DVD The Tarzan Collection Starring Johnny Weissmuller, Vol. 2 (Tarzan Triumphs / Tarzan's Desert Mystery / Tarzan and the Amazons / and the Leopard Woman / and the Huntress / and the Mermaids):
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DVD The Tarzan Collection Starring Johnny Weissmuller, Vol. 2 (Tarzan Triumphs / Tarzan's Desert Mystery / Tarzan and the Amazons / and the Leopard Woman / and the Huntress / and the Mermaids)
The movies in this second collection of Tarzan adventures pass the Samuel L. Jackson Snakes on a Plane title test. Either you want to own a film called Tarzan and the Leopard Woman or you don't. And if you're a fan of the original Tarzan movies, then no doubt you must. These are the last six Tarzan films to star Johnny Weissmuller in the iconic role that spawned a thousand hollers (so ingrained is Carol Burnett's imitation of his signature shout-out that Weissmuller's own performance seems lacking!). Produced for RKO, they are low-budget affairs, but really, who watches Tarzan movies for the production values? The more fake the backdrops and the more obvious the mismatched stock animal footage the better! Tarzan Triumphs (1943) is the best of the bunch. World conflict rears its ugly head in the jungle as Nazis invade a hidden city for its precious oil and tin. Almost worth the price of this set alone is the climactic scene in which Tarzan pursues an evil German through the jungle, tauntingly calling out "Nazi," from behind rocks and trees. There's more wartime intrigue in Tarzan's Desert Mystery (1943), which somehow combines a stranded female USO magician (Nancy Kelly), Arab sheiks, more Nazis, and, most memorably, a giant spider and a man-eating plant. Tarzan and the Amazons (1945) and 1947's Tarzan and the Huntress (with a great climactic elephant stampede) offer more traditional jungle villains, exploitative explorers, and unscrupulous animal collectors, respectively. Exotic cults figure in Tarzan and the Leopard Woman (1946) and Tarzan and the Mermaids (1948), which was Weissmuller's vine-swinging swan song.
Maureen O'Sullivan has left the jungle, but Brenda Joyce makes for a very fetching Jane. Johnny Sheffield matures before our eyes as Boy. And Weissmuller still manages to avoid loincloth malfunctions as he swings through the trees and tangles with animal and human adversaries. He is both a role model ("Never kill for fun, only for food," he tells Boy at one point) and something of a jungle chauvinist ("Jungle much more peaceful before woman come," he jokes with Jane). But the breakout star of these films is Cheetah, who effortlessly steals every scene he's in, whether covering his eyes when Tarzan and Jane kiss or parachuting out of an airplane. His finest moment comes at the end of Tarzan Triumphs, when his simian squeals broadcast over a shortwave radio are mistaken by German officers for the voice of "the Fuehrer" It's a Hollywood cliché, but truly, they don't make 'em like this anymore! --Donald Liebenson
Review(s): DVD The Tarzan Collection Starring Johnny Weissmuller, Vol. 2 (Tarzan Triumphs / Tarzan's Desert Mystery / Tarzan and the Amazons / and the Leopard Woman / and the Huntress / and the Mermaids)
Tarzan Swings, Still
As a child watching Johnny Weissmuller in old Tarzan movies on television, I made few distinctions between the MGM series and the RKO. Now I see that the RKO Tarzan films lacked the MGM gloss (and Maureen O'Sullivan). Still, they have their points of interest. Between TARZAN TRIUMPHS (1943) and TARZAN AND THE MERMAIDS (1948), Brenda Joyce comes on board as the new Jane, Weissmuller's waist thickens, Johnny Sheffield's voice changes, and movie-Africa seems less and less like movie-Africa as black faces are replaced by white and Latino ones made up to resemble, I dunno, Indonesians -- until at last the place suddenly turns into Mexico, complete with cliff-divers and Aztec temple. Don't think I'm complaining, however. The flicks are fun (why, that incongruous Aztec temple is presided over by no less sinister a fellow than George Zucco!), the gals look fine, and the Nazi villains in TARZAN TRIUMPHS naturally don't stand a chance once the Ape Man utters my favorite Ape Man line of all, "Now Tarzan make war!"
Weismuller swings again.
The Tarzan Collection Volume 1 featured the classic Johnny Weismuller Tarzan films made at MGM between 1932 and 1942. Volume 2 completes the Weismuller era with the six Tarzan films he made at RKO before hanging up his loincloth in 1948, the same year he began playing Jungle Jim for low-budget producer Sam Katzman. Not as impressive as volume 1 which boasted the more spectacular MGM films and some really nice extras, this one is very bare bones without so much as a trailer added.
The first and best film in the set is TARZAN TRIUMPHS with isolationist Tarzan experiencing his own Pearl Harbor when Nazis kidnap Boy and speaking the classic line, "Now, Tarzan make war!". The picture quality on this one is absolutely beautiful. Unfortunately, the print quality varies on the rest of the films. The original elements for most of these must be long gone and , while I assume WB did their best to provide the highest quality copies they could find, the image quality some of the films is disappointing. The first reel of TARZAN'S DESERT MYSTERY looks rather poor, but the remainder of the movie came from a much sharper print. although it dose have a lot of dust and scratches that are a little distracting. TARZAN AND THE AMAZONS looks very good throughout but the image quality of the remaining three films (TARZAN AND THE LEOPARD WOMAN, TARZAN AND THE HUNTRESS and TARZAN AND THE MERMAIDS) isn't up to the first three on the set. Some are rather dull-looking or have too much contrast. HUNTRESS looks especially bad.
