Tarzan’s Greatest Adventure

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Tarzan's Greatest Adventure starring Sean ConneryGuest blogger Robert Payne writes:

The Tarzan movies that I watched as a kid on Saturday morning TV have all blurred into my head as one vine-swinging meta-narrative of a cartoonish jungle hero battling cartoonish villains.  But of all those films, one stood out from the pack and stuck in my memory: Tarzan's Greatest Adventure (1959).  Its taut story involves Tarzan's (Gordon Scott) manhunt for a gang of murderous mercenaries as they make their way upriver to a hidden diamond mine. Along the way, Tarzan becomes saddled with Angie (Sara Shane), a smart-talking aviatrix whose plane has crashed in the jungle. Not having any other way out of the dangerous terrain, she follows the laconic ape man on his quest. However, the mercenaries don't really trust each other, and the underlings silently lust after their leader's voluptuous moll. In fact, the movie seems to take more interest in the unscrupulous personalities of the gang members than it spends on action sequences. By the film's end, all of the mercenaries are dead, but more of them have died by each others' hands than by Tarzan's.

Tarzan's Greatest Adventure holds up extremely well as a riveting, fast-paced, medium-budget 1950s adventure movie.   This was the first entry into the Tarzan series by producer Sy Weintraub.  In an effort to appeal to older audience members as well as younger ones--an effort shared by the adult westerns of the time--Weintraub revamped the character from the broken-English primitive of earlier years to a Jane-less man of the world who spoke in complete sentences.  The reboot worked.  Aesthetically speaking, the only elements that date Tarzan's Greatest Adventure are the awkward intercutting of the actors with stock footage of the African wild animals and some rather antiquated special effects. Otherwise, this 1959 Tarzan film is as satisfying as, say, Budd Boetticher's modestly budgeted Randolph Scott westerns of the '50s.

In fact, I think why the film stands the test of time so well is because it's really a character study in adventure-movie drag. The picture is more interested in the amoral gang members, and their high-strung wranglings with each other, than it is in the contest between good and evil. The film's attentiveness to its antagonists is helped by its casting. Shakespearean actor Anthony Quayle (who has never been cooler) brings a coiled intensity and integrity to the role of gang-leader Slade. When we learn that a fight to the finish with Tarzan, an old enemy, is Slade's primary goal, above retrieving the diamonds, Quayle makes us believe it. Another gang member is the devil-may-care Irish mercenary O'Bannion, played by a pre-007 Sean Connery, who brings his sturdy physicality and burgeoning screen charisma to what might have been a stock character. And Irish actor Niall MacGinnis seethes in the constantly sweltering role of the blubbery, bespectacled German gem specialist who tries to kill Slade.  By contrast, while Scott's performance as Tarzan is proficient, and he conveys an unspoken feral ferocity at all the right moments, his character is so stoic and reticent in comparison to the more intriguing bad guys that, although they all die in the end, they still walk away with the movie.

Another appreciated element is the care that the filmmakers took in establishing a naturalistic atmosphere for the story's setting. Tarzan's jungle is a world of mud and blood. When he gets dirty, he gets filthy, with the soil and detritus clinging to his body as a constant reminder that this isn't the civilized world. And Tarzan isn't invincible; he bleeds. At one point in the story, he's thrown from a tall tree by a dynamite blast and spends a good chunk of the movie recovering from his wounds.  The film instills Tarzan with a credible humanity that's missing from the earlier movies that simply portray him as a two-dimensional action figure.

Tarzan's Greatest Adventure still stands as a solidly crafted adventure film. Yet, for all its virtues, the movie is available on DVD only as a specially made archive disc and not one given the full studio release and special features that it deserves.   This is a shame because its merits don't deserve to be relegated to a footnote in film history. In other words, Tarzan's Greatest Adventure lives up to its title.

Robert M. Payne is a Los Angeles-based writer whose articles on film have appeared in magazines such as Film Quarterly and Jump Cut.
His Facebook page is located at http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001247125815. For more information visit Adventures in Vertigo.

