Well, he's not Johnny Weissmuller, but then again, Weismuller never did an upside down vine grab with his foot, so I guess that counts for something. As most reviewers on this board mention, Glenn Morris is rather stiff in his virtually silent role as the jungle hero. If one didn't know better, it would seem that this was Eleanor Holm's picture. She seems to dominate most of the screen time when it's not taken up by stock footage of wild animals, and she does a pretty fair job of maintaining interest, especially during the swim scenes. Curious how she had to go get her swim suit for the sequence with Nevin (George Meeker), but simply stripped down from her hiking gear to get wet with Tarzan.
Nominally the story has something to do with capturing animals for American zoos and locating a rare white crocodile. Eleanor's fiancée Nevin is an equal opportunity wild game hunter whose philosophy is best summed up in his own words - "I can't see what it is but it's something". The whole affair winds up at a rather Busby Berkeley looking set where an enormously rich sultan (C. Henry Gordon) intends to add Eleanor to his already large harem. I couldn't imagine how all those white harem dancers wound up in the heart of darkest Africa, but I won't be dwelling on that too much.
I always get a kick out of how Tarzan can engage a wild animal like a lion in combat and not suffer a scratch - pretty amazing! And just like all those Jungle Jim films of a decade later, geographical integrity isn't always maintained when it comes to things like South American macaws and aardvarks as part of the on screen menagerie.
If you have a choice between this Tarzan flick and virtually any of the Weismuller pictures, it's a no contest. But if you're in the mood for a mildly entertaining jungle picture, this isn't the worst thing going, especially up against a myriad of jungle ape pictures of the same era. I can't imagine though why Cheeta wasn't credited with an appearance here, if in fact it was Cheeta. Hard to tell you know.
The main question I have about the story - what's with Joe Sawyer's facial tic?
Nominally the story has something to do with capturing animals for American zoos and locating a rare white crocodile. Eleanor's fiancée Nevin is an equal opportunity wild game hunter whose philosophy is best summed up in his own words - "I can't see what it is but it's something". The whole affair winds up at a rather Busby Berkeley looking set where an enormously rich sultan (C. Henry Gordon) intends to add Eleanor to his already large harem. I couldn't imagine how all those white harem dancers wound up in the heart of darkest Africa, but I won't be dwelling on that too much.
I always get a kick out of how Tarzan can engage a wild animal like a lion in combat and not suffer a scratch - pretty amazing! And just like all those Jungle Jim films of a decade later, geographical integrity isn't always maintained when it comes to things like South American macaws and aardvarks as part of the on screen menagerie.
If you have a choice between this Tarzan flick and virtually any of the Weismuller pictures, it's a no contest. But if you're in the mood for a mildly entertaining jungle picture, this isn't the worst thing going, especially up against a myriad of jungle ape pictures of the same era. I can't imagine though why Cheeta wasn't credited with an appearance here, if in fact it was Cheeta. Hard to tell you know.
The main question I have about the story - what's with Joe Sawyer's facial tic?