Product Description

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!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2347 in DVD
• Brand: WARNER HOME VIDEO
• Released on: 2006-10-31
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish, French
• Number of discs: 3
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 433 minutes

Features

• 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 Leopa

Amazon.com
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

Customer Reviews

Weissmuller's Tarzan at RKO; Less Pretentious, Great Fun!
While Tarzan was a moneymaker at MGM, with the outset of WWII, the studio felt Johnny Weissmuller was getting too old, Maureen O'Sullivan wanted out of the series, and the overseas market was lost, so the series was dropped...but RKO would prove the Ape Man had a LOT of life left in him!

Producer Sol Lesser loved the character, and snapped up the rights, wisely keeping Weissmuller, 39, and 'Boy' Johnny Sheffield, at nearly 12, in their signature roles. 'Jane' was written out of the first two features (first caring for her mother, then serving in the war), and the best-loved elements (superhuman heroics, comedy from chimp co-star, Cheetah, wild animal footage) were 'beefed up', dropping the romance, the atmospheric black 'extras', that provided authenticity (but were expensive for a smaller studio to maintain), and the MGM 'glossiness'. Even the Tarzan 'yell' had to be replaced (as the manufactured howl, part Weismuller, part studio magic), was the property of the studio; Weismuller created a 'new' one, that would become so popular that it would be kept, long after he finally retired from the role.

The first RKO entry was perhaps the best of the series; TARZAN TRIUMPHS brought the Nazis into the jungle to tap the resources of a 'lost' city, kidnapping Boy, and leading the previously isolationist Ape Man to utter the famous tag line, "Now Tarzan make war!" With lovely Frances Gifford as a native princess, and Sig Ruman, moving from Marx Brothers' foil to one of Hollywood's busiest 'Nazis', as one of the villains, the film is very entertaining (if extremely violent...Tarzan encourages the locals to grab a gun and kill, Boy shoots one Nazi soldier with a pistol, and even CHEETA machine guns one!).

TARZAN'S DESERT MYSTERY again offered Nazis (Otto Kruger, who'd played a similar role in Hitchcock's SABOTEUR, a year earlier, and veteran screen baddie Joe Sawyer), an American girl magician (vivacious Nancy Kelly), and a chance to combine Nazi duplicity with an 'Arabian'-themed adventure (which was a popular genre during the war years). Even a fantasy element was tossed in, as giant lizards and a mechanical spider 'passing' as 'prehistoric' appear in a 'lost jungle' climax.

TARZAN AND THE AMAZONS is closest in 'style' to the earlier MGM 'Tarzan' films (offering a crocodile fight, a 'classic' safari with many more black extras than in any other RKO 'Tarzan' feature of the era, excellent production values), and is most famous for introducing American Brenda Joyce, 33, as the new 'Jane', back from the war. Blond and beautiful, she lacked O'Sullivan's intellectual 'spin' to the role, but worked well with the 41-year-old Weissmuller, while providing a mother figure for 'Boy' that the 'kid' audience could relate to. With a cast of terrific character actors (including Henry Stephenson, Maria Ouspenskaya, and Barton MacLane), and a plot involving a 'lost' city of women, the film is one of the best-remembered RKO entries, and great fun!

TARZAN AND THE LEOPARD WOMAN marked the beginning of the decline of the RKO series; a routine, even silly tale of a cult (dressed in cheesy leopard skins) and it's high priestess (buxom Acquanetta) terrorizing the local population, and capturing Tarzan and his family. Memorable only for Cheeta saving Tarzan, yet again, and seeing 'Boy' Johnny Sheffield in the midst of puberty...

TARZAN AND THE HUNTRESS suffers from a low budget and a ho-hum plot; entrepreneur Patricia Morison's greedy crew kill a 'lost city' king to exceed their animal 'quota' for zoos, bringing out an aging Tarzan and startlingly adult-looking Boy; this would mark Sheffield's last appearance in the role.

TARZAN AND THE MERMAIDS, Weissmuller's final Tarzan appearance, is a truly surreal entry; filmed in Mexico, with musical interludes, the plot features an Aztec temple complete with a 'god', and cliff-diving (in AFRICA???), and is best remembered for lovely Linda Christian (Tyrone Power's future bride), as a runaway native girl, and a musical score by legendary Dimitri Tiomkin. Weissmuller looks middle-aged and heavy, and would be replaced, in the next film, by young Lex Barker.

A mixed bag, to be sure, but great fun, at it's best, and certainly worth owning!

TARZAN AT RKO STUDIOS
As Sean Connery is the definitive James Bond so goes for Johnny Weissmuller as Tarzan. Now were at RKO Studios and Maureen O'Sullivan has left but Johnny Sheffield stayed on as 'Boy'.

TARZAN TRIUMPHS 1943 Stars our princess Francis Gifford, known by all as JUNGLE GIRL in the Republic serial (1941-see my review). Cheetah has a great bit at the end. This is probably the best of the RKO series. Tarzan v.s. NAZIS part one.

TARZAN'S DESERT MYSTERY 1943 Stars Nancy Kelly and Otto Kruger. It's Tarzan v.s. NAZIS part two.

TARZAN AND THE AMAZONS 1945 Introduces Brenda Joyce as 'Jane' and includes Maria Ouspenskaya (WOLFMAN) as the Amazon Queen. No more Nazis here.

TARZAN AND THE LEOPARD WOMAN 1946 OK escapism but you can tell all involved are getting weary.

TARZAN AND THE HUNTRESS 1947 Probably the weakest entry but....

TARZAN AND THE MERMAIDS 1948 The last of the Weissmuller Tarzans. The stand out here is Linda Christian, ZOWIE !!!!

As a footnote the next was TARZAN'S MAGIC FOUNTAIN with Lex Barker in 1949 with Brenda Joyce and Evelyn Ankers (WOLFMAN) and a pretty good Tarzan movie--maybe it will kick off the next collection (post Weissmuller Tarzan ???).

Finally the RKO Tarzan films arrive on DVD!
I have been waiting a long time for some of the wonderful Tarzan films in this collection. My guess is that most people believe that the Tarzan films from MGM are superior to those released in the 1940s by RKO. I may be in the minority, but to me the RKO Tarzan films were a lot more fun. Johnny Weissmuller was still on hand, as well as Johnny Sheffield as Boy. Tarzan Triumphs (1943) with Frances Gifford, has Tarzan up against the Nazi's and is highly entertaining. Tarzan's Desert Mystery (1943) is great over-the-top fun as Tarzan, once again, deals with Nazi's and some giant monsters and devouring plants. My two very favorites are Tarzan And The Amazons (1945) with Maria Ouspenskaya as the diminutive Queen of the Amazon women and Tarzan And The Leopard Woman (1946) with Aquanetta. At this time, the very likeable Brenda Joyce had joined the cast as Jane and does an admirable job in the role. The two lesser efforts complete the collection: Tarzan And The Huntress (1947) and Tarzan And The Mermaids (1948). If you enjoyed the first box set, this set will not disappoint!