 
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  • Rick Andrews

    GORDON SCOTT WAS TARZAN.
    NO ONE ELSE CAME CLOSE

    RICK

  • Gus Paterson

    Sorry Rick,Johnny Weissmeuler was the one AND only Tarzan,excuse my spelling!

  • William Sommerwerck

    I'm not surprised you picked this film, because it's adult and rather violent. It might not be what Rice-Pudding had in mind, but it's miles removed from Cheetah doing backflips and everyone laughing.

    I don't know if there is truly definitive Tarzan, but Gordon Scott would certainly one candidate on a very short list.

  • Richie K.

    You must be kidding..... no one...I MEAN NO ONE...ever could top Ole Johnny Weimuller and the scene in which he and Jane go swimming naked! it was done very well...and with discretion , and was really very bold for a movie way back then...I agree with another writer here...Johnny Weismuller was the only Tarzan , The rest are all simply trying to ride his coatails...and none did as good of a job as he did!

  • Randall Smith

    Johnny Weissmuller, Lex Barker, Gordon Scott, Jock Mahoney, Mike Henry and Ron Ely were all great Tarzan's in their own way. I love the Tarzan franchise when I was a kid growing up! I only wish the franchise would of continued! I would take a Tarzan flick over any super hero flick of today!

  • Gary Vidmar

    A double-feature tie:
    TARZAN THE MAGNIFICENT is equally as good as TARZAN'S GREATEST ADVENTURE. They're very similar in tone, with a ruthless dynamic that really sets them apart as top-notch adventure movies. Most importantly, they have the essential villainy counter balancing the heroics. Guillerman and Day were both sure-handed directors, and really gave this historic franchise a one-two boost.

  • jim meyer

    My choise for best Tarzan is:
    Tarzan and the slavegirl.

  • Dolores Tamoria

    No Way! The original Tarzan was the best and in my mind the only Tarzan of cours it was "Johnny"

  • GARY ROBERTSON

    I agree with Gus and Richie . . . Johnny Weismueller was the definitive Tarzan and all the subsequent actors . . . though good . . . just rode his coattails. Just like Maureen O'Sullivan was the definitive Jane although I really liked Brenda Joyce in the role as well. I also liked Johnny Sheffield as Boy but I wished they would show more of his Bomba movies as well because I liked them as much as the JW Tarzan movies. The best Tarzan movie in my book was "Tarzan and His Mate" because of the nude swimming scene which was done very tastefully before Hollywood passed the code which prohibited those kind of scenes. What you have to remember is the woman in the scene was a standin - not Maureen O'Sullivan. Just like it wasn't Deborah Kerr or Natalie Wood singing in the movies "The King and I" and "West Side Story".

  • MarxLover

    As a lifelong Tarzan fan, I find it hard to call one particular Tarzan greater/better than the other. I'm talking about the ones who played the role in at least three films -- Weissmuller, Barker, Scott, Henry. Each of these brought a certain style to the character. Once you get into each one's series, this becomes plain. BUT if I had to vote for just one, I'd have to flip a coin between Johnny and Gordon.

  • Salty Jack

    Sorry Gus Paterson and Richie K but Rick Andrews is absolutely correct, Gordon Scott is the most superior Tarzan to grace the movies to this date. Weismueller was fun to watch and his movies had the MGM and RKO trappings that further enhanced the fun - but, his gutteral, halting speech that never improved (along with his expanding girth as his movies progressed) removed him far away from the dynamic character E.R. Burroughs created. Weismueller fared better as the Jungle Jim character but was hindered by the poorly scripted and juvenile production values of that series. Gordon Scott in TARZAN'S GREATEST ADVENTURE and TARZAN THE MAGNIFICENT came the closest to capturing the spirit and embodiment of Tarzan as found in the books (However, Scott's Tarzan efforts under Sol Lesser were dreadful). The Tarzan portrayals by Jock Mahoney, Ron Ely and even Mike Henry were all better than Weismueller's. Weismueller's Tarzan films will always be fun to watch but his performance as the Lord of the Jungle will always be sorely lacking. The definitive Tarzan movie has yet to be made but TGA and TTM come mighty close.

