Swamp Fire

At some time in studio boardroom had to have said "Let's put those 2 guys that played Tarzan together in one movie. This idea will sell itself to the distributors." He was probably right because SWAMP FIRE is a decently made, well paced movie that does not disappoint viewers.

Johnny Weissmuller starts as Johnny Duval, a war hero returning to his bayou home. He lost a ship he was in command of during the war and vows he will not take up his old position as bar pilot. This does not at all bother his old rival Mike (Buster Crabbe sporting a mustache and a Cajun accent) who sees this as a chance to make time with Johnny's old sweetheart Toni (Carol Thurston, who also appeared with Weissmuller in the Jungle Jim movie KILLER APE (1951)). Too bad but Toni only has eyes for Johnny. To make matters worse a spoiled rich girl (Virgina Grey) has set her sights on Johnny and coerces her dad (Pierre Watkin) to buy up a lot of bayou land and outlaw all trapping, which means the local folks can no longer hunt to feed their families. Is that enough plot for you? Wait, there is a lot more to come, and somehow it all fits into the 68 minutes running time without any of the resolutions seeming like a plot contrivance.

Johnny faces his demons while navigating rough waters one night but just when you think things are going to start going well he is piloting another ship through a dense fog and rams a smaller boat captained by Toni's father! Trying to drink himself to oblivion he is found Ms. Grey who uses this opportunity to poison his mind against Toni. Does it work? Does it ever? Don't forget the jealous Mike is still hanging around and think Johnny has sold out his own people to join the yacht club crowd. He plans a revenge where he plans to . . . oh well . . . you saw the title of the movie, right?

The cast is fabulous. Pierre Watkin had played Perry White in both SUPERMAN serials for Columbia Pictures. Ms. Grey would go on to encounter dinosaurs in UNKNOWN ISLAND in 1948. Mr. Crabbe found a home in B westerns and Mr. Weissmuller never really leave the jungle; starring as Jungle Jim in movies and TV for many years to come.

Budget restraints are pretty obvious. This movie must set a record for the number of rear screen projection shots used but it is still fairly believable and fun to watch.

For a cheap indie production, the movie does a pretty good job approximating Louisiana's bayous. Even the process shots are pretty well done. Getting Crabbe and Weismuller together was a casting coup. They make formidable rivals, especially in the water. The storyline sprawls a bit. But the main part has Duval (Weissmuller) trying to regain self-respect after piling up a couple of ships during the war and in the bayous. As a result, he's lost his commision. Also there's the problem of escaping spider woman Janet's (Grey) clutches and getting back to true love Toni (Thurston).

Weismuller's a little bland, which is likely why he preferred being called an athlete rather than an actor (IMDB). On the other hand, Crabbe's fiery as hot-headed bayou trapper, Mike. Sounds like writer Mainwaring gets in a leftist plug when he has Mike denounce rich man Hilton's purchase of the bayou which previously had been a commons. Unfortunately, the locals depended upon that commons for subsistence. The conflict sets up an interesting potential that unfortunately doesn't get beyond a quick plot device. It's also a general topic with a long history down to present day.

I guess I'd never considered how cargo ships navigated the Mississippi Delta to get to port New Orleans. Thanks to the movie, I have a new appreciation, though I wonder how much has changed in 70-years. Anyway, it's a rather unusual little feature, on the whole well done, with two of the biggest outdoor muscle men of the time.

It is so unlikely that both Buster Crabbe and Johnny Weissmuller were Tarzan on screen during the early thirties; one was more famous than the other and proceeded for several pictures starring the ape man. Johnny Weissmuller forged his career and legend because of TARZAN and not Buster Crabbe, or only just a part. There was the same scheme with Gordon Scott and Jock Mahoney, TARZAN characters in the sixties or late fifties, and in one film of the series, Jock Mahoney was the villain fighting against Scott. TARZAN THE MAGNIFICENT. So, here, there is no Tarzan character but an adventure film, not so bad to watch and endure. The final fight between the two "TARZAN" is the most worth seeing.

