Tarzan et la déesse verte

Tarzan and the Green Goddess (1938)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

In 1935 a serial called THE NEW ADVENTURES OF TARZAN was released in 12-chapters but then the producers got cheap and wanted to make some extra cash so they released a feature version of it. Then, three years later, the producers decided to re-edit some more footage and throw this thing out as the second feature taken from that serial. What we basically have here is the second portion of the serial as Tarzan (Herman Brix) travels to various locations trying to track down the Green Goddess and destroy the evil ones doing harm to get it. That's pretty much all the story you need to know or better said it's pretty much the only story I could come up with. It's always hard to judge these features that were trimmed down from serial simply because you're missing so much footage. You certainly can't judge the original serial from just these features. With that said, this here was pretty hard to get through for a number of reasons but the biggest is that it simply never makes any sense. It's clear that this production was trying to stay close to the source material as Tarzan is well spoken and is even able to dress nice. These touches are so fast that you really don't get to know this "other" Tarzan as it doesn't take long for him to be in the loin clothe and swinging around on vines. The performances are all rather bland and the added running time doesn't help. Fans of cheap "C" movies might get a kick out of this but it's probably best looking for the uncut serial.

I'll take this movie to comment on as my platform for the Tarzan yell. There is still none better than Weissmuller's to this day. I've only started to watch Tarzan the Tiger, with Frank Merrill, quite possibly the best physical Tarzan there was by the way, and his Tarzan yell was "YAAAA! YAAAA!!! YAAAA!!!!" It pales in comparison in imagination to Herman Brix' yell, but Herman Brix yell is none too pleasing. "AAAAaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH MAAAAAAANNNNGGGAAAAAAANNNNEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!" While quite amusing, it's too long and therefore loses its significance. In the Weissmuller films, it's used to call man or beast, or signify that Tarzan may be in trouble. More accurately in Herman Brix' films, it's used as the victorious cry of the bull ape after a successful conquest, as it should be used. But it shouldn't be a pronounced cry, but rather a savage, eerie, unsettling cry that most would loath to associate with a human.

This is a condensed version of the 1935 series that has not been so badly hacked in the edit as many similar "adaptations". Lord Greystoke recounts the tale of his exploits as our eponymous hero in Guatemala where he helped in the quest for the "Green Goddess" - an idol worshipped by the local tribes. Unbeknown to the locals, though, their statue contained a hidden formula for a powerful explosive and so, of course, their task isn't that simple. The evil Hiram Powers also wants the formula and his henchman "Raglan" steals it from "Tarzan" leaving us with a cracking (big) cat and mouse adventure... It is actually quite a decent formula for Bruce Bennett, and he carries the adventure - with the aide of some restless natives and lions well for this 70 minute abridgement. He hasn't quite the presence (or the yodel) of Weissmuller, but it's still quite a fun watch with some chemistry-set special effects.

I got this movie in a box of Weismuller movies and this movie did feel so awfully compared to the MGM movies of Weismuller. The story starts somewhere in the middle (the beginning being the New adventures of Tarzan)about a statue of a goddess, hence the title. It takes place in Central America, and some of the nature shots seem borrowed from other continents. Bruce Bennet looks very Tarzan, but his acting is terrible, Weismuller is oscarmaterial compared to this man. The action scenes in this movie looks bad, the big fight in the beginning of the movie looks so stupid and silly that it takes the need to watch any further away. But I like punishment and occasionally am surprised on the end. It did not happen. As a movie it is awful and I am not sure that the serial is that good either.

This movie has none of the fun a good Tarzan movie should have. It leaves his viewer bewildered which is not good. My advise ignore this "movie" unless you are a Tarzan fan, then you have to watch it I guess.

Watching these two films culled from this location-shot epic back-to-back may be the best way to enjoy this serial. The editing of the individual chapters is better than in, say, the Flash Gordon serials, which are best seen in their original format. There is no Queen Kia-Kia here to foster laughs as in the first feature, but there is a batty high-priest character to carry the unintentional comedy load. In all, if you watch these two features together, you may find the experience to be enjoyable. These do not measure up to the MGM features, but they are an OK time-waster that do feature some fascinating location photography. There are also some hair-raising stunts in both features that look pretty authentically done.