  • Ray

    No one mentioned Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan,
    Lord of the Apes (1984) with Christopher Lambert
    in the title role. A very interesting re-telling
    of Tarzan's tale.
    As to who was the best Tarzan it's like Sherlock
    Holmes. Basil Rathbone, like Johnny Weismueller
    will always be the definitive portrayals of their
    respective characters for most people and although I
    like them both, particularly Rathbone, I'd say
    Jeremy Brett was the best Holmes and probably
    Gordon Scott, for Tarzan, although Ron Ely was
    surprisingly effective as well.

  • Tiny Tim

    I'm dumbstruck this is even being discussed and even more perplexed at all this regard for these pretenders portraying Tarzan. Johnny Weissmuller WAS Tarzan. Everything else was an afterthought. Tarzan and His Mate is the best movie, and the other MGM features tie for second place. Gordon Scott? Ron Ely? Weren't these the stunt men fighting leopards and Indians in Mexico or something? Give me a break.

  • Salty Jack

    Sorry, once again, Tiny Tim but there's no 'break' for you. You're caught up in the Weismuller maelstrom that so many others are victim to. It's nostalgia and a first impression that dictate your choice. You saw Johnny as Tarzan at the movie theatres or, more likely, on television when you were a youngster and he became your standard for the character. But, an objective evaluation of each actor's performance as ERB's Tarzan character still reveals Gordon Scott as the finest of all. As for 'fighting leopards and indians in Mexico', geography has nothing to do with the actors portayals - Weismuller's Tarzan films were filmed in a fake jungle on a studio soundstage (and sometimes at Griffith Park or other locations in the surrounding California countryside). Scott's TARZAN'S GREATEST ADVENTURE and TARZAN THE MAGNIFICENT were both filmed primarily in Africa (with some indoor shooting in UK studios), Jock Mahoney's Tarzan films were filmed on location in India, Ron Ely and Mike Henry's efforts did much of their work in Mexico and Central America - but, at least, it was real not fake jungle that supported the action.

  • Richard Finn

    I believe there were actors who played Tarzan before Weissmuller. I believe Buster Crabbe of later Flash Gordon fame was one. To compare movies made in the 30's & 40's to those produced in the 50's and beyond is ridiculous. Budgets were smaller, air travel was limited, special effects were from film documentaries, etc. I believe Weissmuller's best portrayal of Tarzan was his 1st, "Tarzan, the Apeman". I recall being struck by the alienness of the Tarzan call, when the group was traveling in the jungle. It was absolutely eerie.

  • Don

    Johnny Weissmueller was, by far, the best Tarzan. His voice portrayal and body language was perfect for a man raised by apes. He was a great swimmer and in perfect condition. Gordon Scott came close but was a little too smooth for the role of someone living in the jungle!

  • Daniel E. Coates

    Johnny Weissmuller is King by far.

  • My Friend Fred

    My personal favorite as Tarzan was Johnny Weissmuller. That being said, a serial was produced in 1935, "The New Adventures of Tarzan," which was subsequently turned into two feature films, which starred Herman Brix (also known as Bruce Bennett) as Tarzan. Believe it or not, Brix was the most authentic Tarzan ever, the reason being that the series was shot under the direct supervision of Edgar Rice Burroughs himself -- he was right there during the production. So, although the portrayal of Tarzan by Brix might be quite surprising to most of us, it is exactly what Burroughs had in mind when he wrote the books.

  • Gus Paterson

    Johnny 'W'...RULES!!!

  • JIM BROWN

    Johnny Weissmuller defined the role, in a unique way that stands out in memory. His interaction with Jane and Boy were so endearing. The others who came after him were great also but in a very different way. It is like comparing the actors who came after Sean Connery to play James Bond. P. S. The best movie in this genre ever made was "Tarzan's New York Adventure."

