Product Details

• Actors: Johnny Weissmuller, Maureen O'Sullivan, Neil Hamilton, Paul Cavanagh, Forrester Harvey
• Directors: Cedric Gibbons, Jack Conway, James C. McKay
• Writers: Bud Barsky, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Howard Emmett Rogers, James Kevin McGuinness, Leon Gordon
• Format: Black & White, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: MGM (Warner)
• VHS Release Date: September 1, 1998
• Run Time: 104 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6302120438
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #5,134 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

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  #2 in	Video > Classics > Kids & Family - Classics - > Tarzan
  #9 in	Video > Action & Adventure > Jungle Action
  #27 in	Video > Action & Adventure > Romantic Adventure

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Tarzan movie with adult overtones., February 23, 2000

By	Robert S. Clay Jr. (St. Louis, MO., USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This film is considered by many to be the finest of the Johnny Weissmuller MGM Tarzan movies. It's a crackling good adventure story that is a real roller coaster ride. The African jungle, considering the B&W photography and primitive special effects, is vividly portrayed as a savage place indeed. Wild animals abound: charging rhinos, stampeding elephants, lions with an attitude, and a tribe of fearsome great apes. An annoyance for Tarzan purists is the portrayal of Tarzan as a hulking brute that only speaks in halting, broken sentences. The character written of by Edgar Rice Burroughs is an intelligent white ape that is fluent in several languages, including native dialects and the animal "language" of the great apes. The Tarzan yell is overdone in this movie, too. Depending on the viewer's tolerance level, it may start to grate as chalk on a chalkboard, especially when Jane (Maureen O'Sullivan) gets in the act with her combination soprano Swiss yodel and the familiar "ape call." Again, ERB's Tarzan only gave this fierce victory cry as he stood bloodied and dirty over a vanquished foe, animal or otherwise. In personal combat, Tarzan reverts to his primitive self and truly becomes a denizen of the forest primeval.

This film stresses the marriage relationship of Tarzan and Jane more than subsequent entries in the Tarzan series. The sex is implied, of course, but one can easily infer that the jungle couple is not celibate. The costumes (especially Jane's) are very revealing for the time period in which the movie was made. There is a riveting "nude" swimming scene that is a wonderful erotic interlude. This segment had been censored for years, but is included in the restored version. The plot involves two wordly white men (including Jane's old friend) that show up to entice Jane away from Tarzan, and to desecrate the elephant graveyard for the valuable ivory. Tarzan takes a dim view of these unfriendly intentions. Lurking in the brush there are fierce savages that stalk the safari. Just when things can't get any worse, the natives openly attack the safari, kill the porters, murder the two white men stealing the ivory, and, as Jane is about to be devoured by lions, well, you get the idea. Before anyone dismisses this movie as a typically trite Tarzan movie, it's fair to mention this was only the second film in the MGM series and it set the pattern for much that followed. The fast pace of the story, the almost nonstop action, the sexual overtones, and the primitive setting all make this an entertaining jungle adventure film. Don't expect subtleties of plot and character development, and you will be pleased.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Here's Johnny!, July 7, 2000

By	Barbara Farr Kelley (San Antonio, Texas USA) - See all my reviews

I bet when you were a little kid and you were watching all those great Johnny Weissmuller/ Maureen O'Sullivan Tarzan movies on TV, that you did not notice that in this one Jane swam nude under the water. I know I didn't notice stuff like that, but boy, my brother and daddy sure did. "Daddy, Jane don't have any clothes on," my brother told him. But I didn't know he said that until I was old and married and my mom told me.

Of all the Tarzan movies, the only ones I liked had Johnny Weissmuller in them. This one was my favorite, and my second favorite was Tarzan Finds a Son with Johnny Sheffield playing Boy.

I loved those groovy screams/yells they did. Johnny Weissmuller had his very own scream, which was copied by sound directors in all later Tarzan movies by other Tarzans. Maureen O'Sullivan was the only Jane who had a yell. Did you know she is Mia Farrow's mother? And Johnny Sheffield, Boy, had his own yell.

They had great films when I was a kid: Tarzan, Shirley Temple, Sherlock Holmes, Charlie Chan, Mr. Moto, just to name a few. And they had them on every year, certain times of the year. Tarzan was usually summer time Saturdays, Shirley Temple was in the winter, Charlie Chan in the spring, and Sherlock Holmes in the Fall. At least that's how it was in Texas.

I dearly loved all those Tarzan movies, the ones with Johnny and Maureen, but did not like the newer Tarzans. They were all so phony compared to Weissmuller.

This is a much recommended movie for the whole family to watch, even if Jane does swim naked. You gotta watch awful close to see it.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Johnny Weissmuller is the definitive Tarzan, October 22, 2000

By	gobirds2 (New England) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Weissmuller was the best of the loincloth-clad men of swinging valor and bravery. This admirable film is the ultimate testament to that. This is a good action and adventure tale. Erotic for its time this story has Tarzan swinging into action and ROMANCE. It contains discriminating effects and exquisite photography. Great supporting cast. The villains once again meet their match in this tense and absorbing drama as good overcomes evil jungle style.