Tonight I watched "Tarzan Escapes" (1936), the third film in the Weissmuller series. The plot in this one was similar to last night's "Tarzan and His Mate". Once again a third party sets out for Africa and the Mutia Escarpment in search of Jane, to try and coax her back to civilization. Last night it was Henry Holt, her father's partner from the first expedition. He had fallen in love with Jane but it was not requited and his efforts failed. Tonight, the seekers were her cousins, a young man and his sister. They have sailed from England to find Jane and tell her that she has inherited a fortune from a recently deceased relative. The cousins stand to benefit, too, for the will states that if they can convince Jane to return home to London, they will also share in the inheritance.
When they arrive in Africa (country unspecified, as always), they immediately seek a guide take them to the Mutia Escarpment, where Henry Holt had been said to encounter Jane on the previous safari.
Of course, at this point the Motion Picture Sequel Formula kicks in. Any safari to the mythical Mutia Escarpment must be led by a mildly arrogant Big Game Hunter who has a crew of several dozen natives in his employ. The natives are always overseen by a native lieutenant who answers to the hunter and does whatever he says. The hunter tempers his arrogance because he wants to seem friendly to his clients, the cousins. And he knows he can only push the natives so far. They are terrified of the Mutia Escarpment, and Tarzan, who seems like a God to them. Besides that, a tribe of cannibals called the Gaboni live just at the edge of the escarpment. They too consider the barrier, and Tarzan, to be "JuJu" - i.e.bad vibes, but they will still attack, kill and eat anyone foolish enough to enter their territory.
There would be no movie if they did not find Jane in her jungle abode, so you know they do, after the requisite journey filled with dangerous animal encounters (my favorite are the crocs who slide into the river the very second anyone falls in).
When the cousins reach Jane and tell her of the inheritance and the request for her return to London, surprisingly, this time she agrees to go.
Tarzan is destroyed by the news. Jane explains that she loves him and that she will only be gone for three months. Then she will be back. This leads to a Tarzan Movie Romantic Interlude, in which Tarzan and Jane spend time alone in their Special Spot (a Garden Of Eden within the jungle). The original Tarzan movies play up the love story of Tarzan and Jane as a central theme. The producers knew they had star chemistry on their hands with Weissmuller and Maureen O'Sullivan, so they wisely used the romance as motivation for later on, when the ruthless hunter always makes his move to sabotage the safari for his own gain.
This time, the hunter secretly wants to trap Tarzan in a special metal cage that he has purchased from a steelworks in Birmingham, England. It is exceptionally strong and escapeproof, and may have been forged and welded by ancestors of KK Downing for all these people know. I mean, c'mon - we are talking "British Steel" here, and KK is from Birmingham.
Tarzan does wind up in the cage, and I have probably told you too much by now, although as the title of the movie is "Tarzan Escapes", you may have deduced that there had to have been something he had to escape from.
In the first two Tarzan films, Weissmuller is a tiny bit out-energized by O'Sullivan, who seems to get more screen time in those movies. Even if she'd had less time, her ebullience would have been hard to compete with, and only Johnny Weissmuller could have held his own as her co-star. I mean, he is Tarzan, and these are his movies no doubt about it, but it is the presence and energy of Maureen O'Sullivan that gives the films their erotic charisma. She elevates the character of Jane and gives her emotional weight. Weissmuller is able to play off of this, and their romance causes the Tarzan movies to rise above what might be expected from the story of a jungle ape-man. It is a tribute to O'Sullivan, Johnny Weissmuller and the producers that these films were not only blockbusters in their time, but that they hold up today as classics, as tremendous and unique films in the adventure genre even 86 years after the first one was made.
So yeah. "Tarzan Escapes" more or less follows the plot formula of "Tarzan and His Mate", but these films are so iconic and so well made that only a verdict of Two Huge Thumbs Up will suffice.
You'd have to see them for yourself, and to do that, you'd have to become a Tarzan fan. If you can't imagine yourself a fan, consider me. I only ordered my initial set of Tarzan discs (Volume Two, the RKO movies) because I was searching the library database for films by some actress or another, and a Tarzan flick popped up in the results. So I ordered the dvd collection, but even when it arrived I was reluctant to watch it. I thought.......c'mon, it's Tarzan.
But then I watched one and got hooked, because these movies are unique and excellent, and entirely different from pretty much any type of movie you have ever seen.
Take a look for yourself and see, especially if you like animals and adventure. ////
Man, it is mighty chilly tonight. We have had rain for five straight days now. I haven't minded it too much, but I do hope the Sun will return soon, perhaps in the morning.
See you then. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo (love, love, love) :):)
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