Tarzan und das Leopardenweib

The Johnny Weissmuller Tarzan series continues at RKO with the fourth film (tenth overall, counting the MGM films). This one's pretty different from those that came before it. There's a different vibe to it, particularly in the early scenes where Tarzan acts as a sort of jungle detective. He's asked by a commissioner (of what I don't know) to look into a series of leopard attacks on travelers. Tarzan doesn't believe leopards are the cause of the attacks and, as you might have guessed by the title of this picture, he's right. So it's Tarzan versus leopard skin-wearing cultists, led by Queen Lea (Acquanetta).

I'm used to seeing Acquanetta in Universal films from around this time. They tried to make her a star in their horror stable but it didn't really work out. She's very attractive but not the strongest actress. This is arguably the best acting job of her short career, for what that's worth. Dennis Hoey is amusing as the commissioner. He's best known for playing Inspector Lastrade in Universal's Sherlock Holmes series. Tommy Cook is very creepy as Kimba, the Leopard Boy. What a little psycho. Brenda Joyce appears as Jane for the second time and does a fine job, although she's nowhere near the presence Maureen O'Sullivan was in the role. Johnny Weissmuller and Johnny Sheffield are both good, as usual. Weissmuller's first scene has him wrestling hirsute Tongolo the Terrible, whose voice I strongly suspect was dubbed. Speaking of voices, Johnny Sheffield's voice continues to change. Puberty's rough on us all, Boy. Cheeta is still lots of fun, which I'm sure surprises no one.

It's one of the better Tarzan RKO films. Personally I like them all but you have some fans who think of the RKO films as nothing but kiddie stuff. Then you have the people who don't like any Tarzan movies, RKO or otherwise. I try my best to avoid people like that. If you can't enjoy the adventures of Tarzan and his family, you're probably not much fun to be around.

TARZAN AND THE LEOPARD WOMAN (1946)

A bizarre Tarzan offering featuring a freaky cult of worshippers who dress up in leopard skins with claws and attack people, taking out their hearts to sacrifice to their god! The high priestess of the pack is the pretty Acquanetta (CAPTIVE WILD WOMAN) who was never a good actress at all but is probably used to better advantage here than she ever was before here. Tarzan becomes aware that something's not right when the attacks are blamed on real leopards. A very strange chapter indeed.

**1/2 out of ****

Local authorities are positive that leopards are responsible for a series of fatal attacks on caravans travelling the jungle route from Zambesi, but Tarzan remains unconvinced. The ape man is right, of course: the real culprits are fanatical members of a leopard cult, led by beautiful high priestess Lea (the gorgeous Acquanetta) and native doctor Ameer Lazar (Edgar Barrier), who are angry at civilisation for exploiting their resources and encroaching on their domain.

Meanwhile, Lea's younger brother Kimba (Tommy Cook), who is desperate to earn warrior status by presenting his tribe with a human heart, tricks his way into the Tarzan household and sets his murderous sights on Jane (Brenda Joyce)...

After a few not particularly impressive movies, its great to see the Weissmuller Tarzan series back on form at last with possibly the ape man's most satisfying adventure since Tarzan and His Mate: not only do we get an enjoyably silly premise, impossibly wicked villains, and an exciting finale, but we also see leopard men performing daft dance routines, Cheetah playing a flute and charming a rubber snake, Tarzan grappling with hairy wrestler Tongolo the Terrible (played by professional wrestler 'King Kong' Kashey), four pretty teachers almost eaten by crocodiles, and an exciting chase scene in which Tarzan prepares deadly booby traps for his pursuers.

A hugely entertaining slice of escapist jungle fun, I rate Tarzan and the Leopard Woman 7.5 out of 10, rounded up to 8 for IMDb.

Tarzan and the Leopard Woman (Kurt Neumann, 1946) - This is a touch better than Amazons, with plenty of action (quite well done) and a lively performance by Weissmuller, who'd looked a bit out of sorts in the previous entry. The plot, by now following a path through the jungle wilds so well-trodden it resembles a motorway, sees the Ape Man battling a weird cult with silly leopard costumes that's really into robbery and human sacrifice. Considering the movies were aimed at kids, their marketing is curiously sexualised, with the poster art invariably flagging up the boobs of whichever minor character was most well-endowed. Here it's Acquanetta, who gets shared billing. Her leopard bikini is at least a bit better thought-out than those ridiculous capes the other cult members are wearing.

I rather enjoyed the film, particularly its adherence to near wall-to-wall action, but it provides quite a bit of unintentional hilarity. That comes partly from its incredibly low opinion of natives (who are all duplicitous, hateful savages) and partly from the barely-choreographed dance the leopard men do around the fire. They look like drunk clubbers wearing their wives' coats. One interesting element of the film is "half-native" Edgar Barrier, a Western-educated cultist who denounces the decadence of the imperialists and leads the fight against them. All the RKO series regulars return here: Brenda Joyce is still somewhat one-note as Jane, Boy is entering puberty (giving him an all-new voice and face) and Cheeta hogs the limelight once more. I'm going to be an old cynic and suggest that it's not really him playing that music on the trumpet, though.

This Tarzan adventure is about a cult of leopard worshipers who are incited by one of their own to kill outsiders who want to civilize jungle inhabitants. An educated doctor plots the killing of neighboring tribes to make it look like the work of killer leopards. The killers attack other tribes and caravans as they travel through the jungle until Tarzan figures out that the killings are done by man instead of the big cats. The film has some good moments but the plot is rather silly and illustrates how this venerable series seemed to be winding down after many years of popularity with audiences. Johnny Weissmuller reprises his role as the fearless jungle man, with Brenda Joyce along as Jane. Johnny Sheffield and Cheta round out the usual cast of characters.