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.

This week's movie is TARZAN IN MANHATTAN
 

I can not tell you how glad I am to be back in the USA again. In Transylvania there were no Big Macs and I'm enjoying one right now as we look at the next film - TARZAN IN MANHATTAN starring Joe Lara and Kim Crosby. This film takes place in the present as Tarzan's mom Kala was killed and Cheetah was kidnapped and brought to New York. Tarzan goes to rescue Cheetah and avenge the death of his ape mother. One of my favorite moments in this film is when Tarzan arrives in New York with a fake passport  and the immigration official ask for his passport.  Tarzan sez: No problem. The immigration man looks at the passport, pushes a button and sez: Problem. Tarzan is arrested -- a very funny moment.

Joe Lara makes a very good Tarzan and he is a very good actor in the role. The part of Jane is another matter. I don't care for Jane being a cab driver, I also don't like a hard-edged Jane. I believe the actress who plays her should have some real vulnerability which Kim Crosby does not have. This film also has two heavyweight stars, Tony Curtis for one. This is the first time I ever became annoyed with a performance of Mr. Curtis but when he keeps calling Cheetah Chiquita over and over it does become annoying. The best performance in the film is by Jan Michael Vincent who plays a man who wants to use the animals for experiments. He can go from charming to creepy on a dime which is very hard for actors to do.

So in judging this film I give it 4 JUNGLE KNIVES for a nice fun ride.
Next week join us for
THE PEOPLE THAT TIME FORGOT

ERBzine Silver Screen Reference:
so until then THE JUNGLE IS CLOSED.

CALVIN'S ERB MOVIE OF THE WEEK XXXVII

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Well its time to open up our Jungle Vault as we look at another film based on the work of the great Mr. Burroughs. This week's film is TARZAN'S SECRET TREASURE starring Johnny Weissmuller and Maureen O'Sullivan. Actually I think this film should actually be called Boy's Secret Treasure because Boy takes up most of the screen time. 

In this film Boy (Johnny Sheffield) finds gold at the bottom of the river and his mother Jane tells him how gold is very valuable in civilization. She tells him about all the wonderful things that are in civilization and so Boy takes it upon himself to try to see civilization for himself. Instead he finds a village plagued with sickness and the natives blame him for it and try to have him killed. He is rescued by a scientific expedition and he and a friend named Tumbo (Cordell Hickman)  are taken back to the Escarpment. At this point boy reveals to two of the men (Tom Conway and Phillip Dorn) that he has gold. Greed gets the better of them and they decide they are going do whatever it takes to get the gold. 

This is a very exciting film with great performances from Reginald Owen who plays professor Elliot. The scene stealer and comic relief in this film is Barry Fitzgerald as O'Doul. The bad guys are really terrific because they have some charm at the beginning that turns on a dime when they find out about the gold. Also making an appearance in this film for the third time is our favorite alligator who Tarzan fought in TARZAN AND HIS MATE and TARZAN ESCAPES and he will fight again in Denny Miller's TARZAN THE APE MAN. You can't keep a good alligator down. That brings us to Tarzan and Jane. Even though they don't have much screen time Weissmuller and O'Sullivan light up the screen together and their chemistry has not been matched by any others after them. This is a film that is a lot of fun to watch. Only one thing bothers me. At the end of the film, when O'Doul is leaving the jungle, Tarzan and Jane just put him on an elephant and send him on his way. Why doesn't Tarzan escort him out himself?   Just a question. 

But still this is a fun film that brings in 4 JUNGLE KNIVES. 
Next week Joe Lara and Kim Crosby in TARZAN IN MANHATTAN 
ERBzine Silver Screen

so watch this film with us and come back next week 
but until the as always THE JUNGLE IS CLOSED!

CALVIN'S ERB MOVIE OF THE WEEK XXXVI

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Well I'm back from my trip to Transylvania.  I was there for about two weeks -- a very interesting trip indeed. But now I'm back and ready to open up our Jungle Vault for another film based on the work of E R B. This week we discuss a very good film even though it stars one of my least favorite Tarzans. The film is TARZAN'S FIGHT FOR LIFE starring Gordon Scott and Eve Brent.

