Tarzan

The Tarzan Collection Starring Johnny Weissmuller (Tarzan the Ape Man / Escapes / and His Mate / Finds a Son / Secret Treasure / New York Adventure)

Many actors have slipped on a loincloth and swung from a jungle vine, but nobody reached the treetops of Tarzania quite like Johnny Weissmuller, the Olympic swimmer. And Tarzan's greatest Jane was Maureen O'Sullivan, who moved into T's treehouse for six films at MGM, all collected in this splendid boxed set. It is possible to find these films hokey... but only if you have absolutely no feeling for the magic of early-sound pictures, or no joy in the gee-whiz, Saturday-matinee wonder of Tarzan's prelapsarian lifestyle. To say nothing of the surprisingly overt running theme of (implied) hot jungle sex.

Tarzan, the Ape Man (1932), made with the blessings of Tarzan creator Edgar Rice Burroughs, establishes the basics of the series (and uses extra Africa footage MGM had compiled for Trader Horn). There'd been many Tarzans before, but Weissmuller's buff bod and innocent charm won over audiences. Tarzan and His Mate is generally considered the best of the lot; it is also the sexiest, especially after the restoration of a hotsy-totsy nude swimming scene. The formula still works in Tarzan Escapes, which brings Jane's cousins out for a visit to the Mutia Escarpment, with its elephant-powered elevator for Tarzan's pad. (Always keep in mind that this is Africa of kiddie imagination, not the real deal.)

Tarzan Finds a Son! introduces Johnny Sheffield as Boy, and stirs up the nest. Things were getting rote by the time of Tarzan's Secret Treasure, and the jungle is left behind entirely for Tarzan's New York Adventure, which has some fun stunts. Also included in the boxed set is the documentary Tarzan: Silver Screen King of the Jungle, which is a fine overview not just of the MGM Tarzan series but of its predecessors (though it does not mention the fact that Weissmuller went on to crank out more Tarzan pictures at RKO). It does delve into the mystery of just what the heck "ungawa" means. --Robert Horton

All six of Johnny Weissmuller and Maureen O'Sullivan's movies as Tarzan and Jane.

The Tarzan Collection Starring Johnny Weissmuller, Vol. 2 (Tarzan Triumphs / Tarzan's Desert Mystery / Tarzan and the Amazons / and the Leopard Woman / and the Huntress / and the Mermaids)

The movies in this second collection of Tarzan adventures pass the Samuel L. Jackson Snakes on a Plane title test. Either you want to own a film called Tarzan and the Leopard Woman or you don't. And if you're a fan of the original Tarzan movies, then no doubt you must. These are the last six Tarzan films to star Johnny Weissmuller in the iconic role that spawned a thousand hollers (so ingrained is Carol Burnett's imitation of his signature shout-out that Weissmuller's own performance seems lacking!). Produced for RKO, they are low-budget affairs, but really, who watches Tarzan movies for the production values? The more fake the backdrops and the more obvious the mismatched stock animal footage the better! Tarzan Triumphs (1943) is the best of the bunch. World conflict rears its ugly head in the jungle as Nazis invade a hidden city for its precious oil and tin. Almost worth the price of this set alone is the climactic scene in which Tarzan pursues an evil German through the jungle, tauntingly calling out "Nazi," from behind rocks and trees. There's more wartime intrigue in Tarzan's Desert Mystery (1943), which somehow combines a stranded female USO magician (Nancy Kelly), Arab sheiks, more Nazis, and, most memorably, a giant spider and a man-eating plant. Tarzan and the Amazons (1945) and 1947's Tarzan and the Huntress (with a great climactic elephant stampede) offer more traditional jungle villains, exploitative explorers, and unscrupulous animal collectors, respectively. Exotic cults figure in Tarzan and the Leopard Woman (1946) and Tarzan and the Mermaids (1948), which was Weissmuller's vine-swinging swan song.

Maureen O'Sullivan has left the jungle, but Brenda Joyce makes for a very fetching Jane. Johnny Sheffield matures before our eyes as Boy. And Weissmuller still manages to avoid loincloth malfunctions as he swings through the trees and tangles with animal and human adversaries. He is both a role model ("Never kill for fun, only for food," he tells Boy at one point) and something of a jungle chauvinist ("Jungle much more peaceful before woman come," he jokes with Jane). But the breakout star of these films is Cheetah, who effortlessly steals every scene he's in, whether covering his eyes when Tarzan and Jane kiss or parachuting out of an airplane. His finest moment comes at the end of Tarzan Triumphs, when his simian squeals broadcast over a shortwave radio are mistaken by German officers for the voice of "the Fuehrer" It's a Hollywood cliché, but truly, they don't make 'em like this anymore! --Donald Liebenson

