TARZAN AND THE AMAZONS

1945/ Director: Kurt Neumann/ Writers: Edgar Rice Burroughs (characters)/ John Jacoby (writer)

Cast: Johnny Weissmuller, Johnny Sheffield, Brenda Joyce, Henry Stephenson, Maria Ouspenskaya, Barton MacLane, Shirley O’Hara

Tarzan and the Amazons was Johnny Weissmuller’s ninth outing as Edgar Rice Burrough’s jungle lord and his youthful and Olympian physique of 1932’s Tarzan and the Apes have long disappeared, though he is still sturdy and imposing. Also gone is sexy Maureen O’Sullivan as Jane. O’Sullivan quit her role as Jane and Tarzan stayed in the jungle with Boy playing Mr Mom while the film makers sorted out what to do. They needed to replace the irreplacable Maureen O’Sullivan. After a couple films absent a Jane Porter (who is abroad in her home of England, though the original Jane was American) she returns to the film series in Tarzan and the Amazons and is now played by the lovely and capable (but not smoldering, as Ms O’Sullivan certainly was) model Brenda Joyce, who it seemed did much like her stint as Jane all of the time and had a short lived movie career. The film was produced by film maverick Sol Lesser and co-produced and directed by Kurt Neumann. The pair would churn out the last of the great, classic Tarzan films for RKO, from 1945 to 1954, the latter ones starring Lex Barker as the ape man. Tarzan and the Amazons is considered by many fans of the Weissmuller films to be one of the better ones technically and certainly the sets and photography are a notch above many of the earlier films. Under RKO and Lesser the Tarzan films worked on much less of budget than they did under mighty MGM, but the films seem to look and feel more authentic for some strange reason. Though Weissmuller is obviously not inclined to want to do sit ups or skip on second helpings he still does a fine job as the monosyllabic Lord Greystoke. Also returning is Johnny Sheffield as Boy who is getting bigger and less boyish and yet is still curious and susceptible to trusting white men from the outside world.

While rafting with Boy and Cheetah, on their way to greet Jane who has returned from England, Tarzan rescues an Amazon girl named Athena from a black panther. She is injured and he must carry her all the way back to the lost city of Palmyria. It is a city inhabited completely by shapely, beautiful white women, except for the high priestess, played by Russian actress Maria Ouspenskaya, who is weather worn and wise to the ways of the outside world. However they trust Tarzan and so his life is to be spared for entering the forbidden city. Of course Tarzan tells Boy to stay put but he follows and discovers the secret passage through the immense mountain range that surrounds Palmyria.

Tarzan and Boy later meet Jane who is accompanied by the “good archeologist” Guy Henderson and his expedition, which of course contains the necessary quota of greed filled guides who will later do anything for gold, including throw knives in the back of pretty Amazons. The expedition becomes interested in a bracelet worn by Jane, which was dropped by Athena and then given to Jane by Cheetah, and link it to a lost civilization and possible untold riches. Jane, fresh back from Britain and tainted still, argues with Tarzan that he is narrow minded and a poor judge of character after he refuses to lead the expedition to the lost city. This is enough to get boy thinking and he decides to lead the expedition there, as he has, once again, become beguiled by western people and their gadgets. The expedition is course captured and will be sacrificed but noble Sir Guy convinces the high priestess of his sincerity and she agrees to release them all. But the bad guys screw it all up and kill Sir Guy and a few Amazon girls and make off with arm loads of gold. The booty helps to slow them down enough so that they get killed off one by one and a couple wind up in quicksand while a stone faced Tarzan watched them sink.

You would have to be a fan of the Weissmuller Tarzan flicks to really get into it all, and I certainly am. I watched about five of them over the last week and loved them all and will try to get a couple more reviews up over time. The movies were simple, usually aimed at an audience of kids, but always had a clear and direct message about  honor and loyalty to the people who trust you as well as the pitfalls of greed and avarice. And of course, never trust civilized white people, just half naked ones of royal descent who now live in the jungle, or sexy ones of a lost tribe of Anglo Amazons. And of course, always trust your faithful chimp

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 11th, 2008 at 1:19 pm and is filed under Action and Adventure, Cult Films and Oddities, Science Fiction-Fantasy . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.