User reviews

6 ft. 4 inch Gordon Scott made this film for RKO on a very meager budget as the story goes....not much to get worked up about in this tale of rogue and con artist hunters who lie and try to trap animals to sell to the zoos. About the only redeeming quality to this film is Scott's bulging muscle physique......Scott by far the biggest muscleman Tarzan ever....Scott handles his role rudimentary and a little off center....he seems more perplexed with Vera Miles more than the animals....in real life Scott and Miles married......Scott is not given much to say that makes much sense...just grumbling and Me Tarzan, you Jane schuck!!!! Peter Van Eyck as a jungle doctor trying to save natives and animals alike.....this was very weak Tarzan film and rumor had it that Scott only made $50000 for the whole film.... His other Tarzan adventures turned into classics, such as "Tarzan and the Lost Safari", "Tarzan's Greatest Adventure" and "Tarzan the Magnificent"....in those films Scott's role as Tarzan reached new heights as an intelligent thinker......Greatest Adventure the best Tarzan ever in my mind....

In the African jungles at RKO studios, white men hunt wild animals who mind their own business in stock footage. This upsets jungle king Gordon Scott (as Tarzan) and area natives. They wear animal skins, bones and feathers. There is no "Jane", so Mr. Scott meets pretty nurse Vera Miles (as Jill Hardy) taking a swim. They are mutually attracted. Later, Scott rescues Ms. Miles from quicksand and washes a leg, arm and neck before observing censorship rules. Several lions run toward the camera. Sporting a 1950s hair style, this was Scott's first outing as "Tarzan". Holding in his stomach even when he doesn't need to, Scott handsomely shows off a beautiful physique. Miles is exceptionally attractive. They got married.

**** Tarzan's Hidden Jungle (2/16/55) Harold D. Schuster ~ Gordon Scott, Vera Miles, Peter van Eyck, Jack Elam

TARZAN'S HIDDEN JUNGLE (RKO Radio, 1955), directed by Harold Schuster, introduces Gordon Scott to the screen and as Edgar Rice Burrough's legendary jungle hero. Replacing Lex Barker, who bowed out of the series after five installments, Scott, a lifeguard turned actor, was to become the latest theatrical Tarzan during the final half of the 1950s, thus, taking the series onto a whole new level. For Scott's introduction as the muscular Tarzan, this was the last in the franchise distributed through RKO Radio's Sol Lesser Productions. As it's beginning and the end, TARZAN'S HIDDEN JUNGLE is standard jungle fare.

In a story that takes place in the course of a single day, TARZAN'S HIDDEN JUNGLE starts off with the ape man (Gordon Scott) taking his morning swim while his pet chimpanzee, Cheta (Zippy) watches amusingly on dry land. After going past a crocodile (with no battles involved), Tarzan comes out, climbs a tree, and tells Cheta, "I hear something!" That something turns out to be white hunters entering the scene as they shoot animals for their skin and tusks. The first victim is a lion, followed by the killing of a harmless deer before injury comes to a baby elephant. Tarzan asks himself, "Why men always want to kill?" After defeating the hunter's tribesmen, Tarzan tends to elephant's wounds and eventually encounters a medical clinic manned nearby with Doctor Celliers (Peter Van Eyck), accompanied by his nursing assistant, Jill Hardy (Vera Miles). Because a large assortment of animals are in Sukuki country across the river where they're held as sacred to the tribe, Burger (Jack Elam) and DeGroot (Charles Fredericks), working under strict orders of Mr. Johnson (Don Beddoe), attempt to deliver the goods to Nyrobi within ten days by posing as cameramen for an independent picture company. They trick Jill into persuading Doctor Celliers, who's friends with the chief Makumba (Rex Ingram), to guide them over to Sukuki territory and capture his work on film. While there, the hunters plot on luring the animals across the river to trap and slaughter them. Discovering these men as frauds, Jill heads out into the jungle to warn the doctor. Rescued from certain dangers by Tarzan, together they head over to Sukuki territory where, after learning the true intentions of the hunters, the angry chief, feeling betrayed, to have place intruders in a lion pit.