  • David Lee

    Johnny was before Buster as Tarzan, from what I read about the Tarzan movies. As far as the best
    JOHNNY WEISSMULLER hands down, game over!!!!!!

  • sugarpussoshea

    As Glenn Campbell states in True Grit "I really don't understand this conversation - AT ALL!!".
    There have been good and gr8 Tarzan's before and after the one and only True Tarzan, Johnny Weissmuller....... Somehow, this man simply "got" him and projected him on the screen. The home he built for Jane, Boy and himself in the jungle: the relationships he had with other tribes, animals and surroundings all poked thru to show a unique man - one I wud have trusted with my life. There will never be another like our Johnny.

  • Fred Buschbaum

    A couple of thoughts,,,,, Sorry delores, bet you never heard of Elmo Lincoln. I too think Johnny was the stone that all the others were copied from. The simplicity and right thinking about good versus evil in the early films probably just don't fit in with modern sofistication and filmdoms need for excessive blood and gore. Also the (need??) for even more dangerous stunts and "modern" themes that we can identify with today, don't change the basics,(good wins over evil) the old films put forth. Remember this all started about the time that King Kong blew the minds of the moviegoing public.

  • Fred Buschbaum

    Oh yeah, I watched Johnny weismuller on the Johnny Carson show when he admitted that the Tarzan call was a composite of three different men to get the range and tonalities they wanted.

  • Tiny Tim

    Yes Salty Jack I grew up watching Weissmuller films on TV in the late 50s and early 60s, but I also saw the Gordon Scott pictures around the same time, and I found them wanting then as I do now. In many other instances I have accepted or even preferred later perfomers in classic roles defined by an earlier actor. For example, I've come to like Jeremy Brett's Holmes even better then Rathbone's, and I thoroughly enjoyed Benedict Cumberbatch's contemporary interpretation (I won't even watch the RD JR heresy though). On the other hand, some actors set so distinctive a standard that they cannot be separated from a character they essentially created (forget the books, 95% of movie viewers have never seen them). That describes Weismuller as Tarzan and Sean Connery as Bond. Of course if you saw some other version first you might not agree, but Johnny Weissmuller defined the role for at least two generations, and if this impromptu poll continues I guarantee he will win hands down. In the meantime, you might want to order some Roger Moore disks to watch while you wait for the upcoming release of Snow White the Avenging Warrior or whatever it is.

  • sugarpussoshea

    I remember that Johnny Carson!! I thought he said it was he that did 3 different "yodels" himself?? Oh well - it's still the call they all try to mimic.........

  • michael j.

    It's been a long time since I've seen Tarzan's Greatest Adventure, or any other Tarzan movie with someone other than Johnny Weismuller. However, what I do remember most about all these films is that Tarzan's woman, Jane, was definitely Maureen O'Sullivan!!!! Isn't that what matters most?

  • roger lynn

    I agree both Johnny and Goron were great different Tarzans but both were terrific.I wish the studios would do Gordon Scotts Tarzans like Johnny's release on box set of dvds.vol 1-vol 2..I also enjoyed Lex Barker and Jock Mahoney's Tarzan..RELEASE THEM ON DVD!!!!!!!!!!!

  • John

    The early Weissmuller films are deservedly classic with the MGM production values and the delicious Maureen O'Sullivan whose costume in "Tarzen and His Mate" had male viewers praying for a little wind.The later efforts with Brenda Joyce are less satisfying. Scott is probably the best of the "eloquent" Tarzens and more faithful to the books but only in the Weintraub films.The production is king.I suspect, though, that like Karloff's inarticulate monster,so unfaithful to the novel "Frankenstein", that Weissmuller's monosyllabic jungle lord will remain immortal.

