Tarzán en la India

I have a genuine fondness for TARZAN GOES TO India. If you remove the Air India 707 from the opening credits and the early sixties automobiles, it feels like something that Edgar Rice Burroughs would have written, possibly after the Second World War, if declining health hadn't caught with him.

Jock Mahoney gives the legendary ape-man something that the other previous actors had not provided to this part -- a sense of maturity and gravity. Yes, Mahoney is almost too rangy, particularly when compared to his immediate predecessor, the hefty Gordon Scott. But Mahoney makes every scene seem real; with his Midwestern accent sounding neutral, almost international, in tone in keeping with Tarzan's unique origins. The additional kick is knowing that Mahoney does all of his stunts, including an eye-popping dive from an moving airplane into a lake. But his greatest stunt is being able to work with an inexperienced child actor and a four-ton elephant and not get loss in the shuffle. That's charisma!

Yes, the storyline is somewhat juvenile, but there was a definite market in the early Sixties for movies pitched to a pre-teenage audience. Witness such films as CAPTAIN SINBAD, FLIPPER, ZEBRA IN THE KITCHEN, and Disney's output of movies during this time. Robert Harding Andrews does a credible job with the script while John Guillermin provides fast-paced direction although this film lacks the flourishes of his 1959 Tarzan outing, TARZAN'S GREATEST ADVENTURE.

Overall, TARZAN GOES TO India is a pleasant diversion well worth checking out.

With freshly shaved chest and golden tan, Jock Mahoney (as Tarzan) takes over for departing jungle king Gordon Scott. Sporting a more traditional muscular frame than his pumped-up predecessor, Mr. Mahoney had been the main villain in the previous "Tarzan" movie. He would stick around for one more film. Like the title says, "Tarzan Goes to India" where Mahoney must move an elephant herd because a newly constructed dam will flood their valley home. He receives help from an "elephant boy" named Jai (as Jai the Elephant Boy). Filling secondary roles are impressive prince Feroz Khan (as Raju), villainous Leo Gordon (as Bryce), and local princess Simi (as Kamara). The Indian scenery is nice.

**** Tarzan Goes to India (7/62) John Guillermin ~ Jock Mahoney, Jai, Feroz Khan, Leo Gordon

After actor/stuntman Jock Mahoney played the villain to Gordon Scott's Tarzan in TARZAN THE MAGNIFICENT, he was chosen to portray the swinging ape-man himself, a bit older, more sinewy than muscular and facially resembling former Tarzan (who Scott replaced) Lex Barker...

Here against several villains, beginning with formidable Leo Gordon as a foreman on a vast desert construction site (foreshadowing Tanis from RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK)... An infamous elephant hunter, he threatens to kill any wildlife that could hinder the work -- unless Tarzan and his boy sidekick... with a trained pet elephant... saves the day...

The plot, also involving middleman local Feroz Khan and lovely princess Simi Garewal, gets a bit weary, and, halfway through Leo Gordon is surprisingly killed... and HOT CARS villain Mark Dana, an always effective square-jawed/deep-voiced heavy, steps up: and he's even more of a formidable corporate-menace...

Once we trudge past overlong scenes with Tarzan, the boy and the elephant bonding in the jungle, there's a final-act involving Mark Dana with explosives vs Tarzan riding on and charging with a herd of Elephants: all filmed in action-packed-widescreen glory by British filmmaker John Guillerman, who also directed Gordon Scott and Jock Mahoney's previous MAGNIFICENT and would one day take the primal reigns for the 1970's KING KONG remake.

Not the worst of the Tarzan films for sure, but maybe not at the scale of the still John Guillermin's TARZAN'S GREATEST ADVENTURE. But this one is very good, with of course the help of maybe not Jock Mahoney but Leo Gordon as the villain. Gordon was anyway the ideal, perfect villain for so many films. Mahoney is fine though, and the whole result is excellent for me, with splendid locations, animal scenes and a topic which announces nature, preservation of environment. The fight between natives and big, huge Western world companies. John Guillermin was the best Taran directors for me, better maybe than Robert Day and Bruce Humberstone. I won't compare however with the oldies, from the thirties and forties period. It is then a matter of taste. Directing and acting techniques were not the same....

Might as well been titled "Tarzan Goes To Indiana", and it would have been just as believable. A good example of what Hollywood producers can do to a good concept. By this time they had ridden this horse into the ground and kicked the crap out of it. Naked Tarzan in a biplane with aviator goggles and cap? The first scene turned me off completely.Take Tarzan out of darkest Africa and he's no longer Tarzan(with the exception of Weismuller's "Tarzan Goes To New York"- at least he put some clothes on for that one).Throw some khakis and a pith helmet on Jock Mahoney and call him Jungle Jim, for Pete's sake!The post- Weismuller Tarzans were just a little too sophisticated for me.They lost some of the charm and mystery of the "ape-man". Don't bother with this one if you're a traditional Tarzanist.