I'm home, and I finally saw a movie : "Tarzan Triumphs"(1943), starring Johnny Weissmuller and Frances Gifford. If you've been following the blog and you can remember back a year, you'll recall that I was watching the entire Tarzan series in early 2019. Weissmuller, the only true Tarzan in my opinion, made a dozen films as The Ape Man. I found all twelve at the Libe, in two six-film collections. Ten of them I enjoyed very much, but two were so badly scratched they wouldn't play. One was "Tarzan and The Leopard Woman", the other was "Tarzan Triumphs". I was recently thinking about those two entries and wanting to see them so I could complete the series, so a couple of weeks ago - before the world changed - I reordered the Tarzan Collection Two, hoping by chance that they'd send me a different, unscratched set from a different library. The Los Angeles City Library system has 72 branches overall, so when you order a book or a dvd from the database, it could come from any one of them. And - I lucked out! When my Tarzan Collection Two arrived at the Northridge Branch, it was indeed a new copy. That was about a week ago. Chaos ensued after that, of course, so I wasn't able to watch it until tonight, but as it turned out it was perfect timing because I really needed the distraction right now, and Tarzan came to the rescue.
The beautiful Frances Gifford co-stars as Zandra, heroine of the idyllic kingdom of Palandria, which lies on the other side of the escarpment that isolates Tarzan, Jane and Boy in the jungle. Tarzan likes their solitude; as you may remember he doesn't trust other people : "People always bring trouble" is one of his sayings. But Zandra (who looks and dresses like Wonder Woman) has rescued Boy from the cliffside and Tarzan is grateful, so he makes an exception and befriends her. Jane is away in London visiting relatives, but don't worry, "Tarzan never cheat". He didn't say that, I did, but it's true all the same. Tarzan lives by a strong moral code. He thanks Zandra, who heads back to Palandria while Tarzan and Boy return to their treehouse in the valley below. On their way, they hear a noise in the sky.
"Iron Bird"! says Tarzan. It's an airplane, one that has just discharged a paratrooper. Within moments he has landed in the jungle, but he is hurt. Cheetah the chimp gets to him first and steals the antenna to his radio. That Cheetah.....ever the thief! But before she arrived we witnessed him making a broadcast, to Berlin! You see, he is a Nazi soldier, part of an expedition into Palandria to exploit the natural resources there. He has a bad leg, however, from landing wrong, so he cannot hide before Tarzan and Boy come upon him. Therefore, when they bring him back to their hut, to help him heal, he pretends to be English. Even Tarzan has heard of the Nazis, halfway around the world. The soldier is taking no chances.
By this time, the rest of the expedition has entered Palandria on foot. The Nazis quickly set up their mining operation and enslave the natives to run it, but Zandra manages to escape. She crosses the mountain into Tarzan's jungle valley, beseeching him for help. But he refuses.
"Tarzan no fight. Tarzan hate war. Nazis not bother Tarzan, Tarzan not bother Nazis". Hmmm, sounds like ol' Tarzan is an Isolationist politically as well as socially. Boy and Zandra try to explain to him the Nazi mindset, that they won't stop with Palandria. His own jungle kingdom will be next. But Tarzan isn't buying it. "No.......Nazis not come. Too hard to cross. Tarzan and Boy safe here. No fight".
But unfortunately, Tarzan and Boy not safe. Remember that Cheetah has stolen the antenna to the paratrooper's radio, the only means of communication for the whole Nazi outfit. Without that antenna, they can't contact Berlin! (pronounced Beahr-LEEN). So, they kidnap Boy in order to force Tarzan to recover the antenna from Cheetah.
Now Tarzan fight! Not right away, because the Nazis outnumber him and have machine guns. Tarzan smart, however. Think things through and make plan. First, he uses his network of vines to swing stealthily into Palandria, where he frees some of the mining slaves. Now he has a small army of his own to help him find Boy and defeat his Nazi captors. Will he be successful? Tarzan basically pacifist, but when family threatened, Tarzan become like beast! And, besides the Palandrians, he's also got Zandra on his side, and Cheetah and Buli the elephant, too. Watch out Nazis, my money's on the King of the Jungle.
I hope it's okay to keep writing movie reviews. Maybe we could use a little distraction? I hope so, and I also hope everyone is well and coping with this very difficult situation. I loved "Tarzan Triumphs", in fact it was my favorite of all of the subsequent titles that followed the "big three" : "Tarzan the Ape Man", "Tarzan and His Mate" and "Tarzan Finds A Son". I give it Two Big Thumbs Up, it was the perfect escapist fare for tonight. Now if Tarzan can come back one more time to fight the coronavirus. //
As of tonight, we are officially on lockdown here in California. I've read the list of what you "can" and "can't" do, and I can still go for walks and go to the store when necessary, so it won't be too terrible. I'll just be real careful when I do have to go to the store, with full-on hand washing before and after, and I'm a major-league hand washer to begin with. It's important to remember that if you do two things, i.e wash your hands frequently and don't touch your face, you're greatly reducing your risk. As per the CDC, the only known means of transmission is from "droplets" from a person's sneeze or cough. So avoid getting close, and wash hands and, in Tarzan-speak "don't touch face"!
Stay safe and well, and I'll be back with more movies hopefully every day for the next two weeks. Being a health care worker, I'll be right back on the job as soon as my break period is over, but for now we'll hang out and watch flicks. See you tomorrow at the Usual Time.
Tons of love! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
No comments:
Post a Comment