As Novas Aventuras de Tarzan

Or mad, and a bit interesting, take your pick. Herman Brix/Bruce Bennett is a good, athletic Tarzan, rather oddly at home in Africa, Latin America and England, equally comfortable in a loincloth or jungle fatigues, and even (in the final episode) fancy dress. His Tarzan cry is especially memorable, sounding as if he has just trapped his testicles in his desk drawer.

Unlike many serials, the plot develops in nearly linear fashion rather than repeatedly cycling round, and the Guatemalan locations are fascinating and well-used. The animals that Tarzan fights look less like pyjama cases than usual. There is a lot of evidence of cutting and rewriting, so it would be a stretch to say that it all made sense.

Some of the major characters disappear after Chapter Four for no obvious reason, only to reappear in the final summing up (the serial certainly improves when the cast is slimmed down; they are not missed). George, the comedy relief, degenerates from someone capable of machine-gunning dozens of natives to death early on, into a babbling cretin in the later episodes. He is literally unable to pick up a valuable clue without dropping it into the nearest river, or to walk in a straight line without falling into a cunning trap. And to cap it all, the final scene takes place at a party where everyone is dressed as a Tyrolean gypsy - why?

I have to review what I see and sad to say other than interesting location cinematography in Central America, there's not much to recommend The New Adventures Of Tarzan.

Edgar Rice Burroughs who was personally involved in the making of this film would have been better to have left it in the hands of the professionals at MGM who while they changed his legendary character knew how to make a film. They would also have advised him to not shoot on location as they did in Trader Horn. The production costs nearly bankrupted MGM and the costs here rendered impossible any kind of profit.

In addition what I saw on TCM was a cut down feature film taken from a movie serial. The serial ran over 4 hours and the film 75 minutes. You can't make anything coherent from that.

Bruce Bennett is quite the well built Tarzan. He's starring in this under his real name of Herman Brix, the same name for which he won a Silver Medal in the Shotput in the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics. Later when he became Bruce Bennett he learned his craft as actor and is best remembered for The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre and Mildred Pierce as an actor.

I'm sure Bennett did a bit of cringing when he saw this film or was reminded of it in the 100 years of life he had on planet earth.

Herman Brix is Tarzan, aka Lord Greystoke, splitting his time between England and Africa. While in Africa he is asked to go to Guatemala to help look for an idol. As close to Edgar Rice Burroughs idea of the character as we are likely to see, Burroughs produced, this a bit different then the Tarzan of the movies we are used to, Tarzan is intelligent and speaks in full sentences. He is still a man of action. To be certain the independent nature of the serial and its budgetary limitations make this a little rough at times, but at the same time the story and its dangers are as real as they come. I know that some people have complained that how Tarzan gets out of things isn't always spectacular (he expands his chest to help get ropes off of himself), but its probably closer to reality then most serials would dare. Worth a look to how Tarzan of the pages really should look on screen.

Of all the classic Tarzans that I have seen in cinema until 1984 (of which I only think I am missing a few, such as the blonde Denny Miller) Bruce Bennett (or Herman Brix, his real name) was my favorite. He did not have a great participation as "the king of the jungle", apart from the serial "The New Adventures of Tarzan", but, in addition to the fact that this version was closer to the creation of Edgar Rice Burroughs, who served as co-producer, Bennett was a handsome Tarzan, with a more serious face, a lonely and unglamorous hero, mistreated by the jungle, who I think I only perceived in Jock Mahoney and Christophe Lambert in 1984, when I stopped watching films with Burroughs' character.

I saw an edited version of the serial running 75 minutes and it seemed like a more than adequate adventure, with a less show business and more dramatic approach, and that leaves you wanting to see more, perhaps the entire serial. Other sources indicate 70 minutes. This version has not been restored. There is also a 59-minute British dubbed version that was aired on American television since the early 1950s, with 10 minutes of additional stock footage of the African flora and fauna. That material was later removed and the original was issued on VHS.

If you find a copy, see it, it's a well-represented Tarzan film.

The carnage in this film is appalling. A machine gun is set up and mows down literally dozens and dozens of angry Guatemalan "natives." Why are they angry? Because white people have come into their territory to steal a religious symbol from them. One of the packers is murdered, but his death isn't missed by anyone, not even Tarzan. The film begins with Tarzan fighting and killing a lion, and later on he fights and kills an alligator, but he hasn't even got a scratch on him from these encounters. The natives spared the surviving pilot, but no mention is made of the two passengers and what happened to them. The idea that Tarzan, lord of the jungle, would allow the murder of so many natives without showing any remorse would seem to contradict his responsibility as "lord of the jungle." Compare this concept with the film "Tarzan and the Amazons," where the intruders are justly punished and Tarzan protects the "lost' civilization. I appreciate the interpretation given by Bruce Bennett of an articulate Tarzan, but the writers of the screenplay have a lot to answer for in their stereotyping of native peoples who make good target practice.