Welcome to this new series on Burroughs films. My name is Calvin Bowes and I look forward to this journey as we look at the various films based on the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs.

Each week I will randomly pick a film from the vault as our ERB movie of the week. Then, in the following week I shall play movie critic and give my thoughts on the film. I also invite you to submit your thoughts as well.

I feel this could be a fun new feature for ERBzine and if you have any ERB movie that you want featured in this section, please let us know and we will work hard to incorporate that film as well.

CALVIN'S ERB MOVIE OF THE WEEK XXI

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TARZAN'S NEW YORK ADVENTURE
ERBzine Reference: www.erbzine.com/mag6/0622.html Back in the Jungle again as we look at another film based on the work of Burroughs. This week is my all-time favorite Weissmuller film, TARZAN'S NEW YORK ADVENTURE, starring Johnny Weissmuller and Maureen O'Sullivan. The film is about some big game trappers who come to Africa to bring animals back to America. After meeting Boy (Johnny Sheffield) they figure he would be a great addition to their Circus. After believing Tarzan and Jane are dead they bring Boy back to New York with them. Now, Tarzan and Jane, who are not dead, go searching for their son on a trip that leads them across the ocean to New York City. 

This film is the classic fish out of water story in which you get to see Tarzan trying to cope with civilization. For example, Tarzan tries on shirts at a tailor shop and his chest is so big that he rips all the shirts. While in a Taxi he discovers the radio and is appalled at listening to opera. Cheeta gets into the act too as she picks up the phone and starts chattering into it as a janitor starts thinking he's getting a strange phone call. 

The film has some good dramatic moments as well. The best is in the custody hearing when it comes out in court that Boy was not born in the jungle and Tarzan and Jane are not his natural parents. Weissmuller and O'Sullivan are very good in this film and there is a strong sexual chemistry between them -- even in a wholesome film like this. 

Sadly this was Maureen O'Sullivan's last film, but she did go out in a very good film. So, when all is said and done, TARZAN'S NEW YORK ADVENTURE comes in fully armed with 5! -- count them -- 5 JUNGLE KNIVES. 

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Next week Lex Barker is back in 
TARZAN AND THE SLAVE GIRL
so watch this film with us and I will be back next week. 
Until then THE JUNGLE IS CLOSED! ~ Calvin

ERBzine Reference: 
http://www.erbzine.com/mag19/1950.html

Send your comments to Calvin at:
vampirellasbite@yahoo.com
.

CALVIN'S ERB MOVIE OF THE WEEK XXII

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TARZAN AND THE SLAVE GIRL
ERBzine Silver Screen Reference:
www.erbzine.com/mag19/1950.html

Here we are in the jungle again and before I talk about TARZAN AND THE SLAVE GIRL I want to  first respond to an e-mail I got from someone who reads my column, but also asked to remain anonymous.  He asked why when I review the films do I not compare them to the books of Edgar Rice Burroughs. He then asked me "Don't you have respect for the work of Mr. Burroughs?"  I felt it was a fair question so I will answer it first.

I actually answered it in my first column, but some may have not read it so here is my response. I am a huge fan of Mr. Burroughs' work. I have read all of his books several times and I do grant that the films are not like his books at all. I am also a huge fan of the Tarzan movies. If you truly want to enjoy these films you must take them for what they are, not for what they are not. I am reviewing these films only as films as entities of themselves. Some films like the one I reviewed last week, TARZAN'S NEW YORK ADVENTURE, would not have been enjoyable at all if they presented the literal TARZAN. The film Tarzan is different and you must accept that difference to enjoy these films which I intend to do.

