Tarzan et la belle esclave

Watching this Tarzan movie can be a multi-cultural experience. Tarzan and Jane are of English extraction living in Africa, which as usual looks more like a South American rain forest. One of the native tribes here is black, but others look more like South Pacific islanders, or just bronzed Caucasians. There's an Irish doctor who is assisted by a feisty Latin nurse. The tribe that's capturing slaves has a culture that looks vaguely Egyptian, but they're building a temple that is more Mayan with the help of Indian elephants, which respond to Tarzan's famous yell just like the African ones. Finally, the captured slave girls resemble Veronica Lake or Linda Darnell and dress like Dorothy Lamour.

Of course, everyone knows what they're getting with a Tarzan movie, which are not examples of cultural, geographical or political correctness. Lex Barker in the title role is almost interchangeable with Johnny Weissmuller. Vanessa Brown, in her only appearance as Jane, is lovely but might seem a bit too young and dainty for some tastes, though she does handle herself pretty well in a fight with Lola the nurse. If you're ever overcome with a wave of nostalgia you may want to watch this.

This may not be a great film by anyone's standards. But apart from Tarzan speaking in short words, this film I suggest, after more than fifty years of reading and considering Tarzan properties, is the closest any filmmaker has come to capturing the essence of Tarzan as Edgar Rice Burroughs created him. Consider this unpretentious little film's many assets. It features a very attractive and ethical young Tarzan and Jane in the persons of Lex Barker and Vanessa Brown. The feel of the film is jungle, outdoors, hot, humid, on the fringes of a rather rough civilization at best, a zone on the edge of danger. There are very fine supporting performances by a cast that includes Arthur Shields, Robert Alda, Denise Darcel, Anthony Caruso, Robert Warwick and Hurd Hatfield, Mary Ellen Kaye, Peter Mamakos and others. The storyline involves Tarzan and the others with a somewhat alien civilization whose desperate servants, ethically-challenged leader and villains put the whole surrounding group of tribes as well as Tarzan and the others at risk by their illegal actions. The script is well-above average; the characters are quite well-developed and often multi-dimensional; and the climactic escape from living death in a temple engineered by Tarzan I found to be at once exciting, important and decently filmed. The plot line in "Tarzan and the Slave Girl" is at first sight unusually rich for an adventure story. The Lionians and their king have grown desperate. They are not producing children. Under the bad advice of Sengo, played by Caruso, they have begun capturing young women from surrounding peoples in order to solve their dilemma, instead of seeking help through other means. Tarzan becomes involved with the problem when he tries to single-handedly stop a raiding party from carrying off yet another victim. Finally, it becomes necessary to try to reach the Lionians' capital city via an expedition through a country populated by people who disguise themselves as trees and fire blow-darts as weapons. The disease attacking the Lionians is discovered by a doctor, Arthur Shields; fending off amorous advances from his nurse, a sexy half-caste played by Darcel, Tarzan and his trusty, brave but drink-prone helper Alda,and Shields reach the city of the Lionians and find the imprisoned girls there--and also Jane and the nurse, who have also been captured during their roundabout journey to the city. They fail to move the king, Hatfield; and Caruso convinces him to seal Tarzan and Jane in their temple as dangerous enemies to his rule. Tarzan climbs to the top of the structure and overturns the idol sealing the aperture there, thus escaping the trap. Meanwhile, the High Priest of the civilization, Warwick, is being fed to the lions for daring to speak out against the King's unethical scheme. Trazan's prowess in battle with help from his friends wins the day, and Caruso falls into the lions' den, Warwick being freed. Shields finds a cure for the malady and the King embraces amicable relations with all once more. The enslaved girls are returned to their homes; and Alda convinces Darcel to take care of him alone and forget about seducing Tarzan. Having said so many good things about the film, it is necessary to report that apart from some good action scenes, especially those involving boats emerging from or reentering a swamp with islands in it, a very Burroughsian touch, and the city's palace interiors, the production by Sol Lesser's production company in B/W suffers from lack of richness. The tribes involved in the danger mostly resemble Mexican villagers with strange wigs inflicted upon them; and director Lee Sholem, who does well with his very fine cast of actors, has no means of overcoming the budgetary handicaps under which he labors. Lesser was able to produce several much-richer-looking later Tarzan efforts, to his great credit; but this transitional film introduced a post-Johnny- Weismuller Tarzan in Lex Barker, solved some of the problems that needed solving in order to improve the MGM-family-oriented domestic barriers that kept Tarzan from seeking out important adventures; and incidentally the film provided an attractive and very-Burroughsian realization of the original adventure vision the author had dreamed up, as an anti-Communist argument for genetic human worth as against conditioned obedience, four decades earlier. Nearly a very-good film.

Out of all the Lex Barker Tarzan movies, I love this one the best because of Denise Darcel. She plays Lola, a feisty, buxom beauty who steals every scene she's in! Her sassy ways and sharp tongue gets her in a lot of trouble, but she doesn't care. She sets her sights on any handsome man she sees and isn't reluctant to let them know she's interested. Darcel's character is funny, too. She gets into a fight with Jane and gets tossed around the room! Too funny! It was nice to see a Jane who could handle herself, but there was no chemistry between this Jane and hunky Tarzan. The jungle trip to the secret city is also very good because it's creepy and full of suspense. In my opinion, it's one of the best!

Lex Barker dons the Tarzan trunks for the second time in what is a fun Tarzan adventure, even if it's just a bit too crammed with intentions for its own good. Vanessa Brown slips into Jane's short jungle skirt and Denise Darcel is also on hand to provide some extra sex pheromones; and to indulge in a girl on girl scrap with Jane! Cool!

Plot is basically Tarzan out to rescue a bunch of femme natives from the clutches of some mad culty tribesmen led by Hurd Hatfield. There's a jungle disease issue to take care of as well, Cheetah's (owning the movie unsurprisingly) alcohol problem, and of course there's some baddies to be dispensed with which allows Barker to use his athleticism to great effect.

Tarzan gets to be vocal, well more a case of muffled utterances really, and Lee Sholem directs it with economical assuredness. Come the end, baddies vanquished, Jane and Cheetah are smiling, and this Greystoke bloke is a hero again. Hooray! Good solid wholesome Tarzan froth. 6/10

I was 10 when i saw this movie. It was the first Tarzan movie I had ever seen.I fell in love with Vanessa Brown. I thought she was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. I would go home and pretend I was Tarzan, defending her from lions and crocodiles. Unfortunately, I seem be the only one who remembers her so fondly. I wish I knew where I could get a copy of this movie or even a photograph of her in her Jane outfit.This actress indeed brings back fond memories of my childhood.