  • Salty Jack

    This petty squabbling is hopeless and futile. The Johnny Weissmuller crowd will never concede that there was a better Tarzan performance than old Johnny's. The same can be said of the Gordon Scott crowd. People like what they like. So, what does it matter? There are plenty of movie Tarzans to choose from - so take your pick. Any popular literary character brought to life on the silver screen and portrayed by a myriad of actors over time will always garner debate over who came off the best in the role. DRACULA: Lugosi? Lee? Palance? Langella? JAMES BOND: Connery? Moore? Brosnan? Craig? SHERLOCK HOLMES: Rathbone? Brett? Cushing? Downey, Jr.? The list goes on and there will never be an ultimate winner because it's always the individual viewer who decides in the end. A million people polled could choose Weissmuller as the best Tarzan and he still wouldn't ultimately win because it just takes one person to prefer another actor's performance over his to negate the 'victory'. To Roger Lynn: The Lex Barker, Gordon Scott, Jock Mahoney and Mike Henry Tarzan films are available on DVD through Warner Bros. Go to their website for ordering information. To Tiny Tim: Which Roger Moore discs are you recommending (The Saint?, James Bond?, Maverick?) And, what prompts you to suggest I watch them? Also, I've never heard of 'Snow White, the Avenging Warrior'. What's the concept? What actors are involved? Who's the director? And, why should I be waiting for it? Calm seas to everyone.

  • Judy Janak

    I agree,best Tarzan film.Stop using 1950's sexist language aviatrix in describing Angie.It's aviator.Sexist language is as wrong as racist language.

  • Rob in L.A.

    As the writer of the above review, I'd like to thank everyone who commented for taking the time to let me know what you think. And here are some thoughts of my own:

    First of all, it was never my intention to claim Gordon Scott or any other actor as the "definitive" Tarzan. Sometimes, different performances of the same character work in different contexts (Rathbone and Brett as Sherlock Holmes are good examples), and we all have our favorites.

    Since Johnny Weissmuller played Tarzan in the most films for the longest amount of time — 12 movies in 17 years — and because many of us became aware of the character through his interpretation, I'm not surprised that he has so many ardent devotees.

    While it's not my intention to proclaim an ultimate Tarzan actor, if I were to name one — and I'm going to infuriate the Weissmuller fans here — I would name one of those who spoke in complete sentences, and not one of those who spoke in broken English. (In the books, Tarzan was fluent in both English and French.) Maybe it's because I became aware of the character about the time of the Ron Ely TV show, but I always related more to the Tarzans who used prepositions and adverbs than to those who didn't.

    I agree with Gary Vidmar that "Tarzan's Greatest Adventure" and "Tarzan the Magnificent" are the two best films in the series, but I would have to give TGA the edge because it fleshes out the characters better — although TTM is no slouch in that department either (and it's always good to see John Carradine in anything). Because these two Gordon Scott starrers are the two best Tarzan movies — and many film buffs would agree with me on that — if I absolutely had to name a "supreme king of the jungle," I would name Scott, whose "unspoken feral ferocity" fits perfectly with these two films.

    However, some of Scott's line readings fall flat. I suppose that Ely is the Tarzan who spoke his dialogue with the most conviction most of the time. But I would also like to put in a good word for Jock Mahoney, who played the ape man in two very good movies: "Tarzan Goes to India" (1962) and "Tarzan's Three Challenges" (1963). (Oddly enough, he also played the main villain in TTM.) The oldest actor to begin playing Tarzan — he made his first Tarzan at 43, only one year younger than when Weissmuller made his last — he had a face that looked like it had seen a lot and a body more sinewy than muscle-bound (he didn't come from a sports background like most of the other actors who played the character). I like his presence in the two films he made and wish he had done more.

    But, again, I am not naming a "one and only Tarzan." (But I do have to say: I'm disappointed that none of the Sherlock Holmes commentators mentioned Nicol Williamson in "The Seven Per-Cent Solution" or Christopher Plummer in "Murder by Decree." Also, Maureen O'Sullivan's body double in "Tarzan and His Mate's" mesmerizing nude-swimming scene was Olympic natator Josephine McKim.) So, whether your favorite Tarzan is Weissmuller or Scott or Lex Barker or Mike Henry or Travis Fimmel, just enjoy your movies. (Cue Cheetah's backflip.)