In this film Tarzan's mate Jane is sick with appendicitis and Tarzan must take her to the doctor in Randini for surgery. The other problem is that a neighboring tribe is controlled by the witch doctor (James Edwards) who has forbidden his people from seeing and being treated by the white doctor (Carl Benton Reid) so he has put fear into his people and its up to Tarzan to show them the light. I enjoyed this film very much. It gives us a good story built more on drama than action, athough there are good action sequences as well. Good examples are when Tarzan fights the 70-foot snake and when he swings over the hungry lion. But this film concentrates mostly on the drama of the story, which I feel is a good thing. My favorite scene is the part when Futa the witch doctor has stolen what he thinks is the white doctor's medicine, but is actually poison and then tries to give it to the chief's son to cure him. Tarzan warns that the serum is poison and the witch doctor does not believe him and drinks it himself and dies. Great moment indeed.

One part in the film bothers me, however. Why, when the natives capture Tarzan and tie him up, don't they take his knife away from him? He only uses it to escape which he could not have done without. But even with this obvious error its still a good film. Gordon Scott, as I said, is not one of my favorite Tarzans but he still gives an adequate performance here. Eve Brent is a terrible Jane. She reminds me of a classic Las Vegas showgirl. Tommy Sorrenson is OK as Tartu, although he doesn't have much to do in this film. The best performance is by James Edwards as Futa. He plays a villain who works well on many levels.

So in Judging this film I give TARZAN'S FIGHT FOR LIFE 4 1/2 JUNGLE KNIVES.
Next week we will watch 
TARZAN'S SECRET TREASURE

starring Johnny Weissmuller and Maureen O'Sullivan
ERBzine Silver Screen Reference:
http://www.erbzine.com/mag6/0621.html
but until next week THE JUNGLE IS CLOSED

CALVIN'S ERB MOVIE OF THE WEEK XXXV

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Welcome back to the jungle as we present another film based on the work of Edgar Rice Burroughs. This week we watched THE LION MAN based on the book THE LAD AND THE LION.  In this film, Sir Ronald Chatham (Eric Snowden) makes a deal for surveying with an unscrupulous Sheik (Ted Adams) who basically ordered him and his son killed. But the son is rescued and raised by Hassan El Dinh (Richard Carlyle). The child grows to manhood and becomes El Lion (Jon Hall) who then searches for the man who had his father killed.

This, in my opinion, is a very bad film and moves very slowly for an action film. They spend a lot of time speaking in biblical English, which is annoying if it isn't Shakespeare. The worst part is that when we finally have the big fight between El Lion and the man who murdered his father it looks more like a staged dance that is done badly than a fight to the death that it is meant to be. West Side Story this is not. 

Of all the non-Tarzan ERB films I feel this one is the worst. It's sad too because the book was quite enjoyable and could have been a good movie in other hands. So, in judging this film THE LION MAN only gets 1/2 of a JUNGLE KNIFE. 

Next week we will watch
TARZAN'S FIGHT FOR LIFE with GORDON SCOTT

ERBzine Silver Screen Reference:  www.erbzine.com/mag19/1955.html
but until then like I always say THE JUNGLE IS CLOSED 

Here we are again with another Tarzan flick. This week we watched TARZAN AND THE HUNTRESS starring Johnny Weissmuller and Brenda Joyce. In this film a group of people come to Africa to capture animals for zoos in America as at that time there is a shortage of zoo animals. The group is led by a beautiful woman (Patricia Morison) with her fiance (John Warburton) and their trail boss (Paul Weir).

Tarzan, Jane, and Boy (Johnny Sheffield) have come to bring gifts to King Farrod (Charles Trowbridge). Also attending is the king's son (Ted Hecht) who is very greedy and has agreed to help the hunters by taking away the quotas of animals that the king has allowed. So to accomplish this Prince Ozira has his father killed so he can be the prince. Tarzan tries to stop them from trapping the animals but finds they are doing this with the prince's permission. So Tarzan tells the hunters to stay on their side of the river and he will stay on his. After getting to the other side he calls all the animals to his side of the river.The hunters won't take this so they cross the river to trap the animals and like in so many other Tarzan films this one ends with a big elephant stampede.

This film is a lot of fun and Weissmuller is very good in his Tarzan role. Brenda Joyce is OK in this film, but she is not one of my favorite Janes.  This was Johnny Sheffield's last Tarzan film and you can see why -- he is now too big to be called Boy. He is almost as big as Weissmuller. He could even have played the Tarzan role at this time.

So, in judging this film, TARZAN AND THE HUNTRESS brings in a solid 4 JUNGLE KNIVES for being a fun Tarzan film.

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Next week Tarzan will take a break as we watch the movie THE LION MAN

ERBzine Silver Screen Reference
http://www.erbzine.com/mag4/0450.html
so watch this film with us, but until then THE JUNGLE IS CLOSED!