Now for this week's film TARZAN AND THE SLAVE GIRL starring Lex Barker and Vanessa Brown. The film is about a tribe of lion people who are dying of a illness are kidnapping girls to help repopulate their people. Jane is one of the girls kidnapped and so Tarzan goes to her rescue. Lex Barker and Vanessa Brown are definitely a force to be reckoned with. Here we have a Tarzan and Jane who kick butt and take names. Despite how tough he is Tarzan still is a little afraid of getting a shot in a very humorous scene in the film. One great notable performance is Lola played by Denise Darcel. She is vary feisty and tough -- as a matter of fact, all the women are tough in this film. That brings us back to Tarzan and Jane themselves. The chemistry between Barker and Brown is very good. Vanessa is, in my opinion, the best Jane that Barker worked with and she gives you the feeling that if Tarzan was not around she could take care of herself. Its a pity they replaced her in the next film. Now Barker, who is my favorite Tarzan, is very good at going from the savage to the gentile at the drop of the hat and his action scenes in this film are fantastic.

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So I give TARZAN AND THE SLAVE GIRL 4 1/2 JUNGLE KNIVES.

Next week's film is TARZAN AND THE GREAT RIVER starring Mike Henry.
ERBzine Silver Screen Reference:
www.erbzine.com/mag19/1962.html
So watch this film with us and I will be back next week to talk about it.
Until then THE JUNGLE IS CLOSED!

Send your comments to Calvin at:
vampirellasbite@yahoo.com
.

CALVIN'S ERB MOVIE OF THE WEEK XXIII

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TARZAN AND THE GREAT RIVER
ERBzine Silver Screen Reference:
 http://www.erbzine.com/mag19/1962.html

Welcome back to the Jungle as we look at films based on the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs.   Before I review TARZAN AND THE GREAT RIVER I want to thank the people who have E- mailed me with nice letters telling me how you have enjoyed this column. I am pleased to say I only got one negative letter and I dealt with it last week, but again thanks for all your support. I wouldn't have a column without you.

This week we watched TARZAN AND THE GREAT RIVER starring Mike Henry. This film is my favorite of the Mike Henry films. The story is about an evil man who makes himself a god of his people for the soul purpose of enslaving them -- even using a deadly epidemic to hold them enslaved. So it's up to Tarzan, Cheeta and Barron the lion to go after this man who calls himself Barcuma (Paulo Gracindo).

So Tarzan joins a boat crew led by Captain Sam (Jan Murray) and Pepe (Manuel Padilla Jr.) and later Dr. Ann Phillips (Dianna Millay) to bring much needed medicine to the Merrakete people. This ultimately leads to a fight to the death between Tarzan and Barcuma.

As I said earlier, this is my favorite of the Mike Henry films. This film has one of the best supporting casts and remains exciting even though the majority of the film is on Captain Sam's boat. It's full of nice interplay between Captain Sam, who steals the show in this film, and Tarzan.

Mike Henry is all right as Tarzan although he isn't a very good actor. His speech is very monotone throughout the film. He is supposed to be playing the more sophisticated Tarzan but I feel he would have been better playing the monosyllable Tarzan of earlier films. By far the best performance in this film is played by Jan Murray.

An interesting side note is that this film was finished before they started filming  the TV show with Ron Ely, but the film was released when the show was in its second season. So at that time you could watch Tarzan on TV Friday night and go see him on the screen on Saturday.

So in judging this film, TARZAN AND THE GREAT RIVER gets 4 JUNGLE KNIVES. If we had a better Tarzan it would have gotten a 5. 

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Next week we are going to leave Tarzan for a week
and journey to the great world of Pellucidar as we watch
AT THE EARTHS CORE
starring Doug McClure and Peter Cushing. . .
See the ERBzine Silver Screen Reference:

www.erbzine.com/mag30/3031.html
but until then, THE JUNGLE IS CLOSED.

Send your comments to Calvin at:
vampirellasbite@yahoo.com
.

Back to the jungle as we pull out another film AT THE EARTH'S CORE based on the works of E R B. This week we are watching a film with no Tarzan in it: AT THE EARTH'S CORE starring Doug McClure and Peter Cushing.  The film concerns a British scientist (Peter Cushing) and his backer David Innes (Doug McClure who use a giant mole machine to cut their way through the earth wherethey find themselves in the world of Pellucidar at the earth's core. They are captured by evil inhabitants to be made slaves and Innes falls in love with a beautiful girl named Dia (Caroline Monroe).

