Tarzan Triumphs

Breaking into the second volume of WB's Weismuller Tarzan movies, all of which were made at RKO, and which previously had been produced at MGM. Maureen O'Sullivan finally got her way and was able to leave the series when it left MGM, while Weismuller and Johnny Sheffield, who plays Boy, not to mention Cheetah, stayed on. Tarzan Triumphs isn't a great film (I don't have high expectations for any of the remainder of this series, honestly), but it is historically interesting, and amusing in the way all Tarzan movies are. In the thick of WWII, Nazis invade Tarzan's jungle looking to enslave the lost city of Palandra. The princess of Palandra, Zandra (Frances Gifford), begs Tarzan for help. Tarzan refuses, claiming that the Nazis have done nothing to him. But when they actually do do harm to him, by kidnapping Boy, he vows revenge. Strange this one wasn't made in 1941 instead of 1943. Or perhaps by '43 people were already getting tired of war and this is "stay the course" propaganda. Don't know, but it is fascinating as propaganda. It gets very violent, more violent than the other Tarzan movies as far as I can remember. Well, some black people get wasted in nasty ways in the early Tarzan movies, of course. But Tarzan mercilessly slaughters the Nazis. Cheetah pushes one off a cliff, and then pushes a boulder over after him! Even Boy gets to shoot a guy! And the final living Nazi suffers one of the most entertainingly horrible, Roman-style deaths ever. The film ends on a joke worth of Looney Tunes.

While Tarzan was a popular 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!

Veteran producer Sol Lesser, 53, loved the character, and snapped up the rights for the studio, wisely keeping Weissmuller, 39, and 'Boy' Johnny Sheffield, now nearly 12, in their signature roles. O'Sullivan, no longer interested in 'Jane', was written out (caring for her ailing mother in London), and the elements that fans loved best (nearly superhuman heroics, comedy from chimp co-star, Cheetah, wild animal footage) were 'beefed up', dropping the romantic interludes, the large number of black 'extras', that provided authenticity (but were expensive for a smaller studio to maintain, for a single series), and, indeed, most of the 'glossiness' that marked the MGM entries. Even the signature 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 their series; TARZAN TRIUMPHS brought the Nazis into the jungle to tap the mineral resources of a 'lost' city, eventually 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, providing sex appeal (and a really weird scene of Boy trying to 'hook up' the princess and lonely Ape Man, to enlist his help against the Nazis), and Sig Ruman, who went from Marx Brothers' foil to one of Hollywood's busiest 'Nazis', as one of the villains, the action adventure is very entertaining (if extremely violent...Tarzan actually encourages the locals to grab a gun and kill, Boy shoots one Nazi soldier with a pistol, and even CHEETA machine guns one!), and the film was a huge hit for the studio.

Tarzan, at a new home, was back in the 'swing' of things!

After six films starring alongside Johnny Weissmuller as jungle beauty Jane, Maureen O'Sullivan decided to depart the series, leaving the writers of the next Tarzan film not only looking for a way of explaining the lovely actress's sudden absence but also having to ensure that male cinema-goers still had a reason to take their family to see the ape-man's latest adventure.

Their solution: have their script conveniently see Jane visiting friends in London, and introduce a sexy new character in the form of Zandra (Frances Gifford), princess of the hidden city of Palandria, who seeks help from Tarzan after Nazi soldiers enslave her people.

A far cry from the first two pre-Hays code Tarzan films, which were chock full of enjoyably un-PC violence and raunchiness, Tarzan Triumphs is strictly family friendly matinée material, with the added novelty of some delightfully daft WWII propaganda. Director Wilhelm Thiele packs the first half of his film with the usual vine swinging, frolicking in lagoons, stock footage of animals, and scenes of good old Cheetah providing plenty of hilarity, but he eventually delivers some decent action once the bad guys go out of their way to upset Tarzan: when the Nazis kidnap Boy and slap him about a bit, our jungle hero finally announces "Now Tarzan make war!" and it's non-stop Nazi bashing fun thereon in, with even Cheetah and Boy grabbing firearms to get in on the action!

And talking of Cheetah, the cheeky chimp also provides the film's excellent final joke, which sees stupid Nazi radio operators in Berlin mistaking the furry-faced funster for 'Der Fuhrer'. Take that, you silly Nazi nincompoops!

6.5 out of 10, rounded up to 7 for IMDb.

The first of the RKO Tarzans and quite an enjoyable entry. Tarzan (Johnny Weissmuller) finds himself involved in battling the Nazis when they invade the peaceful nearby village of Palandria and try to make slaves out of its citizens. For this film, Tarzan's partner Jane is absent while doing business in London, so we have the gorgeous Frances Gifford subbing for the feminine interest of the story as a princess of Palandria who makes contact with Tarzan and his son Boy (Johnny Sheffield). Gifford would have made a stunning and perfect Jane. A fun, fast, and entertaining installment with an occasional display of violence, with good actors like Sig Ruman, Stanley Ridges, and Philip Van Zandt playing the Nazi bad guys. *** out of ****

The seventh Johnny Weissmuller Tarzan film and the first from RKO. It's also the first without Maureen O'Sullivan as Jane. The role would eventually be recast but here we are told that Jane is visiting in England, where she keeps Tarzan and Boy (Johnny Sheffield) abreast of world events through a letter. Since this one features a topical WW2 backdrop, it has one of the more artfully crafted scripts of the later Tarzan sequels. Tarzan here is an isolationist and, like America at the outset of the war, he has no interest in meddling in the affairs of outsiders. The outsiders in this case being the people of the jungle city Palandrya who ask for help when Nazis parachute in and take over, as they were wont to do. But when the Nazis kidnap Boy, Tarzan declares "Now Tarzan make war!" and rallies his animal allies to fight the invaders. And boy, do they fight! This is one of the more violent Tarzan entries. Didn't bother me in the slightest watching Tarzan kill Nazis but it will likely scar politically sensitive types.

Weismuller and Sheffield both make the transition from MGM to RKO, where they are given more lines than in the MGM films. Also carrying over from the MGM series is the ever-lovable Cheeta, fun as always and more than a match for the evil Nazis. There has to be a pretty female in the movie, even without Jane. So enter lovely Frances Gifford playing Zandra, the princess of Palandrya who comes to Tarzan looking for help. She has good chemistry with Weissmuller and even gets a swimming scene with him. Sig Ruman, Stanley Ridges, and Philip Van Zandt play some of the baddies.

As for the WW2 elements, how you feel about most American films made during this period will tell you how you'll feel about this. Unfortunately, if you look around IMDb, you'll find a lot of people who seem to really hate movies that were supportive of the Allies. They spit the word 'propaganda' at these films with such contempt it makes you wonder if these people, most of whom claim to be American, would rather the Axis had won. It's pretty gross. Anyway, if you're one of these types you won't like this movie. But chances are, if you're that way, you don't like Tarzan to begin with and believe yourself to be above these movies. I guess you watched them ironically or something, right? Whatever. For the rest of you, this is a fun start to the RKO series. It's solid escapist fare. Not as good as the MGM films but I'm never bored by them. Love that end scene.