Tarzan's Fight for Life

Tarzan's Fight for Life (1958)

** (out of 4)

In the deep jungles Dr. Sturdy (Carl Benton Reid) is trying to introduce medicines to the local natives but a witch doctor (James Edwards) feels that they are trying to steal his power. Soon the tribes are ready to attack the new hospital but Tarzan (Gordon Scott) and Jane (Eve Brent) know the good that could come from the medicines. This was the third film to feature Scott as Tarzan but this is actually the first I've seen. I think Scott fits the role perfectly as God knows he has the perfect body for the part but I also found him to be quite charming in some of the more comic moments and he also handles the action very well. According to a few posts I've read, Scott was nearly killed by a 18-foot python that he fights in the film. I'm not sure how true this is but the scene here is full of excitement and it's easy to see how that creature, when wrapped around Scott's neck, could cause some major issues. Brent, as Jane, doesn't give an Oscar-worthy performance but she has the right look for the part as that blonde hair and curvy legs look just fine in color. Reid and Jil Jarmyn playing his daughter aren't too bad and Edwards is clearly having fun as the witch doctor. We've also got Woody Strode playing one of the bad guys. While the cast is certainly up for anything the screenplay on the other hand is pretty flat and boring. The first portion of the film has the doctors talking to one another about why this medicine is needed while on the other side of the jungle we get countless scenes with the witch doctor throwing a fit. We then go away from this and visit Tarzan's home where Jane is suffering from an illness that might need the attention of a real doctor. There's way too many dialogue scenes and it's a shame that the filmmakers didn't try to capture more action and scenes in the wildlife. There's no question that this is being filmed on sets but they're well decorated and at least look somewhat real. The countless stock footage is of course cheap but you've got to expect this. Coming in at 88-minutes this thing is just way too long and there's not enough going on to make it one of the better entries in MGM's long-running series.

Tarzan is back, once again, helping a medic fight an evil witch doctor. That's about all for story. The rest isn't very good too. It's obvious that this was shot in studios, mixed with some "jungle shots" of wild animals, all very amateuristic. Gordon Scott is a pretty good Tarzan, though his vocabulary isn't as expanded as in TARZAN's GREATEST ADVENTURE(which is much better). There really isn't much more to it than this, though it isn't entirely unwatchable too. Minor Tarzan adventure, not really worth seeing. 4/10

Colorful and amusing Tarzan/Scott movie , though dubiously faithful to Edgar Rice Borroughs story . Concerning about Dr. Sturdy (Carl Benton Reid) who attempts to built a hospital at the jungle to heal villagers . His efforts are extremely opposed by Futa (James Edwards) , the sorcerer doctor , and his henchman Ramo (Woody Strode) , a native warrior , when they see their influence with the natives waning in favor of the local clinic run by Dr. Sturdy . There's problem brewing however when the tribal chief has died and when his child and heir falls sick , Futa decides he is the one who has to treat him . Futa's hoodlum , Ramo , robs what he thinks is medicine but is really a venomous vaccine . If given to the boy-chief, he will surely die . In the ending , Tarzan again to rescue the unfortunate doctors and his woman , the gorgeous Jane (Eva Brent) and Tartu, (Rickie Sorensen ) , Tarzan's Adopted Son . Along the way , Tarzan is captured , mistreated and tortured . Then , Tarzan escapes , fights against time for serum and to free Jane , Tartu, Tarzan's Adopted son , and the besieged doctors .