This film has many problems. For one, it is extremely hard to follow on the first viewing. My feeling is that maybe much was cut from this film to make it a 90 minute feature. Doug McClure is OK as David Innes but I feel he spends too much time hamming it up so that we don't really feel the danger of the situation. As far as the creatures are concerned they feel more like monsters from a Godzilla movie. Basically people in bad looking costumes. I'm even disappointed in Peter Cushing, an actor I have great respect for. He is used here only for comic relief.

Now I do like Caroline Monroe in this film only because she's hot. Now one thing I truly loved in this movie was the music by Mike Vickers -- it has a nice whimsical quality to it.  I will tell you even though I didn't really like this film there was one scene I actually loved and that is at the end of the film. We see two guards standing outside Buckingham Palace as the Iron Mole comes out of the ground and the guards run in panic.

So this week's film AT THE EARTH'S CORE gets a 1/2 JUNGLE KNIFE for good music and only one good scene.

Next week Gordon Scott swings through the jungle in TARZAN AND THE LOST SAFARI
but until then THE JUNGLE IS CLOSED!

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ERBzine Reference for TARZAN AND THE LOST SAFARI
 http://www.erbzine.com/mag19/1954.html

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CALVIN'S ERB MOVIE OF THE WEEK XXV

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DISNEY'S TARZAN II It's jungle time again and this week we watched a delightful Disney film -- TARZAN II. This is the second sequel to Disney's hugely popular animated Tarzan film. But actually the title should be Tarzan 1/2 because it takes place in the middle of the movie TARZAN. The story in this film concerns Tarzan as a boy (voiced by Harrison Chad), who feels he does not fit in so decides to set out on a journey to find out exactly what he is. He is helped in this endeavor  by a fraudulent ape who pretends to be a monster called the Zoogor. The Zoogor character is voiced  by my all-time favorite comedian, George Carlin.

This is a very entertaining film with a great message about being happy with who you are. One of my favorite scenes is where Kala (voiced by Glen Close) takes Tarzan into the jungle and shows him the tallest tree. She explains to him that it is tall because of all the branches working together as a family. Also entertaining are the tree apes voiced by Ron Perlman, Brad Garret, and Estelle Harris. I especially loved the Momma ape played by Harris. She was very funny. But the one who steals the show is Carlin's Zoogor. Another plus for the film is a nice new song by Phil Collins.

So in rating this film TARZAN II comes in with 4 1/2 JUNGLE KNIVES a truly enjoyable film indeed.

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Next week  Johnny Weismuller returns in TARZAN AND THE LEOPARD WOMAN so watch this film with us and I will be back next week with my thoughts. Until next week THE JUNGLE IS CLOSED!

ERBzine Silver Screen Reference: ERBzine 0626
 http://www.erbzine.com/mag6/0626.html

CALVIN'S ERB MOVIE OF THE WEEK XXVI

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TARZAN AND THE LEOPARD WOMAN

We are back in the Jungle again as we look at a film based on the work of Edgar Rice Burroughs. This week we have watched TARZAN AND THE LEOPARD WOMAN starring Johnny Weissmuller and Brenda Joyce. This film is a nice childhood memory for me. The movie poster was the first poster I had ever bought even though I had not seen the movie at the time. But most importantly, I knew Jaquenetta as she was a good friend of my mom and I used to go to the studio and watch her film used car commercials with her husband Jack Ross when I was a child. Just imagine the shock I went into to find out she was the leopard woman.

The plot of this film consists of a deadly leopard cult that is unleashed to take power. When a person is killed the commissioner (Dennis Hoey) is convinced it was done by leopards, but Tarzan is not convinced because leopards never kill with claws alone. The leader of the cult is Lea the High Priestess played by Aquanetta and she sends her younger brother Kimba (Tommy Cook) to spy on Jane (Brenda Joyce) and Boy (John Sheffield). But his main aim is to bring back the heart of Jane so he can become a warrior.