While I wish all the films in this set could have been presented using top-notch original materials, it's still good to finally have all the Weismuller Trazans on DVD. Growing up in the 1960s when they were on TV every Saturday, these Tarzan movies were a big part of my childhood. Johnny Weismuller was the definative screen Tarzan and is still good in the later films, even though he was looking very middle-aged by the end of his run. Even that seemed to fit, though, since Boy had grown into a teenager and part of the plots usually delt with family relationships. Over the years Weismuller's Tarzan evolved from a sexy young savage to a father figure and protector.
I'd give the set 5 stars for the films, but the the lack of bonus material and the below-par quality of some of the prints knocked it down to 4. Your enjoyment of the series will probably depend on your age and whether or not you are a fan of this type of escapist adventure, but to me, these are very important films and I love having them in my collection.
Yelled a lot to copy the Tarzan call
Weissmuller really set the bar in portraying Tarzan, the noble savage. He developed the yell and no one has come close to portraying a better jungle man except for Brendan Frasier's George of the Jungle, but that's another story. I used to watch the movies in the afternoons, when they showed old movies. It's really cool to see them releasing these films.
Related DVD's The Tarzan Collection Starring Johnny Weissmuller, Vol. 2 (Tarzan Triumphs / Tarzan's Desert Mystery / Tarzan and the Amazons / and the Leopard Woman / and the Huntress / and the Mermaids)
Many actors have slipped on a loincloth and swung from a jungle vine, but nobody reached the treetops of Tarzania quite like Johnny Weissmuller, the Olympic swimmer. And Tarzan's greatest Jane was Maureen O'Sullivan, who moved into T's treehouse for six films at MGM, all collected in this splendid boxed set. It is possible to find these films hokey... but only if you have absolutely no feeling for the magic of early-sound pictures, or no joy in the gee-whiz, Saturday-matinee wonder of Tarzan's prelapsarian lifestyle. To say nothing of the surprisingly overt running theme of (implied) hot jungle sex.
Tarzan, the Ape Man (1932), made with the blessings of Tarzan creator Edgar Rice Burroughs, establishes the basics of the series (and uses extra Africa footage MGM had compiled for... More Info about this DVD DVD Release Date: Released the 08 June 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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I love the Chan movies, but Fox is doing it again! They released only 4 movies in Vol. 1 and now 4 movies in Vol. 2. Since each Chan movie is no longer than 80 minutes, they could easily put 2 movies on each disc or even on each side of a disc. Fox feels the need to get every penny out of the public that they can. SHAME ON YOU, FOX! More Info about this DVD DVD Release Date: Released the 05 December 2006 Usually ships in 24 hours
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The movie that made Humphrey Bogart Humphrey Bogart anchors this second DVD box devoted to the mighty star. The Maltese Falcon gets--and merits--the deluxe three-disc treatment, and the other Bogie movies collected here are solid vehicles from his early 1940s Warner Bros. heyday. The essence of Bogart's world-weary yet mysteriously romantic aura is on luscious display, even if most of these films fall just short of classic status.
Bogart's letter-perfect incarnation as Sam Spade, the anti-hero of John Huston's debut film as a director, grounds The Maltese Falcon in a smart, sardonic groove. Even if Spade is one of Bogart's finest turns, it's hard to single out the film's best performance: Mary Astor as the mystery dame who trips off the case, Peter Lorre as the fey Joel... More Info about this DVD Director(s): John Huston - Vincent Sherman DVD Release Date: Released the 03 October 2006 Usually ships in 24 hours
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The entire set were birthday presents for my husband and he is in "hog heaven!" I guess as we get older, we miss the really GOOD programming we watched as children!
George Reeve is the ONE, the ONLY Superman--FOREVER!!!!! More Info about this DVD Director(s): George Blair - Philip Ford - Lee Sholem - George Reeves - Harry W. Gerstad (II) DVD Release Date: Released the 14 November 2006 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Springfield Rifle, one of five films included in this set, may miss the bullseye as a true Gary Cooper classic, but there's a line that speaks to his enduring status as a screen icon and "American Legend." In this 1952 Western, his follow-up film to High Noon, Cooper's character has been drummed out of the army and branded a coward. Suffice to say that all is not what it seems, and an observer is asked how Coop will handle the pressure. The response: "He'll stand up." That is quintessential Cooper. He's a stand-up guy, and the "dang swangest hero," as he is hailed in Sergeant York, this collection's calling card. Directed by Howard Hawks and co-written by John Huston, Sergeant York earned Cooper an Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Alvin York, a... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Stuart Heisler - King Vidor - Howard Hawks DVD Release Date: Released the 07 November 2006 Usually ships in 24 hours
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