do an accent, apart from his own, to save his life, think after that the directors and producers made sure he always just used his normal accent, no matter what he played.
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Post by Jason Aiken on Aug 27, 2023 9:20:27 GMT -5
Just skimming this thread and thought of Casper Van Dien's Tarzan and the Lost City. I remembered going to the movies to see this one weekend in 1998 and being very disappointed, haven't watched it since and curious if anyone else has. I have almost no memory of it but those 90's cgi skeletons warriors intrigue me My dad and I watched this together probably five or six years ago. "That was pretty bad." Was the sentiment.
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Post by johnnypt on Aug 27, 2023 9:22:06 GMT -5
Just skimming this thread and thought of Casper Van Dien's Tarzan and the Lost City. I remembered going to the movies to see this one weekend in 1998 and being very disappointed, haven't watched it since and curious if anyone else has. I have almost no memory of it but those 90's cgi skeletons warriors intrigue me It was on HBO a few years after it came out but I could never work up the energy to watch it. Do want to take a look at it now as a curiosity but it’s not streaming anywhere at the moment without paying for it.
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Post by zarono on Aug 27, 2023 10:05:02 GMT -5
Just skimming this thread and thought of Casper Van Dien's Tarzan and the Lost City. I remembered going to the movies to see this one weekend in 1998 and being very disappointed, haven't watched it since and curious if anyone else has. I have almost no memory of it but those 90's cgi skeletons warriors intrigue me My dad and I watched this together probably five or six years ago. "That was pretty bad." Was the sentiment. Yep that was same feeling leaving the theater back in the day.
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