Tarzan vai à Índia

Its not the greatest Tarzan outing but passes the time well enough.

Does have some odd scenes like Tarzan jumping out of a plane instead of waiting for the thing to land?

Gets a little slow at times.

The villains are quite good in this one.

If you like the older style movies then you should enjoy this :)

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....

For the first time since Johnny Weissmuller took that plane with Jane to New York to rescue Boy in Tarzan's New York Adventure, the famed jungle man leaves the African continent. Tarzan Goes To India, but in this case the title does not say it all.

Tarzan who is now played by Jock Mahoney is summoned to India at the request of a local maharajah. A needed dam is being built to provide hydroelectric power for his area. But the maharajah is also a conservationist. The dam will flood a certain valley that has been an animal preserve and a rather large herd of elephants will drown.

Mahoney's mission is to save the animals and his biggest problem is a nasty and mean rogue elephant who is leading the herd. Assisting him is Jai the elephant boy, a Twentieth Century version of Sabu and his pet pachyderm. Tarzan's also got some human opposition in dam engineers Mark Dana and Leo Gordon, the latter with whom Tarzan has some history with.

Just the mention of Leo Gordon and you know who the real villain is. On his last job in Africa which brought him into contact with Tarzan he did a little ivory poaching on the side.

Jock Mahoney replaced Gordon Scott as Tarzan and at 43 he brings a more mature Tarzan to the picture. But Mahoney who was a college jock and a stuntman before becoming an actor and he's one fit and athletic Tarzan in the first of two films he did as Edgar Rice Burroughs's legendary primeval hero.

What I like about this film is not only is it shot in India, but brings Tarzan fully into the present era. This film could never have been done on the MGM back lot, let alone RKO's back lot later on.

It's a nice story and while Jock Mahoney replaced my favorite Tarzan Gordon Scott he certainly does credit to the part and to the film. Tarzan Goes To India holds up very well after almost 50 years. It's quite a bit more than just G rated family entertainment, the film is a nice statement about the other creatures with whom man shares domain of planet earth with.

Tarzan Goes to India (1962)

** (out of 4)

A group of evil contractors are in India building a damn, which is going to flood several villages as well as kill over three hundred elephants. Tarzan (Jock Mahoney) is called in to try and rescue the elephants but a rogue is causing all sorts of trouble and making the other elephants do a lot of harm. Not only does Tarzan have to fight the elephant but he must also go against the head engineer (Leo Gordon) who doesn't care about human life. TARZAN GOES TO India comes as a major disappointment and especially when you consider it followed TARZAN THE MAGNIFICENT, which was one of the greatest in the series. That film got a great villain performance by Mahoney who wound up taking the lead role here. Having seen both of his Tarzan films, it's clear Mahoney really wasn't the right person for the job. He was a very good actor as the previous film shows but he just didn't have the personality for Tarzan. You never believed him in the part and this is something that really kills this film because it really does seem like a non-Tarzan movie. The excitement of the character is missing and Mahoney just seems as if he's either bored and just doesn't know what to do with the part, which is a real shame because some of the story here is interesting. The one major benefit going on here is that the film was actually shot partially in India so we get some nice visuals. Another major plus is that there are quite a bit of elephants on hand and we get some very good shots of them. There's even a major battle between two of them that contains some nice drama. The rest of the story is pretty much the same thing just a new location. Once again Tarzan has to battle an evil person who is evil for no other reason than to have someone for Tarzan to fight. Gordon is very good and sinister in his role but at the same time you really wish the screenplay had given him more to do or at least built up his character some. The supporting cast also includes Jai "The Elephant Boy" playing Tarzan's travel mate. Fans of the series who must see all of them are the only ones that this is going to be recommended to.

This is quite an enjoyable film with as an added bonus, 300(!!) elephants and spectacular Indian scenery. I don't think I've ever seen India look so beautiful in any movie. Jock Mahoney makes an articulate and athletic(if a bit lean) Tarzan. His easy-going performance is quite fun to watch, as is his interplay with the Maharaja's daughter. There seems to be a nice chemistry between these two. It is really too bad that their relationship isn't allowed to progress further but this being a G-rated film, the line has to be drawn somewhere. As this film is aimed at the very young, a lot of emphasis is put on Jai the elephant boy. This turns out to be the film's greatest weakness. The character is irritating and obnoxious. Not surprisingly, Mahoney looks a little uncomfortable in his scenes with the young boy and some of their moments together are downright corny. It's a good thing that the film's fast paced action sequences and beautiful scenery make up for these weaknesses(the final charge of the elephants is very exciting).Also of note, Leo Gordon is quite effective as the villain Bryce. On the whole, this is a good way to pass a rainy Sunday afternoon. You'll have to close your eyes and ears every time Jai appears, but the rest will go down easily enough, especially for the younger set. By the way, don't miss Tarzan's arrival into India. It's an eye opener!!