Reading the name of Vera Miles as Scott's co-star in the opening credits certainly should indicate Miles in the role of Tarzan's mate, Jane. Jane, however, is absent from this installment, with no explanation given. Interestingly, however, Miles did become Scott's mate in marriage after production was completed. Their scenes together include some amusing moments as their initial meeting as Jill swims naked (to the imagination, not the camera) as Tarzan stands by her clothes watching; and another where the dirty Jill says, "I need a bath," only to be thrown into the river by Tarzan, who laughingly says, "Girl want bath, girl get bath." While no Jane present, the writers eventually provided Tarzan with a blonde Jane (Eve Brent) and a boy (Rickie Sorensen)in TARZAN'S FIGHT FOR LIFE (1958). Without Tarzan's family, the action moves swiftly, which could be the sole reason as to why these central characters were dropped entirely by the end of the decade. Cheta, on the other hand, is around for some monkey business, but not so much as in previous installments. As Tarzan tells her, "Cheta come," Cheta makes it clear she'd rather be in the company of another chimp than venturing out with him, thus, forming the only romantic subplot in the story. Cheta and mate's closing moments rank as extremely cute and amusing.

For TARZAN'S HIDDEN JUNGLE, limited production values are evident. Echoes of verbal sounds and insertion of stock animal footage certainly indicate production was done in a closed jungle set. While drawbacks such as these might have put an end to this long running series, it actually didn't. Installments that followed showed much improvement over the previous ones, leaving Scott's final two outings, TARZAN'S GREATEST ADVENTURE (1959) and TARZAN THE MAGNIFICENT (1960), both for Paramount, as the finest in the Scott series. Aside from being Jane-less, Scott's Tarzan would be allowed to speak articulately. Broken sentences worked better for the style of Johnny Weissmuller during his reign as Tarzan (1932-1948), but not so believable for both Lex Barker and Gordon Scott. Fortunately, writers took notice and made Scott's Tarzan more to the creative style of Burroughs than Hollywood's interpretation that's been used for so long. Prime example here as Tarzan finds Cheta with a wrist watch, "Where get?" he asks.

Though regarded the lesser in the series, TARZAN'S HIDDEN JUNGLE benefits by its short length (73 minutes) that limits itself to mediocre segments with more talk than action.

Never distributed to home video, available on DVD through Turner Home Entertainment, TARZAN'S HIDDEN JUNGLE's cable television's history consisted of American Movie Classics (1997-2000) and Turner Classic Movies (TCM premiere: September 3, 2011). Scott, though not bad as the title character, would be recalled to star in the next installment: TARZAN AND THE LOST SAFARI (MGM, 1957), being the first in the series produced in color and slight improvement over this edition. (**1/2)

Gordon Scott makes his debut here as the king of the jungle in this acceptable but routine Tarzan flick. TARZAN'S HIDDEN JUNGLE isn't as bad as some of this film detractors claim. As far as the RKO Tarzan flicks go, TARZAN'S HIDDEN JUNGLE is about average. What disappoints most Tarzan fans, is that one would think with RKO introducing a new actor in the role of Tarzan, they would have made this film a little something more. The film has a good supporting cast, but the production values are slightly below par. One would think the studio heads at RKO would have given this film a higher budget considering they were introducing a "new" Tarzan. I've heard that producer Sol Lesser tried to convince RKO to make this film in color, but the studio brass refused. Lesser, who owned the screen rights to Burroughs famous character, departed from RKO after twelve years of making Tarzan flicks for RKO, and moved on to make Tarzan flicks with Scott for other studios. I suspect it was RKO's refusal to allow him to shoot this film in color and the usual low budget that made Lesser part company with RKO. The next Tarzan flick (TARZAN AND THE LOST SAFARI) was in color and had a higher budget.

Note: this film does have one scene thats a real gem. Tarzan rescues Vera Miles from quick sand and then tries to wash the mud off her. She tells Tarzan she needs a bath, so Tarzan agrees and tosses the startled Miss Miles in the drink.

