The Jungle Book

6 ft. 4 inch Gordon Scott made this film for RKO on a very meager budget as the story goes....not much to get worked up about in this tale of rogue and con artist hunters who lie and try to trap animals to sell to the zoos. About the only redeeming quality to this film is Scott's bulging muscle physique......Scott by far the biggest muscleman Tarzan ever....Scott handles his role rudimentary and a little off center....he seems more perplexed with Vera Miles more than the animals....in real life Scott and Miles married......Scott is not given much to say that makes much sense...just grumbling and Me Tarzan, you Jane schuck!!!! Peter Van Eyck as a jungle doctor trying to save natives and animals alike.....this was very weak Tarzan film and rumor had it that Scott only made $50000 for the whole film.... His other Tarzan adventures turned into classics, such as "Tarzan and the Lost Safari", "Tarzan's Greatest Adventure" and "Tarzan the Magnificent"....in those films Scott's role as Tarzan reached new heights as an intelligent thinker......Greatest Adventure the best Tarzan ever in my mind....

Gordon Scott makes his debut here as the king of the jungle in this acceptable but routine Tarzan flick. TARZAN'S HIDDEN JUNGLE isn't as bad as some of this film detractors claim. As far as the RKO Tarzan flicks go, TARZAN'S HIDDEN JUNGLE is about average. What disappoints most Tarzan fans, is that one would think with RKO introducing a new actor in the role of Tarzan, they would have made this film a little something more. The film has a good supporting cast, but the production values are slightly below par. One would think the studio heads at RKO would have given this film a higher budget considering they were introducing a "new" Tarzan. I've heard that producer Sol Lesser tried to convince RKO to make this film in color, but the studio brass refused. Lesser, who owned the screen rights to Burroughs famous character, departed from RKO after twelve years of making Tarzan flicks for RKO, and moved on to make Tarzan flicks with Scott for other studios. I suspect it was RKO's refusal to allow him to shoot this film in color and the usual low budget that made Lesser part company with RKO. The next Tarzan flick (TARZAN AND THE LOST SAFARI) was in color and had a higher budget.

Note: this film does have one scene thats a real gem. Tarzan rescues Vera Miles from quick sand and then tries to wash the mud off her. She tells Tarzan she needs a bath, so Tarzan agrees and tosses the startled Miss Miles in the drink.

In the African jungles at RKO studios, white men hunt wild animals who mind their own business in stock footage. This upsets jungle king Gordon Scott (as Tarzan) and area natives. They wear animal skins, bones and feathers. There is no "Jane", so Mr. Scott meets pretty nurse Vera Miles (as Jill Hardy) taking a swim. They are mutually attracted. Later, Scott rescues Ms. Miles from quicksand and washes a leg, arm and neck before observing censorship rules. Several lions run toward the camera. Sporting a 1950s hair style, this was Scott's first outing as "Tarzan". Holding in his stomach even when he doesn't need to, Scott handsomely shows off a beautiful physique. Miles is exceptionally attractive. They got married.

**** Tarzan's Hidden Jungle (2/16/55) Harold D. Schuster ~ Gordon Scott, Vera Miles, Peter van Eyck, Jack Elam

I just caught this on TCM Saturday run of Tarzan films. No doubt I must have seen this during a Saturday matinee because I loved Tarzan books and movies when I was a kid but this is a rather slow moving Tarzan and in retrospect it seems the film was aimed at a more sophisticated audience and not just eight year olds. Real fans knew that Tarzan was the well educated Lord Greystoke who constantly yielded to his need to return to the jungle but this Tarzan is still monosyllabic The action here is minimal; not the Tarzan a kid wants to imitate in their backyard play.

While "Tarzan's Hidden Jungle" isn't the worst Tarzan movie I have seen, it is all the same one of the dullest. To begin with, take how Tarzan is portrayed in this particular cinematic telling. Gordon Scott shows both no charisma and no enthusiasm in the role. In fairness to Scott, the movie doesn't exactly give him a lot to do - there is no Jane character here to interact with, and he gets very little opportunity to throw himself into action. He doesn't even do a Tarzan yell until the final few minutes of the movie (and it sounds pretty half-hearted.) The script isn't just bad with Tarzan, but also the central story - if you can call it a story, that is. It takes forever for the movie to set up what little plot there is, and what story there is doesn't feel the least bit interesting or exciting. The movie also looks pretty cheap at times. Even if you are a fan of Tarzan movies, this adventure can safely be skipped.