← Back to Reviews
in
The Weissmuller Tarzan series has been getting worse for me. I would easily compare the fifth film, Tarzan's Secret Treasure, to MST3K movies like Horrors of Spider Island. As a big fan of the book, I really, REALLY need something to quench my thirst for a proper adaptation, and so far the best I've seen is the Disney movie. So, since I plan on completing this series, let's see how the sixth entry does.
Tarzan has been raising Boy with Jane for years, but Boy's curiosity gets the best of him when he is taken by safari-goers back to New York due to all the danger posed. But Tarzan and Jane are able to travel to New York so they can fight for their adoptive boy. Having to face the kidnappers as well as the courts, Tarzan's next adventure is something he may not be prepared for at all.
Well, six movies in, and I can finally say it: this movie has a PLOT. The second and third act are all about the development of where things are going, battery-powered by the care in Boy's safety. The first act shows a constant progression from one jungle danger to the other while also showing some of these trained animals doing some amazing things. The three elephants coordinating to the orders of Boy is one of the cutest things I've seen in the early talking era.
As far as genre-tagging goes, this "adventure" movie kind of stops being an adventure movie after the first act, and it turns into a comedy where Tarzan and Cheeta are kinda dorking around this new world. And normally these are quite amusing. By this point, the joke of a jungle dude being exposed to modern society has been done to death, but early on it really hasn't. The character has existed for only 30 years by this point, and the main focal point of all the Tarzan adaptation and crap comic book knock-offs has been the action-adventure aspects, as well as all of the fake jungle man names, blonde girls in leopard print bikinis and possible cults and deities. So when we see girls running away from Cheeta throwing hates in a nightclub, we get something fairly original here.
The third act recalls the adventure aspects after a legal session where Tarzan's "primitive" outlook rocks the courthouse with the morals of simple needs. Along with some of Weissmuller's best stunts and moves in this third act as he travels through New York looking for Boy, this entry is finally doing the classic hero some justice, if not still incomplete.
Out of the few Richard Thorpe movies I've seen, as well as the entire MGM Tarzan series as a whole, I would say that this movie is easily the best of both worlds as far as I've seen. Tarzan 6 is just slightly above Thorpe's Ivanhoe for its plotting, and I'm really happy with the improvements made over the series. They're even right next to each other on my best-to-worst films list right now. This is a well-written, cute and family friendly adventure that compliments Tarzan's character more than insulting him, which the series has been doing for a while.
= 72
Richard Thorpe's Directorial Score (5 Good vs. 2 Bad)
Tarzan's New York Adventure: 72
Ivanhoe: 72
The Sun Comes Up: 63
Challenge to Lassie: 61
Tarzan Escapes: 50
Average Score: 63.6 / 5
Richard Thorpe moves from #230 to #202 on my best directors list between Renny Harlin and Tod Browning.
Tarzan's New York Adventure
(1942) - Directed by Richard Thorpe
--------------------------------------------
Adventure / Comedy
-------------------------------------------------
(1942) - Directed by Richard Thorpe
--------------------------------------------
Adventure / Comedy
-------------------------------------------------
"Then it's true, he's not a myth."
The Weissmuller Tarzan series has been getting worse for me. I would easily compare the fifth film, Tarzan's Secret Treasure, to MST3K movies like Horrors of Spider Island. As a big fan of the book, I really, REALLY need something to quench my thirst for a proper adaptation, and so far the best I've seen is the Disney movie. So, since I plan on completing this series, let's see how the sixth entry does.
Tarzan has been raising Boy with Jane for years, but Boy's curiosity gets the best of him when he is taken by safari-goers back to New York due to all the danger posed. But Tarzan and Jane are able to travel to New York so they can fight for their adoptive boy. Having to face the kidnappers as well as the courts, Tarzan's next adventure is something he may not be prepared for at all.
Well, six movies in, and I can finally say it: this movie has a PLOT. The second and third act are all about the development of where things are going, battery-powered by the care in Boy's safety. The first act shows a constant progression from one jungle danger to the other while also showing some of these trained animals doing some amazing things. The three elephants coordinating to the orders of Boy is one of the cutest things I've seen in the early talking era.
As far as genre-tagging goes, this "adventure" movie kind of stops being an adventure movie after the first act, and it turns into a comedy where Tarzan and Cheeta are kinda dorking around this new world. And normally these are quite amusing. By this point, the joke of a jungle dude being exposed to modern society has been done to death, but early on it really hasn't. The character has existed for only 30 years by this point, and the main focal point of all the Tarzan adaptation and crap comic book knock-offs has been the action-adventure aspects, as well as all of the fake jungle man names, blonde girls in leopard print bikinis and possible cults and deities. So when we see girls running away from Cheeta throwing hates in a nightclub, we get something fairly original here.
The third act recalls the adventure aspects after a legal session where Tarzan's "primitive" outlook rocks the courthouse with the morals of simple needs. Along with some of Weissmuller's best stunts and moves in this third act as he travels through New York looking for Boy, this entry is finally doing the classic hero some justice, if not still incomplete.
Out of the few Richard Thorpe movies I've seen, as well as the entire MGM Tarzan series as a whole, I would say that this movie is easily the best of both worlds as far as I've seen. Tarzan 6 is just slightly above Thorpe's Ivanhoe for its plotting, and I'm really happy with the improvements made over the series. They're even right next to each other on my best-to-worst films list right now. This is a well-written, cute and family friendly adventure that compliments Tarzan's character more than insulting him, which the series has been doing for a while.
= 72
Richard Thorpe's Directorial Score (5 Good vs. 2 Bad)
Tarzan's New York Adventure: 72
Ivanhoe: 72
The Sun Comes Up: 63
Challenge to Lassie: 61
Tarzan Escapes: 50
Average Score: 63.6 / 5
Richard Thorpe moves from #230 to #202 on my best directors list between Renny Harlin and Tod Browning.