Tarzan and the Leopard Woman

The Johnny Weissmuller Tarzan series continues at RKO with the fourth film (tenth overall, counting the MGM films). This one's pretty different from those that came before it. There's a different vibe to it, particularly in the early scenes where Tarzan acts as a sort of jungle detective. He's asked by a commissioner (of what I don't know) to look into a series of leopard attacks on travelers. Tarzan doesn't believe leopards are the cause of the attacks and, as you might have guessed by the title of this picture, he's right. So it's Tarzan versus leopard skin-wearing cultists, led by Queen Lea (Acquanetta).

I'm used to seeing Acquanetta in Universal films from around this time. They tried to make her a star in their horror stable but it didn't really work out. She's very attractive but not the strongest actress. This is arguably the best acting job of her short career, for what that's worth. Dennis Hoey is amusing as the commissioner. He's best known for playing Inspector Lastrade in Universal's Sherlock Holmes series. Tommy Cook is very creepy as Kimba, the Leopard Boy. What a little psycho. Brenda Joyce appears as Jane for the second time and does a fine job, although she's nowhere near the presence Maureen O'Sullivan was in the role. Johnny Weissmuller and Johnny Sheffield are both good, as usual. Weissmuller's first scene has him wrestling hirsute Tongolo the Terrible, whose voice I strongly suspect was dubbed. Speaking of voices, Johnny Sheffield's voice continues to change. Puberty's rough on us all, Boy. Cheeta is still lots of fun, which I'm sure surprises no one.

It's one of the better Tarzan RKO films. Personally I like them all but you have some fans who think of the RKO films as nothing but kiddie stuff. Then you have the people who don't like any Tarzan movies, RKO or otherwise. I try my best to avoid people like that. If you can't enjoy the adventures of Tarzan and his family, you're probably not much fun to be around.

Tarzan and the Leopard Woman (Kurt Neumann, 1946) - This is a touch better than Amazons, with plenty of action (quite well done) and a lively performance by Weissmuller, who'd looked a bit out of sorts in the previous entry. The plot, by now following a path through the jungle wilds so well-trodden it resembles a motorway, sees the Ape Man battling a weird cult with silly leopard costumes that's really into robbery and human sacrifice. Considering the movies were aimed at kids, their marketing is curiously sexualised, with the poster art invariably flagging up the boobs of whichever minor character was most well-endowed. Here it's Acquanetta, who gets shared billing. Her leopard bikini is at least a bit better thought-out than those ridiculous capes the other cult members are wearing.

I rather enjoyed the film, particularly its adherence to near wall-to-wall action, but it provides quite a bit of unintentional hilarity. That comes partly from its incredibly low opinion of natives (who are all duplicitous, hateful savages) and partly from the barely-choreographed dance the leopard men do around the fire. They look like drunk clubbers wearing their wives' coats. One interesting element of the film is "half-native" Edgar Barrier, a Western-educated cultist who denounces the decadence of the imperialists and leads the fight against them. All the RKO series regulars return here: Brenda Joyce is still somewhat one-note as Jane, Boy is entering puberty (giving him an all-new voice and face) and Cheeta hogs the limelight once more. I'm going to be an old cynic and suggest that it's not really him playing that music on the trumpet, though.

TARZAN AND THE LEOPARD WOMAN is the most entertaining of the Tarzan films Weismuller made for RKO. Things were starting to get dreary at the RKO backlot jungle, and this film gave the series a boost. The story of a murderous cult who worship a leopard god, has the kind of plot found in the Tarzan comics I used to read as a kid. The plot seems to be in part based on a real life leopard worshiping murder cult, somewhat like the murderous Kali cult of 19th century India; this secret all male society terrorized East Africa until it was put down by the British. Acquenta is exotically gorgeous as the cults leader, Queen Lea.

So what if TARZAN AND THE LEOPARD WOMAN is only escapist entertainment. If you highbrow types are looking for art, what are you doing watching a Tarzan movie anyway?

MY favorite of the Johnny Weisemuller Tarzan movies, contains great B-movie over-the-top performances and classic lines.

The Tarzan family's shopping trip to Zambezi is cut short by the arrival of a bloodied,dying man, the only survivor of a caravan apparently attacked by leopards. But the Jungle Man knows something is not quite right. "Man not killed by Leopard" he declares, pointing out that leopards use not just their claws but their teeth to kill. Challenged by skeptics to give an alternative explanation, he responds with the classic line "Something Leopard that isn't Leopard".

That something is this freakish cult of Leopard people,who enjoy dressing up in animal skins, attacking people, and ripping out their hearts to sacrifice to their god. They are led by Lea (Aquanetta) (based loosely on the character of the high priestess "La" in the Tarzan novels) and her lover, Lazar, a proto-environmentalist?- who is obsessed with stamping out civilization - a great "over-the-top performance by Edgar Barrier.("Away with them! Down with them!")

But the character to watch is "Kimba" Lea's brother, deliciously portrayed by Tommy Cook - as a conniving, sadistic little creep, who despises Lazar and harbors a not-so-secret lust for his sister and for Jane, the "lady with golden hair".

Taunted by his friends for his pretentiousness,Kimba boasts "When I come back,I will show you a heart". Kimba ingratiates himself into the Tarzan family, then turns on the unsuspecting Jane and Boy declaring "Now I take back TWO hearts". It stretches credulity when the bumbling Boy temporarily overpowers the clever and calculating Kimba.

Tarzan knows more about the ways of the jungle and its inhabitants than anyone, so of course NO ONE in the movie takes his warnings seriously until another caravan is attacked, and the "Zambezi maidens" (student teachers who have been hired to civilize the natives)are captured, along with the entire Tarzan family, and all are bound and prepared for sacrifice to the leopard god. Following classic adventure movie logic, the leopard folks bind Tarzan to the main support beam of their temple, providing him (with the aid of the ever-helpful Cheetah)not only with the opportunity to escape but to literally bring down the house. In a final moment of dramatic retribution, the dying Kimba finally gets his coveted heart - Lazar's heart.

As a kid, I just loved this movie, and I wish it were available on video or DVD. Does anyone know if it is going to be released?

In his tenth outing, jungle king Johnny Weissmuller (as Tarzan) leads the charge against a cult of leopard-emulating white folk. The story is exceptionally silly, but perfect for Saturday afternoons at the cinema. This is the point in the "Tarzan" series where you would have to say "Boy" sidekick Johnny Sheffield became a young man; he shows off his muscles and deeper voice proudly in a shower scene. Beautiful and leggy Brenda Joyce (as Jane) appears very comely in her micro mini-skirt. "Cheeta" the chimp is an excellent musician. Appearing as the titular "Leopard Woman" is curvy "Acquanetta" (as Lea). However, the main guest star is "Leopard Boy" Tommy Cook (as Kimba), who makes the most of the film's best-scripted role. Director Kurt Neumann and photographer Karl Struss set up most every scene for good visual appeal.

****** Tarzan and the Leopard Woman (1/20/46) Kurt Neumann ~ Johnny Weissmuller, Johnny Sheffield, Brenda Joyce, Tommy Cook