TARZAN'S REVENGE (A Principal Production released through 20th Century-Fox, 1938), directed by D. Ross Lederman, became the final independent "Tarzan" installment of the 1930s. Following three earlier minor attempts as TARZAN THE FEARLESS (1933), with Buster Crabbe, and THE NEW ADVENTURES OF TARZAN (1935) and TARZAN AND THE GREEN GODDESSS (1938), both with Herman Brix, all chapter serials later edited to feature length format. TARZAN'S REVENGE is a 70 minute Sol Lesser production with no prior weekly chapter elements to its name. The result being TARZAN'S REVENGE, regardless of its strong title, to be no threat to the ever popular Johnny Weissmuller Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer series (1932-1942). Often hailed as the worst of the Tarzan franchise, the leading players enacted by Olympic athletes as Glenn Morris and swimming champion Eleanor Holm, in her movie debut, did nothing to make this watchable nor the writers to make it exciting, even with screen credit given to its creator of Edgar Rice Burroughs as this based on his novel.
This low-budget project opens with the map of view Africa when a steamship traveling down the Luckdar River carrying passengers as Eleanor Reed (Eleanor Holm), her fiance, Nevin Potter (George Meeker), and her parents, Roger Reed (George Barbier) and his hay-fever suffering wife, Penny (Hedda Hopper). Roger's venture is to spend five to six weeks in Africa to capture rare animals such as a white crocodile for his New York zoo. Nevin spends more time shooting animals to improve his aim-shot practices than with Eleanor. Ben Alleu Bey (C. Henry Gordon), an Oxford educated African ruler with a 100-plus wife harem returning from Paris, takes an interest in Eleanor after she witnesses and defends one of his servants getting beaten by him. Upon the arrival to their destination, the Reeds are met by Johnson, manager of the safari company, with Olaf (Joseph Sawyer) hired to act as their guide through the jungle. At the same time, Olaf is paid heavily by Ben Allu to abduct and bring Eleanor to him once the safari gets close to his palace. Later, Eleanor is rescued by Tarzan (Glenn Morris) after getting stuck in the mud, and disappears. During the course of the story, Tarzan, who takes an interest in Eleanor, rescues the caged animals captured by Reed, while Eleanor finds herself captured and held prisoner by Ben Alleu, wanting her as part of her harem. Others in the cast include John Lester Johnson, Corbet Morris, Frederick Clark and Gordon Elliott.
While pieces of the story appears to be a rehash to how Tarzan met Jane in the Weissmuller and Maureen O'Sullivan edition of TARZAN THE APE MAN (1932), TARZAN'S REVENGE is rather tame, and disappointing to fans of the Tarzan franchise. This Tarzan character comes 13 minutes into the story, and on the 22 minute mark, meets Eleanor for the first time. Tarzan barley speaks except to address himself as Tarzan. His belt out jungle yell, similar to the soundtrack used by both Buster Crabbe and Herman Brix, is quite different than the more iconic yell by Weissmuller. Considering the fact that Tarzan is accompanied by a chimpanzee, he is never addressed as Chetah. Heavily underscored by Hugh Risenfeld, production values show this is not MGM as Morris is no Weissmuller. While Eleanor Holm may be attractive, sporting white attire throughout the story, she is a better swimmer than she is an actress. Hedda Hopper's constant sneezing gets annoying after a while. C. Henry Gordon makes a good villain, but there seems to be something lacking with his mean image.
While the given title of TARZAN'S REVENGE is a misnomer, had the plot revolved around the vengeance Tarzan out to avenge someone who killed his mate or one of his animals, then TARZAN'S REVENGE might have become a better and stronger story. Aside from some underwater swimming, animal fights and native confrontation sequences, the plot revolves more on other characters than the Tarzan character, which is just as well since this Tarzan lacks character. Thankfully, Johnny Weissmuller continued his long running rein as lord of the jungle or both MGM and RKO Radio until hanging up his loincloth by 1948.
Distributed on video cassette in the 1980s, TARZAN'S REVENGE began to surface regularly on both commercial and public television after 1979, followed years later by cable television channels as American Movie Classics (1997-2000) and Turner Classic Movies (starting in 2012) as part of its long running "Tarzan" series package from 1932 to 1968. (*1/2 swing vines)
This low-budget project opens with the map of view Africa when a steamship traveling down the Luckdar River carrying passengers as Eleanor Reed (Eleanor Holm), her fiance, Nevin Potter (George Meeker), and her parents, Roger Reed (George Barbier) and his hay-fever suffering wife, Penny (Hedda Hopper). Roger's venture is to spend five to six weeks in Africa to capture rare animals such as a white crocodile for his New York zoo. Nevin spends more time shooting animals to improve his aim-shot practices than with Eleanor. Ben Alleu Bey (C. Henry Gordon), an Oxford educated African ruler with a 100-plus wife harem returning from Paris, takes an interest in Eleanor after she witnesses and defends one of his servants getting beaten by him. Upon the arrival to their destination, the Reeds are met by Johnson, manager of the safari company, with Olaf (Joseph Sawyer) hired to act as their guide through the jungle. At the same time, Olaf is paid heavily by Ben Allu to abduct and bring Eleanor to him once the safari gets close to his palace. Later, Eleanor is rescued by Tarzan (Glenn Morris) after getting stuck in the mud, and disappears. During the course of the story, Tarzan, who takes an interest in Eleanor, rescues the caged animals captured by Reed, while Eleanor finds herself captured and held prisoner by Ben Alleu, wanting her as part of her harem. Others in the cast include John Lester Johnson, Corbet Morris, Frederick Clark and Gordon Elliott.
While pieces of the story appears to be a rehash to how Tarzan met Jane in the Weissmuller and Maureen O'Sullivan edition of TARZAN THE APE MAN (1932), TARZAN'S REVENGE is rather tame, and disappointing to fans of the Tarzan franchise. This Tarzan character comes 13 minutes into the story, and on the 22 minute mark, meets Eleanor for the first time. Tarzan barley speaks except to address himself as Tarzan. His belt out jungle yell, similar to the soundtrack used by both Buster Crabbe and Herman Brix, is quite different than the more iconic yell by Weissmuller. Considering the fact that Tarzan is accompanied by a chimpanzee, he is never addressed as Chetah. Heavily underscored by Hugh Risenfeld, production values show this is not MGM as Morris is no Weissmuller. While Eleanor Holm may be attractive, sporting white attire throughout the story, she is a better swimmer than she is an actress. Hedda Hopper's constant sneezing gets annoying after a while. C. Henry Gordon makes a good villain, but there seems to be something lacking with his mean image.
While the given title of TARZAN'S REVENGE is a misnomer, had the plot revolved around the vengeance Tarzan out to avenge someone who killed his mate or one of his animals, then TARZAN'S REVENGE might have become a better and stronger story. Aside from some underwater swimming, animal fights and native confrontation sequences, the plot revolves more on other characters than the Tarzan character, which is just as well since this Tarzan lacks character. Thankfully, Johnny Weissmuller continued his long running rein as lord of the jungle or both MGM and RKO Radio until hanging up his loincloth by 1948.
Distributed on video cassette in the 1980s, TARZAN'S REVENGE began to surface regularly on both commercial and public television after 1979, followed years later by cable television channels as American Movie Classics (1997-2000) and Turner Classic Movies (starting in 2012) as part of its long running "Tarzan" series package from 1932 to 1968. (*1/2 swing vines)