Tarzan e os Caçadores

Of the countless actors who have portrayed Tarzan since Elmo Lincoln first appeared in 1918's `Tarzan of the Apes,' Gordon Scott remains the best to ever don a loincloth. So it's no surprise that `Tarzan and the Trappers' is one of the better Tarzan films of the past 80 years. The 1958 film was actually intended to comprise the first three episodes of a television series, but instead was made into a better-than-average Sol Lesser production that runs 74 minutes. The film's story remains contemporary, with Tarzan forced to fight for his own life while stopping greedy traders from illegally trapping and removing wildlife from the jungle.

With the future of much of the world's wildlife in question, the story is as compelling now as it was 45 years ago...

This Tarzan film was originally put together from episodes of an unsold T.V. series. This explains the films bifurcated structure. I have been told producer Sol Lesser then edited the episodes together and released it overseas as a feature in some markets. I also understand Americans did not get to see this film until 1966 when it was sold as part of a Tarzan film package to television. As a theatrical release, it looks like a third rate Tarzan film designed to fill out the second half of a double bill. But viewed as what it was intended as; a saturday morning kiddie show from the fifties, it looks better than other shows from the same era such as SHEENA, QUEEN OF THE JUNGLE and RAMER. I'm surprised this potential Tarzan T.V show did not sell.By the way, Eve Brent makes a sexy blonde Jane.

The Tarzan you grow up is likely to always be "your" Tarzan, so for the generation which came of age in the 1950s, that means Gordon Scott. He might not have been the best Tarzan, (that's always a matter of debate), but he was certainly a good one. His "Tarzan and the Trappers" is a minor work, apparently stitched together from some TV episodes, but it demonstrates how the Tarzan character reflects the changing moods of the times.

In this case, the times are the Eisenhower Years and so Tarzan, Jane, and Boy come across here as a typical suburban family not that far removed from, say, "Ozzie and Harriet." Of course, the father in this particular family seems to speak with a third-grade education and he must spend an awful lot of time in the gym, but these are minor points.

"Tarzan and the Trappers" also reflects the prudish morality of the 1950s. Tarzan and Jane, for example, seem to have two side-by-side but separate treehouses which allows for "proper" sleeping arrangements. Care has also been taken to downplay Tarzan's sexuality, moving him away from his powerful masculinity toward a tamer, almost neutered status. Gordon Scott's loincloth, for instance, rides high enough on his torso to completely hide his navel, which must have caused some problems during filming. ("Sorry, Gordon, you'll have to do it again. We saw your belly button.") And in that inevitable scene in which Tarzan is captured and put into bondage, his arms stretched up and tied high above his head, we see that Gordon Scott's armpits have been carefully shaved. Apparently male body hair, either on the chest or in the armpits, was a "no no" because it emphasized the actor's sexual nature. Despite these efforts to "housebreak" and "domesticate" Tarzan, however, Gordon Scott still manages to exude an undeniable appeal and for us Eisenhower kids, he'll always be "our" Tarzan.

TARZAN AND THE TRAPPERS (1958 B&W) features Gordon Scott as Tarzan. This is a mediocre jungle adventure edited together from two or three episodes of a TV series that never surfaced. Gordon Scott plays a great muscular Tarzan but, as another Amazon reviewer noted, the film is compressed in such a way that the images are out of proportion. For example, Gordon Scott appears almost short and stout, albeit muscular. I know this isn't true because I just saw another Scott Tarzan film ("Tarzan and the Lost Safari" from 1957) wherein Scott is tall (6'3") and his waist is incredibly lean. In any event, although this is far from the best Gordon Scott Tarzan picture (his "Tarzan's Greatest Adventure" from 1959 is one of the best films in the entire series), "Tarzan and the Trappers" is well worth watching if for no other reason than to feast your eyes on the awe-inspiring voluptuousness of Eve Brent, who plays "Jane."

GRADE: C

This Tarzan feature from the Gordon Scott series has just enough to make it watchable if you like the series in general. Scott definitely looks like Tarzan, and he has enough of a screen presence to be believable, but his wooden acting style takes the energy out of some of the scenes. The story has a few good moments, but at other times the characters and situations are just too unimaginative not to be noticeable.

The story does have a fair amount of action, as Tarzan must first battle a greedy but rather foolish trapper, and then face the trapper's more malicious brother plus a treacherous jungle trader. Plenty of outdoor footage and scenes of African animals are worked in with the studio shots, and most of the time this helps to mask the low production values. 'Cheta', in fact, gets some of the best moments of the movie.

So many Tarzan movies had been made before this one that it must have been hard to come up with new ideas. This one does at least have a worthwhile idea behind the plot, but it is otherwise rather uninspired in the way that it tells the story.