Tarzan et la femme léopard

MY favorite of the Johnny Weisemuller Tarzan movies, contains great B-movie over-the-top performances and classic lines.

The Tarzan family's shopping trip to Zambezi is cut short by the arrival of a bloodied,dying man, the only survivor of a caravan apparently attacked by leopards. But the Jungle Man knows something is not quite right. "Man not killed by Leopard" he declares, pointing out that leopards use not just their claws but their teeth to kill. Challenged by skeptics to give an alternative explanation, he responds with the classic line "Something Leopard that isn't Leopard".

That something is this freakish cult of Leopard people,who enjoy dressing up in animal skins, attacking people, and ripping out their hearts to sacrifice to their god. They are led by Lea (Aquanetta) (based loosely on the character of the high priestess "La" in the Tarzan novels) and her lover, Lazar, a proto-environmentalist?- who is obsessed with stamping out civilization - a great "over-the-top performance by Edgar Barrier.("Away with them! Down with them!")

But the character to watch is "Kimba" Lea's brother, deliciously portrayed by Tommy Cook - as a conniving, sadistic little creep, who despises Lazar and harbors a not-so-secret lust for his sister and for Jane, the "lady with golden hair".

Taunted by his friends for his pretentiousness,Kimba boasts "When I come back,I will show you a heart". Kimba ingratiates himself into the Tarzan family, then turns on the unsuspecting Jane and Boy declaring "Now I take back TWO hearts". It stretches credulity when the bumbling Boy temporarily overpowers the clever and calculating Kimba.

Tarzan knows more about the ways of the jungle and its inhabitants than anyone, so of course NO ONE in the movie takes his warnings seriously until another caravan is attacked, and the "Zambezi maidens" (student teachers who have been hired to civilize the natives)are captured, along with the entire Tarzan family, and all are bound and prepared for sacrifice to the leopard god. Following classic adventure movie logic, the leopard folks bind Tarzan to the main support beam of their temple, providing him (with the aid of the ever-helpful Cheetah)not only with the opportunity to escape but to literally bring down the house. In a final moment of dramatic retribution, the dying Kimba finally gets his coveted heart - Lazar's heart.

As a kid, I just loved this movie, and I wish it were available on video or DVD. Does anyone know if it is going to be released?

This was a little strange to view at first because I had never seen a Johnny Weismuller-Tarzan film of the 1940s. I was only familiar with the earlier stuff with Weismuller and Maureen O'Sullivan as "Jane." By the mid '40s when this was made (and others), Brenda Joyce had replace O'Sullivan. A blonde-haired "Jane" looked strange to me. Their son, "Boy," still played by Johnny Sheffield, was another shock of sorts. He now was a teenager with muscles and a changing voice. That didn't look or sound right!

Tarzan himself had become a regular English-speaking person, even though he still lived in the jungle. He came into town and everyone knew him and talked to him as if he was one of them. It was just all too strange.

Meanwhile, "the leopard woman" (Acquanetta) wasn't as mysterious as she was billed nor was she much of an actress, just a pretty face. She didn't have that big a role, anyway.

All in all, not a video worth keeping.

TARZAN AND THE LEOPARD WOMAN is the most entertaining of the Tarzan films Weismuller made for RKO. Things were starting to get dreary at the RKO backlot jungle, and this film gave the series a boost. The story of a murderous cult who worship a leopard god, has the kind of plot found in the Tarzan comics I used to read as a kid. The plot seems to be in part based on a real life leopard worshiping murder cult, somewhat like the murderous Kali cult of 19th century India; this secret all male society terrorized East Africa until it was put down by the British. Acquenta is exotically gorgeous as the cults leader, Queen Lea.

So what if TARZAN AND THE LEOPARD WOMAN is only escapist entertainment. If you highbrow types are looking for art, what are you doing watching a Tarzan movie anyway?

The Johnny Weissmuller Tarzan series continues at RKO with the fourth film (tenth overall, counting the MGM films). This one's pretty different from those that came before it. There's a different vibe to it, particularly in the early scenes where Tarzan acts as a sort of jungle detective. He's asked by a commissioner (of what I don't know) to look into a series of leopard attacks on travelers. Tarzan doesn't believe leopards are the cause of the attacks and, as you might have guessed by the title of this picture, he's right. So it's Tarzan versus leopard skin-wearing cultists, led by Queen Lea (Acquanetta).

I'm used to seeing Acquanetta in Universal films from around this time. They tried to make her a star in their horror stable but it didn't really work out. She's very attractive but not the strongest actress. This is arguably the best acting job of her short career, for what that's worth. Dennis Hoey is amusing as the commissioner. He's best known for playing Inspector Lastrade in Universal's Sherlock Holmes series. Tommy Cook is very creepy as Kimba, the Leopard Boy. What a little psycho. Brenda Joyce appears as Jane for the second time and does a fine job, although she's nowhere near the presence Maureen O'Sullivan was in the role. Johnny Weissmuller and Johnny Sheffield are both good, as usual. Weissmuller's first scene has him wrestling hirsute Tongolo the Terrible, whose voice I strongly suspect was dubbed. Speaking of voices, Johnny Sheffield's voice continues to change. Puberty's rough on us all, Boy. Cheeta is still lots of fun, which I'm sure surprises no one.

It's one of the better Tarzan RKO films. Personally I like them all but you have some fans who think of the RKO films as nothing but kiddie stuff. Then you have the people who don't like any Tarzan movies, RKO or otherwise. I try my best to avoid people like that. If you can't enjoy the adventures of Tarzan and his family, you're probably not much fun to be around.

TARZAN AND THE LEOPARD WOMAN (1946)

A bizarre Tarzan offering featuring a freaky cult of worshippers who dress up in leopard skins with claws and attack people, taking out their hearts to sacrifice to their god! The high priestess of the pack is the pretty Acquanetta (CAPTIVE WILD WOMAN) who was never a good actress at all but is probably used to better advantage here than she ever was before here. Tarzan becomes aware that something's not right when the attacks are blamed on real leopards. A very strange chapter indeed.

**1/2 out of ****