Tarzan und das blaue Tal

Sol Lesser, producer of the TARZAN film series for RKO, missed a golden opportunity when he cast Lex Barker to replace aging Johnny Weissmuller as the jungle lord. At 30, the 6'4" Barker's background ideally prepared him to play author Edgar Rice Burroughs' orphaned English lord; a direct descendant of Rhode Island founder Roger Williams, Barker's family was wealthy and 'Old Guard', and he was a star athlete with an Ivy League education from Princeton. A love of hellraising and sense of adventure had led the young man to choose acting as a career, a move that effectively cut his ties to his family.

With Barker's background, it would have seemed natural for Lesser to abandon the clichéd 'Me, Tarzan' portrayal of the previous 17 years, and return Tarzan to the character as written by Burroughs, that of a worldly adventurer as comfortable in a tuxedo as a loincloth, whose unique jungle instincts made him the perfect choice for exciting adventures around the world. But the veteran producer, afraid to tinker with a proven money maker, chose to simply have Barker imitate Weissmuller, speaking broken English, and still living in the treehouse condo with Jane (Brenda Joyce, making her last appearance in the role) and Cheeta.

TARZAN'S MAGIC FOUNTAIN has an intriguing opening; a long-missing 'Amelia Earhart'-type aviatrix (Evelyn Ankers) comes out of the jungle, looking years younger than her actual age, to save her wrongly convicted husband (future 'Batman' star Alan Napier). While Tarzan knows the secret of her youth, he refuses to share the knowledge with Jane (who is a bit peeved!). Soon the couple return, and the woman flier has aged, considerably (Civilization will DO that...). Tarzan refuses to return the couple and their party to where she had achieved her 'youth', so Jane decides to take them herself, based on what the flier remembered of the journey, and the bits and pieces she'd learned from Tarzan.

The group reach a forbidden city, and a fountain that IS the 'Fountain of Youth'...and face the ire of the 'lost civilization' living there, who had trusted Tarzan to keep their location secret. Naturally, the other members of the couple's group turn out to be money-hungry evil men, who reveal their true intentions with bloodshed...and it's Tarzan to the rescue!

One can see why Lesser wouldn't have wanted Weissmuller for this film (critics would have been quick to suggest HE drink some of the elixir, pronto!), and despite the excellent cast (including veteran actors Albert Dekker and Charles Drake), the end result is no more than a standard 'B' movie, despite the publicity build-up given to Barker's assuming the role. The best moment of the film, in fact, goes to Cheeta, who guzzles Jane's hidden stash of the magic water, and reverts back to a baby chimp!

Lex Barker got favorable reviews, in general, for his sexy, confident portrayal of the Ape Man, and he would appear in four more of the jungle epics, over the next four years.

For those fans hoping for a Burroughs-inspired Tarzan in 1949, however, there would be ten more years of frustration, before he would finally emerge...

The first Tarzan film minus Weissmulle,r and replaces him with Lex Barker as the new Tarzan. In this outing the Lord of the Apes finds a secret Valley where nobody ages, so it's basically "Lost Horizon" with more loincloths. Co-written by Curt Siodmak, who wrote a few minor classics including "The Wolf Man," "I Walked with a Zombie" and "Earth vs. the Flying Saucers," makes this one of the better later Tarzan films. Overall, it's nothing brilliant, but if you're in the right mood it's entertaining enough and far better than any of the cheaper Tarzan spinoff-/ripoff Bomba films. Alan Napier, Alfred on the 1960s Batman TV series, also appears in the film, as does Albert Dekker, who played the evil Dr. Soberin in "Kiss Me Deadly."

Tarzan's Magic Fountain (1949)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