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=707090272 Nils Nordberg

    The question is: Which Tarzan? Certainly no one, not Crabbe, Morris, Barker, or Scott although they were all made to try, played WEISSMULLER's Tarzan better than Weissmuller. Especially in the first two films, before his Tarzan became domesticated, a tree-house suburbanite. So far the Weissmuller crowd is absolutely right. But the Tarzan created by ERB, half beast, half civilised man, a peer of the realm to boot and able to speak a dozen languages as well as apish, Johnny wasn't. Very few have been. Scott came quite near when he was allowed to and even managed to look suitably grim-faced despite his boyish looks; I think both his Weintraub films are among the six or seven best. But I do find him as well as Mike Henry (though 'Tarzan and the Valley of Gold' has a real Burroughsian feel to it) physically too bulky. Tarzan looks "more like Apollo than Hercules", to quote ERB. (Which is one reason I dislike Joe Jusko's over-muscled Tarzan, who seems to have spent his youth pumping iron with Conan the Barbarian, rather than doing aerial acrobatics and fighting Sabor the lioness.) Weintraub had the right idea when he switched to Mahoney, only he should have been ten years younger. Herman Brix, Ron Ely and especially Joe Lara did make an effort to present Tarzan somewhat as ERB imagined him (and even Casper Van Dien had something going for him in spite of the result), but Christopher Lambert in the first half of 'Greystoke' remains the truest, the feral man who goes literally ape when he is threatened, growls and roars and fights with his hands and teeth as well as knife, and at the same time is highly intelligent. Lambert is slimmer and perhaps a tad shorter than most movie Tarzans, but he has the sinewy physique of a free-style climber or parcours runner. Which is what Tarzan is, a man adapted to a life in the tree-tops. But at the risk of committing heresy: The one who comes closest to my mental image of how Tarzan looks - influenced in great part by the Hogarth comic strips I admit - is actually Miles O'Keeffe. Yes, him from the Bo Derek disaster. A pity he never really got the chance to play the true lord of the jungle.

  • christina

    my vote is for johnny weismuller: tarzan the ape man and tarzan finds a son are my favorites. also enjoyed 'greystoke'. oh, by the way, salty jack, you started the squabbling.

  • Bob Mulderig

    While I agree that Tarzan's Greatest Adventure is the best Tarzan movie from a dramatic and production point of view, I still think Weismuller was the best Tarzan from a character point of view. By this I mean he was an APEman- King of the jungle whom the Elephants and apes loved and obeyed. Scott was a man of great strenght and jungle savy - Closer to Alan Quartermain than Tarzan. The biggest problem with trying to do a Tarzan movie today is that he belongs back in unexplored Africa of the end of the end of the nineteenth century and beginning of the 20th. Just as Sherlock Holmes works well in Victorian England but not in todays world of computers and CSI.

  • Paula Robinson

    Until Johnny Weismuller was cast as Tarzan, Hollywood was searching for THE RIGHT man to fill the loin cloth and none did it better than Johnny. That's why there wereso many others before him trying unsuccessfully to BE Tarzan. He had a natural raw sexual innocent quality and genuinely portrayed a man raised by apes that captivated the audience immediately in Tarzan the Ape Man and Tarzan Finds a Mate. He was believeable! I haven't read the book but how would he have learned English or French or are we dealing with educated apes here? I too saw him on the Carson show and he told the story of his Grandfather teaching him to yodel and that he developed the one true Tarzan yell that we all recognize based on his yodeling abilities....his signature Tarzan yell....the others are laughable by comparison.None can compare to what Johnny Weissmuller brought to the screne....unforgettable!

