Tarzan: Silver Screen King of the Jungle (2004)
*** (out of 4)
Good documentary features interviews with Rudy Behlmer, Robert Osborne, Tracy Griffin, Geoff St. Andrews, Johnny Weissmuller, Jr. and an archival one with Maureen O'Sullivan. The group talk about the six films that were done at MGM with Weissmuller and O'Sullivan so pretty much everything you'd want to know is discussed. There's talk about a wide range of subjects including how MGM got involved in the series, the casting of the picture, the various troubles TARZAN AND HIS MATE had with the Hayes Office plus later budget cuts in the series. Each film is looked at and we get nice bits of information on the production of that film plus various facts and there are also myths that are debunked. If you're a fan of the series then it'll be nearly impossible not to enjoy this documentary. At just over a hour I think the only negative thing that could be said is that it's too bad the documentary didn't cover the other films that Weissmuller would go on to do. It's too bad that the thing didn't go even further for the post-Weissmuller films but to be fair this was produced to go with the original DVD box set, which contained the six films discussed here. All of the interviews are full of great information and we're even introduced to one of the chimps who played Cheetah and is still alive!
