Customer Reviews

The Tarzan Collection Starring Johnny Weissmuller: Volume Two (Tarzan Triumphs / Tarzan's Desert Mystery / Tarzan and the Amazons / and the Leopard Woman / and the Huntress / and the Mermaids)

5 star:		(39)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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!

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!

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 ???).

I was born in 1954, and grew up watching these exciting films on local TV. Johnny was my childhood idol and one of the biggest thrills of my young life was meeting him in person in 1967. IMO,the Weissmuler/Tarzan films are the greatest movies ever made for boys. I bought the MGM box set when it was released in 2004 and anxiously awaited the release of the RKO series. I ordered this set late Friday, just before midnight, and received it today(October 31st) on the offical release date. Is Amazon fast or what?!! I haven't watched the films yet. I've just been skimming thru so far. Both the video and audio seem clear and crisp. I would've given the set five stars, except for the exclusion of any special features. It would have been fabulous to have interviews with Johnny Sheffield and Brenda Joyce. The MGM set had several good extras and I'd hoped this set would as well. You'd think they would have at least included the trailers. Oh, well. But, it's great to finally have the films on DVD. BTW, I was happy to see that the discs are secured to the folder in a better way than the MGM set. Just recently, the small plastic tab that holds the bonus disc broke off on my set. The RKO tabs are designed in a manner to prevent that.

Although there have been plenty of other versions of the character, probably the classic movie version of Tarzan is Johnny Weismuller's portrayal in a dozen movies in the 1930s and `40s. The first six of these films were made by MGM (and are in a different set); RKO took over the franchise then and made the final six.

If you watch all twelve films, you can easily see differences between the two sets. Most notably, the MGM films had Maureen O'Sullivan as Jane. In the first two RKO films, Jane is in Europe while Tarzan contends with Nazis, and in the last four, Jane is played by the good-looking but clearly second-string actress, Brenda Joyce. Gone in the second set is Tarzan's famous yell; all we get is a lesser imitation. The later movies often have Tarzan, Jane and Boy seeming like a jungle version of the Cleavers or the Nelsons. The films aren't bad, but let's face it, compared to the MGM films, they're second-rate.

On the first of the three discs are Tarzan Triumphs and Tarzan's Desert Mystery. In Tarzan Triumphs, Tarzan reluctantly gets involved in WWII when Nazis take over a hidden city. (There are lots of hidden cities in this set, and though all these movies take place in Africa, there is an amazingly small number of Africans.) Due to a flaw on my DVD, I couldn't view Tarzan's Desert Mystery, but my understanding is it's a second WWII flick.

When Jane returns in Tarzan and the Amazons (on disc two), she doesn't do too much. Instead, it's up to Tarzan to save a lost kingdom of Amazonian women from greedy treasure hunters who learn of them from Boy. Tarzan and the Leopard Woman is somewhat unique in that the villains are not motivated by greed or power as much as they just want to get rid of British colonizers.

The final disc has Tarzan and the Huntress, the last movie with Tarzan, Jane and Boy; by this point, Boy is almost an adult himself and by the next movie, he'll be off in England for school. The huntress in this story is the head of an expedition to capture animals for zoos. While she is relatively decent, her companions are more ruthless. Tarzan and the Mermaids is a forgettable finale, with Tarzan helping expose a false god in a beach community.

With no extras to speak of, this set has to succeed on the merits of the films themselves, and while they are mostly fun and inoffensive, they are also strictly average fare, so I have to give this set three stars. With plenty of antics by Cheetah and relatively tame levels of violence, this set probably would appeal more to kids than adults.