It's jungle time again as we look into our jungle vault and pull out another film. This week we watched TARZAN AND THE SHE DEVIL starring Lex Barker and Joyce Mackenzie -- a pretty good effort.

In this film a group of ivory hunters led by Vargo who is played by Perry Mason himself, Raymond Burr, are hired by a beautiful She Devil (Monique van Vooren) to discover a herd of elephants. Their plan is to enslave a local tribe and get Tarzan to call the elephants so they can kill hem. Their main idea is to capture Jane and hold her hostage to force Tarzan to call the elephants since he would not do this willingly. But when trying to capture Jane they think they have accidentally killed her. When Tarzan hears this he loses his will to survive. But miraculously Jane is not dead and when Tarzan finds she is alive his will to survive returns. The film has some really good action sequences, especially the last one -- the elephant stampede.

Now for the bad point of this film. When the film ends it is in the middle of the elephant stampede. It's true we do see all the  bad guys die and Tarzan and Jane escape but it feels like the film just ends abruptly with no tag at the end. Very strange indeed.

The cast in this film is very good. Lex Barker who, as you know, is my favorite Tarzan gives an unusually emotional performance in this film. Joyce Mackenzie is a very good Jane and she and Barker have a great chemistry together. Now for the villains. Raymond Burr is very good as Vargas, a real scum bucket and Monique van Vooren is very evil and sexy as the She Devil.

So in rating this film TARZAN AND THE SHE DEVIL brings in 4 1/2 JUNGLE KNIVES. It would have gotten five had it not had that weird abrupt ending.

Next week we are watching Johnny Weissmuller and Brenda Joyce in TARZAN AND THE HUNTRESS

ERBzine Reference: http://www.erbzine.com/mag6/0627.html
but until then THE JUNGLE IS CLOSED

Here we are again as we look at yet another ERB film and this week it is TARZAN'S HIDDEN JUNGLE starring Gordon Scott. The film concerns some hunters (Jack Elam and Charles E. Fredericks) who are posing as documentary film makers and trick a doctor (Peter van Eyck) and his assistant (Vera Miles) into taking them into Sukulu country. The Sukulu see the animals as sacred and anyone who kills an animal dies.

Now I know that this sounds like an exciting action-packed plot. But the truth is there is no real action until the last 10 minutes on the screen. It's mostly just standing around talking about how deadly the situation is and nothing really happens. The high point in this film is Vera Miles who plays Jill and she is very sexy. She and Gordon Scott light up the screen together. This is probably why he married her a year later. Now I know I have said this before but Gordon Scott is one of my least favorite Tarzans. In this film he looks mostly like he is posing for a Mr. Olympia contest instead of making a Tarzan film. Other than Vera miles this film has very little to offer.

So, in judging this film, TARZAN'S HIDDEN JUNGLE brings in 1 1/2 JUNGLE KNIVES.

Next week Lex Barker will be with us in TARZAN AND THE SHE DEVIL

ERBzine Silver Screen Reference at:
 http://www.erbzine.com/mag19/1952.html
so until then THE JUNGLE IS CLOSED!

CALVIN'S ERB MOVIE OF THE WEEK XXXI

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Disney's TARZAN AND JANE
Compilation of 3 TV episodes: See the TV Episode Titles at:
 http://www.erbzine.com/mag0/0014.html It's that time again when I pull a film out of the Jungle Vault and this week is Disney's TARZAN AND JANE. In this animated film, Jane (voiced by Olivia D'Abo) is trying to figure out what to do for Tarzan (voiced by Michael T. Weiss) for their one-year wedding anniversary. First she thinks it would nice to have a party, but the animals remind her of a time when three of her girlfriends came to visit her and the danger they got into. Next she thinks of giving him a diamond but remembers when Tarzan helped two unscrupulous men find diamonds and the trouble they got into.

Lastly she thinks of dancing with him and then she remembers an ex-boyfriend who was a double agent and kidnapped her in his plane. She is totally baffled. Whatever shall she do to celebrate their anniversary. This is truly a wonderful film that recreates the magic from Disney's first Tarzan film. My only complaint is that it has Mandy Moore's music instead of that of Phil Collins which is featured only over the opening titles. This is still a fun movie which brings in 3 1/2 JUNGLE KNIVES.

Next week we will look at TARZAN'S HIDDEN JUNGLE starring GORDON SCOTT,

See the ERBzine Silver Screen reference at:
 http://www.erbzine.com/mag19/1953.html
but until then THE JUNGLE IS CLOSED!