Tarzan, "The ape man", fights it out (again) with a bunch of hunters, an evil witch-doctor and all those "scary" animals of the jungle. As you can see, this is what Tarzan's all about. Nothing new nor surprising here, no Academy Awards nominations, no great dialogue, not really exciting. When you see a Tarzan flick you know what to expect. I guess for some people that 's the charm of Tarzan, but there are better ways to spend your afternoon. And better Tarzan films (e.g. TARZAN'S GREATEST ADVENTURE)too. But it still is a Tarzan film, and there are also worse films than one of those. 4/10

Tarzan's Hidden Jungle marked the debut of Gordon Scott as Edgar Rice Burroughs legendary ape man of the African jungle. It was also the last Tarzan film done at RKO studios which was slowly going out of business and would in the next two years. It was the reason they did not invest this film with too many production values. It was nice that they actually used black people to portray natives in the film as producers did not on too many occasions for Johnny Weissmuller and Lex Barker Tarzan movies.

Gordon Scott was one of those Hollywood discovery stories you read about. A professional bodybuilder he was discovered pool side and brought to Hollywood and beat out a whole lot of other candidates for the Tarzan roles. He wasn't exactly Brando or Olivier with the dialog, but for someone who was making his screen debut with no other acting experience, Scott handled the dialog better than you would expect.

And he married the leading lady Vera Miles while still shooting the film. Miles plays the assistant to UN doctor Peter Van Eyck who gets tricked by some unscrupulous hunters, Jack Elam and Charles Fredericks, to take them along on his humanitarian mission.

Van Eyck's mission was to a native tribe who apparently were vegetarians because they did not believe in the killing of animals. As a result game flourished in their territory. As Tarzan is a friend of the animals as well, his mission was to stop the bad guys from harming his jungle friends.

Tarzan's Hidden Jungle is not a bad debut for Gordon Scott in the new role. In fact Scott was my particular favorite among the actors who played Tarzan.

Gordon Scott's debut film and his first time playing Tarzan, is not as bad as I had read. The story is quite simple (and repeated in his next two movies, with tension between an African witch doctor and a white physician), the pacing is OK, the running time is thankfully short, and the budget as low as in most of Tarzan's films of all colors and casts. Vera Miles is an attractive leading lady, although her attention mostly goes to her doctor boss, dully played by German Peter van Eyck. I believe that the best asset of this Tarzan motion picture is Scott's freshness and spontaneity. In the following entry (the first Tarzan film in color, "Tarzan and the Lost Safari") the budget made the hair gel and the pancake make-up too evident.

Known Most Notably as the Debut Film for Gordon Scott's Stint as Tarzan, but Also for RKO on the Way Out of the Business and Refusing Any Budget for the Thing, and Scott Meeting and Marrying Vera Miles on the Set.

The Movie has No Jane, No Boy, and Only Cheta Returns to Pal Along with Tarzan as He Once Again Goes Up Against White Hunters Who are on a Safari of Death for Profit. The Hidden Jungle of the Title Refers to an Across the River Sanctuary for the Critters Helped by a Friendly Native Tribe that Exchanges Remedies with a United Nations Doctor.

Jack Elam and His Bad Guys Run Up Against the Natives and Tarzan and the Result is Predictable but Fun. The Series Would Get Better with Gordon Scott Becoming More Articulate and the Stories More Diversified. Glorious Color Became a Tarzan Standard and the Franchise, Once Again, Had Some Critical and Fan Success Following This One.

I expected far more than this one; The first of the Gordon Scott Tarzans. The best of the best will of course be THE GREATEST ADVENTURE OF TARZAN. Here, nothing special, except the elephant stampede. Jack Elam was of course the villain but I would have loved to see Peter Van Eyck as the heavy too. he was made to be an evil guy for many features all long his carreer.

Aka The Jungle Book, not that Jungle Book. Tarzan (Gordon Scott) is in his jungle paradise when he's interrupted by white poachers. He saves an elephant and makes their hunt difficult. One of them suggests crossing the river, but the local guide tells them that it's the Sukulu tribe known for killing white hunters. UN doctor Celliers (Peter van Eyck) and his assistant Jill Hardy (Vera Miles) have gained a good reputation for treating the locals. The hunters intend to use them to infiltrate the good hunting grounds.