Beasts roar danger abounds and Johnny Weissmuller swoops into the last 6 of his 12 adventures as film's definitive Tarzan. The vine swinger provides World War II heroics in Tarzan Triumphs and Tarzan's Desert Mystery. Next he welcomes Jane (Brenda Joyce) home and champions a secluded female tribe in Tarzan and the Amazons. A deadly cult proves no match for the jungle lord in Tarzan and the Leopard Woman. And the Ape Man calls in elephants to deal with poachers in Tarzan and the Huntress and rescues a pearl-diving community in Tarzan and the Mermaids. What came next? Weissmuller would return to the wilds as Jungle Jim Johnny Sheffield (Boy) became Bomba the Jungle Boy Joyce played Jane again in Tarzan's Magic Fountain and Cheetah became the world's oldest chimp celebrating birthday 74 in 2006. Ungawa!Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/CLASSIC UPC: 012569835177 Manufacturer No: 83517

Greystoke - The Legend of Tarzan

One of those legendary missed opportunities, Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes is a movie that should have been great but wound up the victim of conflicting egos and wrong-headed choices. Based on a screenplay by Robert Towne (who took his name off it when he wasn't allowed to direct) and directed by Hugh Hudson (riding high on the basis of Chariots of Fire), the film tried to rethink the Tarzan legend of Edgar Rice Burroughs, and boy, did it have to: By casting French-accented Christopher Lambert as Tarzan, the filmmakers had to transform his white-hunter mentor Ian Holm into a Frenchman to explain those inflections in Tarzan's monosyllabic speech. The film has some amazing jungle footage and a truly touching relationship between Tarzan and the apes--but it gets pretty silly when Tarzan gets to London and hooks up with Sir Ralph Richardson, as his grandfather. --Marshall Fine

An infant raised to manhood among savage apes, living by his wits and the law of the jungle, returns to society to claim his inheritance of humanity and privilege. This collision of "wild" and "civilized" worlds is the extraordinary saga of Tarzan, chronicled in Edgar Rice Burroughs' popular book series. Starring: Christopher Lambert, Andie MacDowell, Ian Holm

Tarzan, The Ape Man

The Tarzan story from Jane's point of view. Jane Parker (Bo Derek) visits her father (Richard Harris) in Africa where she joins him on an expedition. A couple of brief encounters with Tarzan establish a (sexual) bond between her and Tarzan. When the expedition is captured by savages Tarzan comes to the rescue.Running Time: 115 min.System Requirements:Running Time 115 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/CLASSIC Rating: R UPC: 012569592728 Manufacturer No: 65927

AMC: Tarzan of the Apes: Collection

This movie collection contains five Tarzan films dating back to 1933. Features include TARZAN THE FEARLESS THE NEW ADVENTURES OF TARZAN TARZAN AND THE GREEN GODDESS TARZAN'S REVENGE and TARZAN AND THE TRAPPERS.DVD Features:Notes: This 2 - disc set includes TARZAN THE FEARLESS THE NEW ADVENTURES OF TARZAN TARZAN AND THE GREEN GODDESS TARZAN'S REVENGE and TARZAN AND THE TRAPPERS.System Requirements:Run Time: 367 minsFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS Rating: NR UPC: 829567037522 Manufacturer No: 2956703752

Tarzan and the Lost City

At least someone, somewhere, involved in this disposable Ape Man entry bothered to read the famous Edgar Rice Burroughs books on which the character is based. What was done with that information, unfortunately, amounts to nothing. Tarzan (vacantly handsome Casper Van Dien) and Jane (nondescript Jane March) head back to the jungle homeland and encounter pillaging baddies led by Steven Waddington (used better as a more complex nasty in The Last of the Mohicans). Director Carl Schenkel's film gives Tarzan back his long-absent status as an articulate gentleman, and it contains elements of Burroughs's feverish imagination, but it dully ticks off the "adventures" without any thrilling sense of fun. Schenkel is so inattentive to detail that he would have us believe no one raises an eyebrow at the sight of a man morphing into a humongous cobra (not that the Xena-level effects help). It's blandly amusing watching Van Dien plug away ineptly at both his heroics and English accent, though this is ultimately an empty diversion for completists only. --Steve Wiecking

Tarzan, the Ape Man / "10"

No Description Available.
Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: UN
Release Date: 31-JAN-2006
Media Type: DVD

Tarzan V.1

Three classic Tarzan feature films: Tarzan and the Green Goddess, Tarzan and the Trappers, and Tarzan of the Apes.

Tarzan and the Golden Lion

Tarzan The Tiger (Silent)

Thrilling early jungle cliffhanger starring The Lord of the Jungle.