Tarzan der Furchtlose

Unintentionally funny in places and downright hilarious in others, he's no Johnny Weissmuller but you can't say you've lived until you've seen Buster Crabbe spank a monkey. I bought this on DVD because one: it was cheap, and two: out of curiosity, as I've only seen Buster Crabbe play Flash Gordon or Buck Rogers which I enjoyed watching as a kid on TV during school holidays. I also loved the Tarzan films with Johnny Weissmuller. So I thought buying this DVD was going tick all the boxes. - I was wrong, so so wrong.

Firstly there was nothing wrong with Crabbe,s Tarzan he has the physique and good looks to easily carry the part. It's just that the filming and script is just all over the place and this lets him down, he also wears the shortest loin cloth and skimpiest briefs I've seen in Tarzan films of this era. But what stands out for me is the scene at the beginning of where we see Tarzan spank his monkey - THIS IS NOT A EUPHEMISM!

In 1932, MGM made one of the best Tarzan movies of all time, "Tarzan the Ape Man". It was so well made that it resulted in a long string of movies with Johnny Weissmuller and it made him a major star. A year after this film, Sol Lesser produced a serialized version of the Tarzan story and in this case the production starred Buster Crabbe. Why Crabbe? Well, like Weissmuller, Crabbe was a gold medal winning American swimmer...and Lesser certainly couldn't afford Weissmuller! No, a Lesser film was known for economy...and because of that, you would expect his movie to be less refined and as well written.

It is important that you understand that I am reviewing the full-length movie version of Lesser's Tarzan film. It also came out in a 12-part serialized version...though apparently it's been lost and the movie version if the only one available today. If I hear about the serial being discovered, I'll try to update my review. And, considering how the film is a whittled down version of a much longer serial, I was not surprised that the movie seemed choppy.

Like Weissmuller, Crabbe's Tarzan is barechested and well coiffed despite being raised by apes in the African jungles. Unlike Weissmuller, Crabbe's Tarzan yell is pretty enemic! Both took advantage of their swimming skills by having them swim during the films.

The story involves Tarzan falling for a blonde who ISN'T named Jane. Unfortunately, she's traveling with some dirtbags who want to kill Tarzan (why???) and in the end, Tarzan saves the day and gets the girl.

So is this Tarzan tale any good? Well, it's not terrible...and the animal scenes (such as when Tarzan fights a lion) aren't bad at all...though, sadly, like too many Tarzan pics, there is also ample use of stock footage and a few non-African animals (such as American alligators instead of African crocodiles). As for Tarzan, while Crabbe looked nice, he wasn't as good in the role as Weissmuller...and mostly said nothing...choosing instead to pantomime much of the time or utter a few goofy laughs. Overall, a cheap curiosity that is watchable but not up to the standards of MGM's series which was begun the year before this one....and much like the quality of Lesser's many B-westerns.

...this time from the Principal Distributing company and director Robert F. Hill. Buster Crabbe stars as the title character, a white man raised by apes in a remote part of Africa who has become an almost legendary figure among the natives. When a group of Americans and Europeans arrive in the jungle to look for a missing compatriot, Tarzan meets the lovely Mary Brooks (Jaqueline Wells), whom he continuously has to rescue from savage beasts, wild tribesmen, and crooked jewel thieves. Also featuring Eddie Woods, Philo McCullough, E. Alyn Warren, Matthew Betz, Frank Lackteen, Darby Jones, Carlotta Monti, and Mischa Auer.

There's the usual parade of jungle antics: lion attacks (in the jungle again), crocodile attacks (you gotta have an excuse to get Olympic swimmer Crabbe in the water), elephant rides, natives and their "jungle drums". This movie also has the bizarre added bonus of Arab guides who are secretly part of an Ancient Egyptian cult. Crabbe makes for an energetic Lord of the Jungle, and he even appears to be in better shape than Weissmuller was at the time. Wells, who later changed her name to Julie Bishop, is fetching. My favorite moment was when a record player gets cranked up and all of the jungle animals start to dance.

Tarzan The Fearless has swimming icon Buster Crabbe in the role of Edgar Rice Burroughs noble savage of the African jungle. What I'm reviewing is a condensed version of a Tarzan serial which this film was.

Condensed when referring to serials is never good. I'm not a big fan of serials in general, but editing them down to feature film you lose a whole lot of continuity. I have to confess I gave up trying to follow the plot.

Crabbe though was one magnificent specimen. We have a blond 'Jane' played by Julie Bishop who with her fiancé Edward Woods is on an expedition to find her scientist father E. Alyn Warren. Bishop and Woods have a pair of treacherous guides in Philo McCullough and Matthew Betz who've got an agenda of their own which is to locate a fortune in emeralds from the lost people of Zar whom Warren is trying to locate and study.

Crabbe even in the condensed version is wrestling with lions and crocodiles and the people of Zar bailing these intruders out of trouble. All in all viewed today it's pretty silly.

This is a feature version of a 12-chapter serial, although some don't seem to know that the serial exists. As was a semi-common practice of the time, some serials were produced as both a feature and also as a serial. The reason was that some theatres would not book serials but had no qualms about booking a feature edited from a serial, and this practice allowed the serial producer to get a booking in a theatre for his condensed feature that they would not have gotten as a 12-episode serial.

This "feature version" consists of the first four chapters of the 12-chapter SERIAL that was titled "Tarzan the Fearless," , which a great many collectors have in its 12-chapter form (that some don't seem to know exists) and, some of the luckier ones, even have all of the different original one-sheets posters issued with each chapter title, and the full eight-card set of different lobby cards issued with each chapter following the showing of the feature version at theatres that did book serials; and most of those theatres that did book serials didn't bother showing this feature version, opting instead to show one chapter a week for 12 weeks.

The chapter titles for the 12 episodes of this serial (from which the "Tarzan the Fearless" feature version was chopped out of) were: 1. The Dive of Death; 2. The Storm God Strikes; 3. Thundering Death; 4. The Pit of Peril; 5. Blood Money; 6. Voodoo Vengeance; 7. Caught by Cannibals; 8. The Creeping Terror; 9. Eyes of Evil; 10. The Death Plunge; 11. Harvest of Hate and 12. Jungle Justice.

Producer Sol Lesser's plan was to make both a feature version and a serial...and he did both.