It's not bad. It is an old Tarzan movie. One has to expect the B-movie quality. There isn't much to this Gordon Scott Tarzan. He doesn't say much. He's a white bodybuilder. Don't expect too much and it'll be fine.

Gordon Scott's first Tarzan entry starts promisingly, with a good fight scene where Tarzan, at one point, wraps his thighs around a bad guy's neck and knocks him out! But that's practically the only fight scene in the entire movie; the rest feels padded. Tired story (evil hunters again....yawn), copious amounts of stock footage, and a touch of coy eroticism in the relationship between Tarzan and a beautiful nurse (Vera Miles). Scott's Adonis-like body can only carry this so far. *1/2 out of 4.

I just caught this on TCM Saturday run of Tarzan films. No doubt I must have seen this during a Saturday matinee because I loved Tarzan books and movies when I was a kid but this is a rather slow moving Tarzan and in retrospect it seems the film was aimed at a more sophisticated audience and not just eight year olds. Real fans knew that Tarzan was the well educated Lord Greystoke who constantly yielded to his need to return to the jungle but this Tarzan is still monosyllabic The action here is minimal; not the Tarzan a kid wants to imitate in their backyard play.

Tarzan's Hidden Jungle (1955)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Tarzan (Gordon Scott) must help a good doctor and his assistant (Vera Miles) when they're fooled by some "cameramen" who are actually hunters. The hunters trick the doctor into taking them across the river, which is a place guarded by a tribe who worship the jungle animals. This was Scott's first film as Tarzan and it's easy to see why fans originally went so crazy for the actor as he certainly fit the bill and turned in a fine performance. The story itself really isn't all that original and especially when you consider how many of the previous films dealt with Tarzan having to do battle against hunters coming to harm animals. The screenplay offers up the most basic story as Tarzan and Cheta are living happily in the jungle when animals begin to show up with gunshot wounds. Tarzan of course starts to investigate and this here leads up to him going after the bad guys. The story itself is pretty routine and it actually doesn't offer up too much excitement but thankfully the cast is good enough to where you can overlook some of the weak story points. Scott is pretty good as Tarzan as he certainly has the body for it and I thought the performance was fitting as well. Legend has it that Scott was noticed at a pool, brought to Hollywood and this newbie beat out some who had been acting for quite a period. Scott doesn't perfectly nail the dialogue but I thought he was believable as the ape man. Miles, a few years from Hitchcock, isn't the greatest female lead in the series but I found her to be quite entertaining. Scott and Miles would marry shortly after the filming of this film and the two certainly share some chemistry in front of the cameras. Peter van Eyck is fairly bland as the doctor but Jack Elam offers up a fun villain performance. As you'd expect, we get a few jungle animals in good form but there's also quite a bit of stock footage used as naturally it doesn't mix in too well with the real footage. Also on hard is a pretty good sequence where Miles is stranded in the jungle alone and faces a lion, a large snake and then quicksand. This sequence comes towards the end of the film but it has some nice drama to it. TARZAN'S HIDDEN JUNGLE isn't a masterpiece but fans of the series should be entertained with the cast doing such a fine job.

While "Tarzan's Hidden Jungle" isn't the worst Tarzan movie I have seen, it is all the same one of the dullest. To begin with, take how Tarzan is portrayed in this particular cinematic telling. Gordon Scott shows both no charisma and no enthusiasm in the role. In fairness to Scott, the movie doesn't exactly give him a lot to do - there is no Jane character here to interact with, and he gets very little opportunity to throw himself into action. He doesn't even do a Tarzan yell until the final few minutes of the movie (and it sounds pretty half-hearted.) The script isn't just bad with Tarzan, but also the central story - if you can call it a story, that is. It takes forever for the movie to set up what little plot there is, and what story there is doesn't feel the least bit interesting or exciting. The movie also looks pretty cheap at times. Even if you are a fan of Tarzan movies, this adventure can safely be skipped.