After Johnny Weissmuller walked away from the Tarzan series RKO was quick to replace him with Lex Barker and the first of the new series actually turned out to be a good little film. Tarzan (Barker) and Jane (Brenda Joyce) find a cigarette case, which just happens to belong to Gloria Jessup (Evelyn Ankers), a pilot who went missing twenty-years earlier. It turns out that her plane crashed and she was taken in by a local tribe who also happen to have a magic fountain that can keep something youthful forever. Gloria returns back to her homeland but begins to grow old so she wants Tarzan to take her back to her village. TARZAN'S MAGIC FOUNTAIN certainly isn't a masterpiece but it's still a lot better than the previous five films from the Weissmuller series. I think a lot of the credit has to go to Curt Siodmak who co-wrote the screenplay. Film buffs will recognize his name as the man behind many of the Universal horror movies like THE WOLF MAN and BLACK Friday. He certainly knows how to add in some good touches and he turns this typical story about youth into a pretty good adventure film. I think the screenplay does a nice job at not taking itself too serious but at the same time it works well for adults. The previous few films were certainly aimed at children but this one here has a more serious tone including a couple rather violent deaths and another sequence with some nice black humor involving the skeletons of the plane crash victims. There's no question that Weissmuller was the greatest screen Tarzan so Barker had a large loin cloth to fill. For the most part I thought he was decent in the role as he certainly has the physical appearance for the part and he handled most of the dialogue just fine. Joyce, in her final appearance as Jane, isn't too bad either but I'm a little surprised the producers brought her back considering they were trying to start a new series. Ankers is as charming as ever and Albert Dekker makes for a good villain. The screen's very first Tarzan, Elmo Lincoln, appears quickly at the start of the film as a fisherman. There are a few pacing issues and there are some dry moments here and there but it's hard to not say that the series at least got going back in the right direction after some pretty lifeless films.

The "Lost Horizon" aspects of this plot may border on the silly -- the residents of the "Blue Valley" dress in Egyptian-Polynesian style! -- but they provide a serviceable framework for the first of Lex Barker's Tarzan movies. Barker, alas, is asked to play the title role as something of an overgrown bumpkin who can't quite seem to master the use of such basic articles of speech as "a" and "the," and there's little hint of the "killer instinct" which has allowed him to survive for so long in such hostile terrain. However, Barker's Tarzan is a likable sort who looks good in his loincloth which, for the sake of modesty, rides high enough on his midsection to cover his navel. Perhaps his beefcake-highpoint comes in the final reel when he's tethered with outstretched arms in a cave while some men from the Blue Valley prepare to blind him. (Yes, they actually have a tool designed for this purpose: a two-pronged fork that can poke out both eyes at the same time. Why this fork has to be heated white-hot before it can do its work remains a mystery.) Obviously aimed at a Saturday matinée crowd, this briskly-plotted movie devotes a lot of attention to the antics of Cheetah who, during the course of the proceedings, chews bubblegum, learns the peril of hot pepper, and gets to play with ants. Children may giggle, adults will groan. As an added bonus, there's Elmo Lincoln - the silent movies' Tarzan -- who here plays a burly villain with a black eyepatch. He and Barker get to engage in a couple of semi-comic fights.

For the record, the fountain doesn't belong to Tarzan nor does it fall under his jurisdiction so the title is something of a misnomer.

Tarzan learns that a female aviator who crashed in the jungle a couple of decades ago may hold the key to helping a man wrongly accused of a crime. Not only does Tarzan know the woman, he knows where to find her. Everyone is shocked when the woman returns looking as young as she did the day she crash landed. But what's her secret to seemingly eternal youth? And to what lengths will some people go to get that secret?

After watching Johnny Weissmuller labor through his last Tarzan outing, Lex Barker was certainly a welcome sight. For his first Tarzan adventure, RKO gave Barker quite a bit to work with in Tarzan's Magic Fountain. Even though everything is obviously stage-bound, the jungle and mountain sets are far better than I expected given RKO's most recent history with the Tarzan series. There are a couple of especially nice matte paintings that add to the film's look. The movie includes moments of danger (rainwater suddenly and violently filling the gorge where Jane and Co find themselves trapped) and violence (a burning arrow to the chest) that add to the atmosphere and tension. Nicely done! The supporting cast is solid with Evelyn Ankers and Alan Napier providing notable performances. Finally, I wasn't a bit surprised to learn that Curt Siodmak was, at least partially, responsible for the screenplay. It's just more interesting than a lot of the previous Tarzan films.

A few other quick things I noted while watching Tarzan's Magic Fountain:

1. Yet another all white tribe in the middle of Africa. The only black Africans I can remember are a couple of kids who keep Cheeta entertained for a few moments with bubble gum.

2. What was up with those crazy leopard-print headbands worn by the Blue Valley guards? They looked ridiculous.

3. When Cheeta drinks from the magic fountain, why does she turns into a small monkey and not a baby chimpanzee?

6/10