My favorite part of the film is when Tarzan is tied to a large support beam and to escape he brings the whole cave down with him. This film is a lot of fun and can be a little frightening for smaller children. I feel this is the one Weissmullar film with the most tension and I highly recommend it.

So, in judging this film I give it a full 5 JUNGLE KNIVES for being a very suspenseful and enjoyable film.

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Next week's spotlight is on Lex Barker in
TARZAN'S SAVAGE FURY

I love that title, but we will talk about the film itself next week.
Until then, THE JUNGLE IS CLOSED

CALVIN'S ERB MOVIE OF THE WEEK XXVII

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TARZAN'S SAVAGE FURY

Here we are straight out of the jungle with anouther film from our Jungle Vault. This week's film is my favorite title but not necessarily my favorite film: TARZAN'S SAVAGE FURY!  I always loved that title, although we never see the savage fury of Tarzan in this film.

This film stars Lex Barker and Dorothy Hart. The film is about two evil men (Pratric Knowes and Charles Korvin) trying to find diamonds for what appears to be the Russians. They kill Tarzan's cousin and try to trick Tarzan into believing one of them is Lord Greysyoke. The film also introduces a young boy named Tommy Carlton as Joseph Martin. He was probably supposed to become a regular in the series but that never happened. When he is first introduced he and other boys are being used as bait to capture crocs, After Tarzan rescues him comes one of my favorite exchanges in the film:

Tarzan: Boy English?
Joseph: No American
Tarzan: Boy speak English, Boy English.
Joseph: No American.
Tarzan: Boy English. This film is a lot of fun and has a lot of action in it. I especially loved the scene on the river with the hippos when Roof stupidly shoots at one and they all get attacked

This movie also has one of the funniest bloopers of all time. In one scene when Tarzan is facing down some rhinos, the rhino is definitely rear projection and when the rhino starts to run away Tarzan's image suddenly vanishes. It's very funny.  Now, Lex Barker, who as many of you who have read my column know is my favorite Tarzan and he is very good in this film. Dorothy Hart is OK in the part, but too motherly. I personally prefer a sexy or strong Jane and she is neither of those thing .

So, in judging this film, I give TARZAN'S SAVAGE FURY 4 1/2 JUNGLE KNIVES. It would have gotten only four but I feel with such a cool title it deserves at least a half a knife more. 

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Next week is TARZAN'S GREATEST ADVENTURE
Refer to the ERBzine Silver Screen Reference at:
http://www.erbzine.com/mag19/1957.html

Well maybe not, but that is the title of the film starring Gordon Scott and a future James Bond. So watch this film with us until next week when we will discuss it. Until then, THE JUNGLE IS CLOSED

CALVIN'S ERB MOVIE OF THE WEEK XXVIII

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TARZAN'S GREATEST ADVENTURE Back in the jungle again as we look at another film based on the work of Edgar Rice Burroughs, This week's film is TARZAN'S GREATEST ADVENTURE. Well, maybe not, but that's the name of the film. This one stars Gordon Scott as Tarzan.

In this film Tarzan is tracking down an evil man named Slade (Anthony Quayle), who is in Africa for two reasons: 1) to mine diamonds and 2) to kill Tarzan. So that takes Tarzan on a manhunt were he is the target as well. He is accompanied by a beautiful girl named Angie (Sara Shane) and the two even have a slight romance. (Don't tell Jane.) This film is action packed from start to finish. It is one of the better Tarzan movies, but not the greatest as the title proclaims.

One of the nice things about this film is the appearance of future James Bond, Sean Connery, who plays the evil O'Bannion. He is very good in this film. The best scene in this film is the last scene which is the fight atop the cliff with Tarzan and Slade. As for Gordon Scott. His acting is very good in this film although, as I have said before, physically he is not right for Tarzan because he has a body builder's body and I feel Tarzan must have more of a gymnast body.