The 5 stars are gratitude for the release. This is for Johnny Weismuller fans. The stories here are less well made than the original 6 MGM movies but there has never been a better Tarzan than Weismuller and that alone justifies buying this. If you like Tarzan then this belongs in your collection.

this is a must to complete the Johnny Weissmuller collection, even through Maureen O'Sullivan is missed very much, one must watch Johnny Weissmuller carry a excellent Tarzan to which none has come close since then. Tarzan Triumphs is worth the cost alone, also great transfer and much better than the vhs tape . you can almost see the backdrops move. sorry mr. weissmuller only made 12 Tarzan movies

As a child watching Johnny Weissmuller in old Tarzan movies on television, I made few distinctions between the MGM series and the RKO. Now I see that the RKO Tarzan films lacked the MGM gloss (and Maureen O'Sullivan). Still, they have their points of interest. Between TARZAN TRIUMPHS (1943) and TARZAN AND THE MERMAIDS (1948), Brenda Joyce comes on board as the new Jane, Weissmuller's waist thickens, Johnny Sheffield's voice changes, and movie-Africa seems less and less like movie-Africa as black faces are replaced by white and Latino ones made up to resemble, I dunno, Indonesians -- until at last the place suddenly turns into Mexico, complete with cliff-divers and Aztec temple. Don't think I'm complaining, however. The flicks are fun (why, that incongruous Aztec temple is presided over by no less sinister a fellow than George Zucco!), the gals look fine, and the Nazi villains in TARZAN TRIUMPHS naturally don't stand a chance once the Ape Man utters my favorite Ape Man line of all, "Now Tarzan make war!"

I'm very glad to see these movies finally being released on DVD. I have fond childhood memories of watching these movies on a local channel every Sunday morning. While these films aren't quite as good as the MGM series they are still exciting, entertaining movies.

Here's hoping they'll continue with the Lex Barker and Gordon Scott (my personal favorites) movies. I'd be happy to see Jock Mahoney and Mike Henry too.

The Tarzan Collection Volume 1 featured the classic Johnny Weismuller Tarzan films made at MGM between 1932 and 1942. Volume 2 completes the Weismuller era with the six Tarzan films he made at RKO before hanging up his loincloth in 1948, the same year he began playing Jungle Jim for low-budget producer Sam Katzman. Not as impressive as volume 1 which boasted the more spectacular MGM films and some really nice extras, this one is very bare bones without so much as a trailer added.

The first and best film in the set is TARZAN TRIUMPHS with isolationist Tarzan experiencing his own Pearl Harbor when Nazis kidnap Boy and speaking the classic line, "Now, Tarzan make war!". The picture quality on this one is absolutely beautiful. Unfortunately, the print quality varies on the rest of the films. The original elements for most of these must be long gone and , while I assume WB did their best to provide the highest quality copies they could find, the image quality some of the films is disappointing. The first reel of TARZAN'S DESERT MYSTERY looks rather poor, but the remainder of the movie came from a much sharper print. although it dose have a lot of dust and scratches that are a little distracting. TARZAN AND THE AMAZONS looks very good throughout but the image quality of the remaining three films (TARZAN AND THE LEOPARD WOMAN, TARZAN AND THE HUNTRESS and TARZAN AND THE MERMAIDS) isn't up to the first three on the set. Some are rather dull-looking or have too much contrast. HUNTRESS looks especially bad.

While I wish all the films in this set could have been presented using top-notch original materials, it's still good to finally have all the Weismuller Trazans on DVD. Growing up in the 1960s when they were on TV every Saturday, these Tarzan movies were a big part of my childhood. Johnny Weismuller was the definative screen Tarzan and is still good in the later films, even though he was looking very middle-aged by the end of his run. Even that seemed to fit, though, since Boy had grown into a teenager and part of the plots usually delt with family relationships. Over the years Weismuller's Tarzan evolved from a sexy young savage to a father figure and protector.

I'd give the set 5 stars for the films, but the the lack of bonus material and the below-par quality of some of the prints knocked it down to 4. Your enjoyment of the series will probably depend on your age and whether or not you are a fan of this type of escapist adventure, but to me, these are very important films and I love having them in my collection.