Tarzan l'intrépide

...this time from the Principal Distributing company and director Robert F. Hill. Buster Crabbe stars as the title character, a white man raised by apes in a remote part of Africa who has become an almost legendary figure among the natives. When a group of Americans and Europeans arrive in the jungle to look for a missing compatriot, Tarzan meets the lovely Mary Brooks (Jaqueline Wells), whom he continuously has to rescue from savage beasts, wild tribesmen, and crooked jewel thieves. Also featuring Eddie Woods, Philo McCullough, E. Alyn Warren, Matthew Betz, Frank Lackteen, Darby Jones, Carlotta Monti, and Mischa Auer.

There's the usual parade of jungle antics: lion attacks (in the jungle again), crocodile attacks (you gotta have an excuse to get Olympic swimmer Crabbe in the water), elephant rides, natives and their "jungle drums". This movie also has the bizarre added bonus of Arab guides who are secretly part of an Ancient Egyptian cult. Crabbe makes for an energetic Lord of the Jungle, and he even appears to be in better shape than Weissmuller was at the time. Wells, who later changed her name to Julie Bishop, is fetching. My favorite moment was when a record player gets cranked up and all of the jungle animals start to dance.

Run-of-the-mill Tarzan movie dubiously faithful to Edgar Rice Burroughs , shot in short budget and financed by regular producer , Sol Lesser . The world-wide popularity of the Tarzan stories has prompted the author to tell, now for the first time , a new story of the Ape Man's strangest and most romantic adventures . Here Tarzan , Lord of the Jungle : barrel-chested Buster Crabbe , saves the damsel in distress , the blond Mary Brooks : Jacqueline Welles or Julie Bishop and helps the young girl to find her missing father . The latter falls into the hands of " the people of Zar , God of the Emerald Fingers" . Swing into hot action from the opening shot and thunders on its blazing way .. from daring action to nerve-tingling thrill... from gripping suspense to starting climax ¡.-

Adventurous and routine Tarzan movie with usual ingredients , such as : serial acrobatics , the vine swinging , angry natives taking prisoners and a lot of footage about wildlife . Of course , Tarzan fights enemies and animals , gives the famous cry of the bull ape and vine-swing . Backlot non-sense with good-looking , handsome Buster Crabbe as Lord of the Jungle and Jacqueline Welles as his beautiful partenaire and hammy supporting actors with plenty of opportunity to chew on scenario such as : Edward Woods , Philo McCullough and the usual comical player Mischa Auer . Stars Buster Crabbe , he is much better fared in the now campy Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers serials than in this average Tarzan film . Co-stars Jacqueline Welles who as Julie Bishop had a decent cinematic career , she plays the kidnapped damsel who seduces the dumb beast , and it is all great fun but really mediocre . Hollywood at its peak but no relation to Edgar Rice Burroughs's hero.

The picture was financed by producer Sol Lesser in short budget and to go on producing several Tarzan movies . As he financed the last films played by the best Tarzan , Johnny Weissmuller , such as : Tarzan's Triumph , Tarzan's desert Mystery , Tarzan and the Amazons, Tarzan and the Leopard Woman, Tarzan and the Huntress, , Tarzan and the Mermaids . Subsequently , Sol Lesser hired Lex Barker as Tarzan producing him the following ones : Tarzan's magic Fountain, Tarzan and the salvage girl, Tarzan's peril, Tarzan and the She- Devil , Tarzan's savage fury . After that, Lesser hired the muscle man Gordon Scott who acted in : Tarzan fights for his life by Bruce H. Humberstone , Tarzan's greatest adventure by John Guillermin, Tarzan and the Last Safari, Tarzan the Magnificent , and Tarzan and the Trappers directed by Sandy Howard and Charles Haas . This Tarzan the Fearless produced by Sol Lesser was regularly directed by Robert Hill. Rating 4.5/10 . Only for Tarzan movies completists and hardcore lovers of the classic personage written by Edgar Rice Burroughs .

In 1932, MGM made one of the best Tarzan movies of all time, "Tarzan the Ape Man". It was so well made that it resulted in a long string of movies with Johnny Weissmuller and it made him a major star. A year after this film, Sol Lesser produced a serialized version of the Tarzan story and in this case the production starred Buster Crabbe. Why Crabbe? Well, like Weissmuller, Crabbe was a gold medal winning American swimmer...and Lesser certainly couldn't afford Weissmuller! No, a Lesser film was known for economy...and because of that, you would expect his movie to be less refined and as well written.

It is important that you understand that I am reviewing the full-length movie version of Lesser's Tarzan film. It also came out in a 12-part serialized version...though apparently it's been lost and the movie version if the only one available today. If I hear about the serial being discovered, I'll try to update my review. And, considering how the film is a whittled down version of a much longer serial, I was not surprised that the movie seemed choppy.

Like Weissmuller, Crabbe's Tarzan is barechested and well coiffed despite being raised by apes in the African jungles. Unlike Weissmuller, Crabbe's Tarzan yell is pretty enemic! Both took advantage of their swimming skills by having them swim during the films.

The story involves Tarzan falling for a blonde who ISN'T named Jane. Unfortunately, she's traveling with some dirtbags who want to kill Tarzan (why???) and in the end, Tarzan saves the day and gets the girl.

So is this Tarzan tale any good? Well, it's not terrible...and the animal scenes (such as when Tarzan fights a lion) aren't bad at all...though, sadly, like too many Tarzan pics, there is also ample use of stock footage and a few non-African animals (such as American alligators instead of African crocodiles). As for Tarzan, while Crabbe looked nice, he wasn't as good in the role as Weissmuller...and mostly said nothing...choosing instead to pantomime much of the time or utter a few goofy laughs. Overall, a cheap curiosity that is watchable but not up to the standards of MGM's series which was begun the year before this one....and much like the quality of Lesser's many B-westerns.

Buster Crabbe plays Tarzan in this short movie that was the first 4 episodes of a serial. He's GOT to be the first blonde Tarzan ever! I heard this was just awful. I admit the plot jumps around and the print I saw was in terrible condition--but I liked it. Mostly it was because of Crabbe--he had a beautiful, muscular body and was much better-looking than Johnny Weismuller. He also acted better--Weismuller always had a blank look on his face--Crabbe changes expression often. Also he wore the skimpiest lion cloth I've ever seen. His acting wasn't bad either--I was pretty surprised! He hated making this though--he said the "damned" monkey who played Cheetah was always biting him! I realize it's a matter of taste but I think Crabbe was easily the best-looking and sexist Tarzan ever.

Worth taking a look at.

The Tarzan of the movies was a sissy, compared with the blood thirsty apeman of the early Burroughs novels. The real Tarzan ate raw meat and the blood ran off his chin. Moviegoers might not have been up to this kind of realism. That aside, this is a worthwhile, albeit early, Tarzan film. Buster Crabbe was a better athlete than other actors who played the role; like Weismuller, Crabbe had an Olympic gold medal and was more muscular. He also had a skimpier costume in the pre-Hayes Office days.

The plot skips all over the place, probably because it was edited down from an episodic serial. The chimp is there, playing cute, as he did in almost all Tarzan films. The trapeze or vine swinging work is considerably better here. If Buster Crabbe didn't actually do it, he appeared to be quite high and hanging on precariously. Unfortunately the Tarzan yell, a trademark of these films, is a mild bleat compared with those that came later. I miss that in this version.

All in all, I'd give this a fair to good grade.