"Tarzan fights for life " contains noisy action , sensational adventures , many angry natives , nasty sorcerers , hungry Crocs and wonderful outdoors , though mostly shot in Africa and Elstree studios . Well starred by Gordon Scott , here it's left to Tarzan to try and avert a tragedy when a poisonous serum is stolen and dealing with the struggle of modern medicine against the traditional magic . Gordon Scott brings wit , wrength and style to the classic character . Gordon starred 5 Tarzan movies : ¨Tarzan's fights for life¨ by H. Bruce Humberstone , ¨Tarzan and the trappers¨ by Sandy Howard and Charles Haas , ¨Tarzan's greatest adventure¨ produced by Sy Weintraub , directed by John Guillermin , ¨Tarzan the magnificent¨ by Robert Day and ¨Tarzan and the lost safari¨ . Although Gordon Scott also played all kinds of genres as Spaghetti : ¨Tramplers¨, Euro-spy : ¨Death ray¨ , Pirate movie : ¨Marauder¨ , and especially Peplum : ¨Hércules and the princess of Troy¨, ¨Coriolanus¨, ¨Conquest of Mycene¨, ¨Gladiator of Rome¨, ¨Hero of Rome¨, ¨Samson and the 7 miracles of the world¨. Support cast is acceptable , such as : Carl Benton Reid as a doctor who is attempting to establish a modern hospital in the jungle , Eva Brent as the beautiful Jane and her child , Rickie Sorensen , called Tartu, Tarzan's Adopted son . And the ordinary secondaries as Woody Strode , Paulene Myers and the nasty James Edwards as the local witch doctor , all of them give nice interpretations . And of course , special mention for the likable Chimpanzee Cheeta that steals the show , giving some humorous moments with his antics , frolics and mayhem . As usual , sets and production design are visually appealing , though there are the obvious uses of stock footage and shot on location in Democratic Republic Of Congo , Tanzania , Kilimanjaro , Kenia . Including a brilliant cinematography by William E Snyder , being well filmed in color . The motion picture was well produced by Sol Lesser and decently directed by H. Bruce Humberstone

First Tarzan/Johhny Weissmuller was ¨Tarzan , the ape man¨ (1932) by W.S. Van Dyke , this one being the definitive Tarzan movie , the original of the long series . Followed by ¨Tarzan and his mate¨ (1934) by Jack Conway . Richard Thorpe continued the following sequels : ¨Tarzan escapes¨(1936) , ¨Tarzan finds a son¨ (1939) with the addition of the five-year-old Johnny Sheffield as Boy , ¨Tarzan's secret Treasure¨ (1941) , and ¨Tarzan's New York adventure¨ (1942) where Boy is abducted by an evil circus owner , then Tarzan goes to rescue him and he meets N.Y. big city , being Maureen O'Sullivan's final appearance and in which Elmo Lincoln's , the screen's first Tarzan, had a cameo . These stories were lavishly produced by M.G.M. and R.K.O. Subsequently , to be appeared other Tarzans produced by independent producers as Sol Lesser ; the latter being replaced by Sy Weintraub , these movies were interpreted by Lex Barker and Gordon Scott : ¨Tarzan the Magnificent¨ and ¨The greatest adventure¨ directed by John Guillermin . Furthermore , Mike Henry starred as Tarzan in ¨Tarzan and the jungle boy ¨ , ¨ Tarzan and the great river¨ , and ¨Tarzan 66¨ directed by Robert Day . Besides , two performed by Jock Mahoney : ¨Three challenges¨ and ¨Tarzan goes to India¨ directed by John Guillermin , among others . Plus , other TV Tarzan as Ron Ely , Wolf Larsen , Joe Lara

TARZAN'S FIGHT FOR LIFE (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1958), a Sol Lesser production, directed by H Bruce Humberstone, marks Gordon Scott's third go-round as the jungle warlord and the second in color (compliments of MetroColor). After two prior Tarzan adventures where the title character goes solo without his mate nor son, this edition returns to formula material commonly found in the 1940s starring Johnny Weissmuller where the plots revolved around Tarzan, Jane and their son, Boy. As with the latter Weissmuller entries, the Jane character, played then by Brenda Joyce from 1945-1949, enacted here by Eve Brent, is also blonde, this time wearing lipstick in certain scenes! The adopted son is not characterized as Boy, the name earlier used for Johnny Sheffield's carnation during his performance in eight entries (1939-1947), is now performed by Rickie Sorensen going under a new name of Tartu. There is still Cheta, however.