  • Watt Hyer

    Has anyone mentioned Disney's Tarzan? Not" apples to apples", I know, but they did a good job with that one. TGA and TTM are certainly among the best films, along with the first two of Wiesmuller. Tarzan Escapes could prove to be the best of all if it could some how be restored. Lambert's Tarzan was very authentic, and Herman Brix (Bruce Bennett) was indeed coached by ERB himself. Bennett is a very under appreciated actor with an incredibly long career who deserves some recognition.
    Finally, as bad as that Bo Derek movie is, you gotta think Tarzan and Jane got to carry on like they do in the last five minutes of that film, its only redeemable scene.
    Hopefully, one day, someone WILL make the definitive Tarzan.

  • Steve

    Robert Payne: HAVE to agree with you. TARZAN'S GREAT ADVENTURE is MY favorite entry, too.

    Good story, as you mentioned - PLUS, it got down 'n dirty...

    This was the first non-Johnny Weissmueller TARZAN I ever saw - wasn't expecting much, but Gordon Scott is ONE cool Tarzan.

  • Jeff C

    frankly, although I've enjoyed most of the movies, I've always been disappointed that the films never lived up to the books. Tarzan was a man raised by apes who never would have left the jungle or submitted to acquiring the thin veneer of civilization, claiming his birth right and becoming a member of the landed gentry with titles and estates but for his pursuit of Jane and his attempt to claim her as his mate. Of course he was successful and they did return to Africa to live at least for a good part of the time and they were married and even had a son, Korak, the killer (at least if memory serves) but they never lived in a tree house. Hollywood just has to put their own spin on things and of course Tarzan was sanitized and made fit family fare. So I agree that there never has been a definitive film made. Chris Lambert was good in the early part of his effort but than the movie fell apart and in the end he left civilization and Jane to return to the jungle alone, so in the end it still didn't work for me, more's the pity. I still think someone could make a great movie but maybe no one believes in that kind of romance anymore and people might just find it laughable. To me though, he was one of the great characters ever created in fiction and it's appropriate that Sherlock Holmes has been mentioned because he too was a great creation of fiction but I think he's been treated a little better on film.

  • Alexander Foundoukis

    F

  • Alexander Foundoukis

    Friend Fred has it right! Herman (Bruce Bennet) Brix was the closest portrayal to Tarzan as ERB created him. Frank Merrill was also a great Tarzan. Chris Lambert portrayed the ape man terrifically in the first part of the film but then they ruined it in the later half. Johnny Weissmuller is the Tarzan I grew up with in what was known as the movie theaters (BTV). I thought he was the greatest until I began to read the books and saw The New Adventures Of Tarzan. As I've stated before with JW Tarzan became a monosylabic moron and by the third flick hen pecked too. Gordon Scott in his last two Tarzans brought the ape man back to ERB's creation. Jock Mahoney and Mike Henry carried on as real Tarzans. Yes Tarzan And His Mate was the best of the weissmuller films, but that is not Maureen O'Sullivan he swims with. It was a professional swimmer named Josephine McKim. But as someone said we all have our favoriyes. Basil Rathbone is Sherlock Holmes, Brace Beamer is the Lone Ranger (Radio, you know) Warner Oland is Charlie Chan, etc.

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  • Rob in L.A.

    For the record: I wrote a response to Judy Janak's objection that I used "sexist language" by describing Angie as an aviatrix and not by a gender-neutral occupation. I wrote that I usually use gender-neutral language when describing people's occupations but wanted a word more descriptive than "aviator" or "pilot" and also wanted to give some flavor of the late-'50s era. I then gave a URL link to a blog post of mine further discussing the use of gender-neutral job language. However, a moderator must have deemed the link inappropriate because my response was deleted. But I would like Ms. Janak to know that I did respond to her comment.

  • Victor

    If you read the books,regarding Tarzan's physique,Herman Brix's is the one closest to the discription.Each actor gave it their own,and they each deserve their own merits.The first part of Greystoke is very loyal to the books and Lambert did a great job bringing it across.Hollywood changed a lot of things from the books,I guess for commercial reasons.Lord Greystoke became very sofisticated,although underneath the Apeman was always present and ready to come out.The comic drawing of Hal Foster were based on the character's physical description from the books.

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