Because they were produced for and distributed by Paramount, the B-films from William H. Pine and William C. Thomas (known as the Dollar Bills)have acquired,for the most part, an undeserved reputation for being little jewels among the "B" genre. Stick a PRC or Monogram logo on most of them and the same historians who are ga-ga over them behind the Paramount logo would likely write them off as just more dross from Poverty Row. Not me, Bucky...I'd still love them for what they really were; Saturday matinee double-feature fodder. Highlights in this one include a fist-fight between Johnny Weissmuller and Buster Crabbe (I won't give away the winner, but check the cast order); a cat-fight between Virginia Grey and Carol Thurston that the male cast of Sienfeld would pay to see and, just to keep things moving, Weissmuller wrestles an alligator, there are two mid-water collisions between small-craft boats, a big ship wreck and a blazing swamp fire finale. Toss in a plot that has Weissmuller as a psycho-neurotic war veteran who, because he piled up his Navy destroyer on the rocks, now dreads returning to his pre-war occupation of a pilot guiding ships through the channels at the mouth of the Mississippi. Throw in icy Virginia Grey as a spoiled heiress out to take Johnny away from his job, his friends and the girl he loves (who knows why), and you have enough plot and action for two Pine-Thomas jewels. Heck of a good deal.

SWAMP FIRE (Paramount, 1946), directed by William H. Pine, marked a rare opportunity for Olympic champion Johnny Weissmuller in a non-Tarzan performance for the very first time on screen (not counting a cameo appearance in the 1943 all-star musical, STAGE DOOR CANTEEN for United Artists). Having acquired the role and loincloth since his introduction as the Jungle Lord in TARZAN THE APE MAN (MGM, 1932), followed by nearly ten sequels thus far, Weissmuller finally got his chance breaking away from the jungle into something completely different, a he-man adventure in the tradition of William H. Pine, producer and director of profitable "B" products since the early 1940s, many starring Richard Arlen. SWAMP FIRE provides Weissmuller a chance to enact fully clothed, either in striped shirt and cap or coast guard uniform. He does get to do Tarzan-like duties such as diving into the river and wrestling an alligator in order to rescue a lady in distress, along with battling with a villain, played by another former Olympic champ, Larry "Buster" Crabbe, who, at one point in Hollywood history, rivaled Weissmuller with an independent production as TARZAN THE FEARLESS (1933).

The story opens with this narrative that gives the general idea of both story and leading character: "Here in the delta country of Louisiana where the Mississippi merges with the gulf, at pilot town 90 river miles below New Orleans, lives a courageous and colorful group of men, the Associated Bar Pilots. Summer and winter, calm and storm, the bar pilots are on duty taking ships across the dangerous bars into the river. There the river pilots take over and guide the craft northward to New Orleans. Always members of the coast guard reserve, the bar pilots enlisted for active duty during the war. Most continued their piloted duties. Others were assigned to combat. Our story is about one of these. Pilot Johnny Duval returns from combat duty in the home on the Delta." Fade in: Johnny Duval (Johnny Weissmuller), a coast guard, is on his way home to Cypress Point after serving in World War II. Not exactly a hero, he is haunted by nightmarish flashbacks and guilt for losing both his men and ship during combat duty. After having his row boat hit by "Higgins," a passing motor boat belonging to Janet Hilton (Virginia Grey), an attractive but quick tempered society girl from the city, Johnny agrees taking her with him so she can acquire a boat to rent. Janet meets with Johnny friends, but makes a bad impression on them with her attitude. Johnny's love for Toni (Carol Thurston) stirs up jealousy towards Mike Kalavich (Larry "Buster" Crabbe - sporting mustache and Russian accent), a trapper who intends on taking her away from Johnny. Before the title of "Swamp Fire" takes its toll, Johnny, who has conquered his fear by performing a heroic duty, is recommissioned as lieutenant in the coast guard, later meeting with another accident that finds him destitute and drowning his sorrows by getting drunk in bars. After being struck by an car and placed in a hospital, he is soon taken in by Janet with every intention of separating him from both his people and fiancé so to have him for herself.

While SWAMP FIRE might have opened up a whole new career for Weissmuller, ranging in similar roles enacted by other jungle heroes as Jon Hall or Buster Crabbe, SWAMP WATER is has some moments of interest in having Weissmuller in more contemporary settings, speaking in complete sentences unlike his Tarzan character, and having kissing scenes with his female co-star (Thurston). Other than that, the story is basically 69 minutes of routine material. Others members of the cast include Edwin Maxwell (Captain Pierre Moise); Pedro DeCordoba (Jim Rousseau); Pierre Watkin (P.T. Hilton); and Marcelle Corday (Grandmere Rousseau).

Rarely seen on television since the mid 1980s, current prints of SWAMP FIRE eliminate its original Paramount logo with either Grand National or Special Pictures for its studio opening, the latter found in the Alpha Video DVD distribution. Although watchable with some exciting scenes, SWAMP WATER it's hardly a memorable event. After the release of SWAMP FIRE, Weissmuller returned to the African jungle in a couple more "Tarzan" adventures before starting out a whole new adventure in another film series, as "Jungle Jim" for Columbia, with one entry co-starring Buster Crabbe.(**1/2)