The story begins with Doctor Sturdy (Carl Benton-Reid) of the Medical Association, experimenting in a native hospital in Randini accompanied by his daughter, Anne (Jil Jarmyn). Hoping to fine a cure for a fever that had earlier killed a tribal chief in the distant village of Nigasso, Futa (James Edwards) does what he can to keep his tribe from accepting Sturdy's modern medical efforts of curing the sick in favor of using traditional witch doctor and black magic. Because the tribe shows no appreciation for her father's dedication in his hard work, Anne wants for them to leave before the natives turn hostile and form an attack towards them. Arriving to join Sturdy is Ken Warwick (Harry Lauter), arriving from England after two years of medical school in England. As the tribe comes to attack Anne and Ken, Tarzan (Gordon Scott) arrives in time to rescue them. Being a friend of the Nigasso tribe, Tarzan tries to learn from Futa why he and his tribe cannot be civil. Moments after their talk, one of the native girls is attacked by a crocodile. Tarzan dives into the water to bring her back to safety. Because the bite on her leg has caused a great loss of blood, Tarzan goes against Futa's orders by taking the injured native girl and placed under Sturdy's care. Though the native girl's leg is amputated, she later dies. Only because Tarzan continues to support Sturdy's medical methods does he become the enemy of Futa's tribe. During the course of the story, Tarzan's mate, Jane (Eve Brent) suffers from appendix pain, forcing Tarzan and son, Tartu (Rickie Sorensen, to immediately take Jane by down the river by canoe for emergency operation by Sturdy. Later Molo (Nick Stewart) comes to the hospital to carry on Futa's vengeful attempt to kill Jane in her hospital bed. When all fails, Futa orders to have Tarzan captured and bound so he could be sacrificed by having his heart taken from his body.

An acceptable production being a bit longer than usual (86 minutes), TARZAN'S FIGHT FOR LIFE offers enough material reminiscent to the older "Tarzan" formula of the Weissmuller days, including Tarzan and Jane kissing and having their leisurely play swim in the lake. Tarzan even shows he has his fight for life when combating realistically with a giant python. Here's one added bonus: Tarzan riding through the jungle on a giraffe. Some actual African jungle photography mixed with indoor sets along with color add greatly to its background and scenery. Then there's the chimpanzee, Cheta, this time sporting a loincloth around its waist like her master, Tarzan, allowing time for comedy relief with his junior Tarzan companion. Rickie Sorensen, around age nine here, does what's expected for little Tarzan. His character is never fully explained who he is or where he came from except that he's adopted by Tarzan and Jane. There must have been an orphanage nearby as opposed to Tarzan finding an orphan boy somewhere in the jungle and taking him home to Jane as was done in TARZAN FINDS A SON (1939) and TARZAN'S SAVAGE FURY (1952). James Edwards, who did a masterful job in his debut film of HOME OF THE BRAVE (1949), is nearly unrecognizable playing the evil warrior chief, supported by Woody Strode (Ramo); Roy Glenn (The High Counselor); and Milton Woody (The Temple Native). Gordon Scott shows himself to be better muscular and agreeable to the latest Tarzan of the 1950s, a role he would continue to play belting out his Tarzan call until 1960.

Aside from frequent broadcasts on commercial television in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, this and other Tarzan adventures have played on cable television as well, especially American Movie Classics (1997-2000) and Turner Classic Movies (TCM premiere: August 5, 2010). Though this was to be the final theatrical Tarzan adventure to include the nostalgic feel revolving around the Tarzan family trio, Scott, Brent and Sorensen united together once more in 1958 for a proposed television series that never sold, in which three episodes were edited together to form another feature-length venture titled TARZAN AND THE TRAPPERS. Of the two, TARZAN'S FIGHT FOR LIFE is much better. (***)

A lot of critics have panned this movie as a poor Tarzan film ...I totally disagree...Gordon Scott is a magnificent Tarzan with a superman physique - just what the role demanded....Scott must save a tribal village from an evil witch doctor named Futa who hates Tarzan with a passion because Tarzan knows that the witch doctor's medicine is inferior to Dr. Carl Sturdy who is in the jungle trying to develop a serum to fight tropical infections....adding to the film is a romance between Dr. Sturdy's daughter (Jill Jarmyn) and her father's medical cohort. Movie was made in brilliant technicolor with very good lighting effects....Gordon Scott gives the Tarzan yell from a limb on a tree as Futa's henchmen try to attack and kill natives bringing supplies to Dr. Sturday...It should be mentioned that MGM inserted several ft of footage to this film from film from "Tarzan and the Lost Safari" also starring Scott.....Scott is by far the most athletic Tarzan of them all, the handsomest and best athlete for the role... Check out a scene where a 25 ft python is wrapped around Scott who is trying to protect Jane from attack....lots of good action scenes and lions and evil tribesman...standard fare for the day for a Tarzan movie....Scott introduces his son as "Tartu" and not "boy" for some strange reason in the film....James Edwards (the cook in "The Caine Mutiny") gives a good action job as the evil Futa.....I liked this Tarzan film a lot and one year later Scott starred in the classic "Tarzan's Greatest Adventure" with Anthony Quayle and a young Sean Connery of 007 fame.