So in judging this film, TARZAN'S GREATEST ADVENTURE pulls in 4 JUNGLE KNIVES -- not his greatest adventure, but still a good one.

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Next week brings us Mike Henry in
TARZAN AND THE JUNGLE BOY

ERBzine Ref: www.erbzine.com/mag19/1963.html
Visit ERBzine Silver Screen: A Resource Guide to the Movies of Edgar Rice Burroughs
www.erbzine.com/mag5/0502.html
So watch this film with us and I will be back next week with my thoughts on the film.
Until then THE JUNGLE IS CLOSED!

Wow so many films I have reviewed so far and I'm very close to the end of them.This week we watched TARZAN AND THE JUNGLE BOY starring Mike Henry.The film concerns a photo journalist (Aliza Gur ) and her fiance (Ronald Ganz) who want to go into a forbidden part of the jungle to find a lost jungle boy (Steve Bond). It also deals with a battle by the sons of a chief of a tribe fighting to become the chief. One is evil (Edward Johnson ) and the other is good (Rafer Johnson). The evil one tries to kill the good one and even convinces his people that his brother is dead.

The story is a pretty good one although the film seems rushed, probably because it was. After filming Tarzan and the Great River in Brazil they decided at the last minute before leaving to crank out one more Tarzan flick.

Mike Henry is still a little stiff in the role. The supporting cast is much better and most of the exiting scenes don't involve Tarzan except as a bystander. A good example of this is the competition and last battle with the two brothers. Other than the beautiful cinematography, this film has little to offer. This was Mike Henry's last Tarzan film and he goes out with a whisper, not a bang.

So in judging this film TARZAN AND THE JUNGLE BOY brings in 2 1/2 JUNGLE KNIVES.

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Next week is a very nice treat as we watch Johnny Weissmullar and Maureen O'Sullivan in
TARZAN AND HIS MATE

Review the ERBzine Silver Screen feature
A very sexy film indeed. But until then THE JUNGLE IS CLOSED!

CALVIN'S ERB MOVIE OF THE WEEK XXX

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TARZAN AND HIS MATE Back in the Jungle again as we look at yet another film based on the work of ERB. This week is a real treat, TARZAN AND HIS MATE starring  Johnny Weissmullar and Maureen O'Sullivan, This film created quite a stir when released in 1934, The Hays office wanted to ban this film because of O'Sullivan's costume, or lack of one, and the sexy skinny dipping scene that is quite tame by today's standards. I wonder how they would have felt about the Bo Derrek film?

The film takes place shortly after Tarzan the Ape Man ends. Harry Holt (Neil Hamilton) and Martin Arlington (Paul Cavanaugh) come to Africa to find the Elephants' Grave Yard and to convince Jane to come back to England. She has been living in the jungle with Tarzan for over a year. At first Tarzan agrees to take them to the Elephants Graveyard until he finds that they want to take the ivory out, To Tarzan this is like robbing a grave.

This film has a lot of exciting moments. My favorite action moment is when Holt and his men are at the foot of the Escarpment and are being chased by natives at the bottom with boulders being thrown at them from above by apes. This film has Maureen O'Sullivan at her best and at her sexiest. I really enjoyed the skinny dipping scene. This is by far her best performance. Weissmullar is very good in this film as well, The two of them have the best sexual chemistry of any Tarzan and Jane ever. So in judging this film TARZAN AND HIS MATE brings in 5 JUNGLE KNIVES. This film is fully armed.

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Next week we will be watching Disney's TARZAN AND JANE

Compilation of 3 TV episodes: See the TV Episode Titles at:
 http://www.erbzine.com/mag0/0014.html 
Visit the ERBzine Silver Screen site at ERBzine 0502
Until next week THE JUNGLE IS CLOSED