Tonight's Tarzan was "Tarzan's New York Adventure" (1942), the sixth and final movie from the series made at MGM, and also the last with Maureen O'Sullivan as "Jane". The franchise would move over to RKO for six more films with Johnny Weissmuller; those were the movies we saw first, when I got the Volume Two Collection from the Libe a couple of weeks ago. Actually, we saw four of the six RKO films, because two of the dvds froze up and wouldn't play. But we've just seen all of the MGM Tarzans, making a total of ten out of the twelve films viewed (with two of the RKOs still to catch up on), and it's been such a ton of fun that I've gotta do a Tarzan yell to show my appreciation :
"Aaaah-eeeaaaheeeaaah-eeeaaaheeeaah"!
You can imagine the plot for "Tarzan's New York Adventure" because the title gives it away. Tarzan, Jane and Boy are out for a morning swim when they spot an airplane flying overhead.
Tarzan not impressed. Iron Bird only bring men and trouble.
But Boy has been schooled by Jane in the ways of civilization and has taken to the wonders of things like airplanes, as any boy will. The plane has landed nearby. Boy wants to see it but Tarzan forbids him. Jane intervenes and a compromise is reached. All three of them will go see the airplane the next day. Tarzan hopes that Boy will have forgotten about it by then.
Not only does Boy not forget, but he gets up early the next morning to go search for the plane on his own, before Tarzan and Jane awake. Boy rides Buli the Elephant out to the site, and brings Cheeta with him. They not only find the airplane but also it's pilot and the men who chartered it : two scouts for an American circus that are looking to trap lions to take back to the U.S.
The circus men are fascinated with Boy and his command of animals. They ask him to demonstrate his communication with Buli and other elephants that have shown up. Boy gets the elephants to perform a few choreographed tricks while Cheeta applauds from the sidelines.
The Tarzan Formula kicks in here because the animal trappers from the circus, - upon watching Boy in action with the beasts - immediately see dollar signs. "He'd be a big draw in the center ring"!, exclaims the leader, who floats a plan to take Boy back to New York, right away before Tarzan finds out. Boy has explained to the men about Tarzan, and they do not wish to meet him.
As you can conclude, the movie would not have it's title unless the trappers' plan worked, to kidnap Boy and make him a circus attraction in New York. This does happen, and the only possibility is that Tarzan and Jane must follow the kidnapper's trail all the way to the Big Apple. Prior to departure, Jane has to educate Tarzan on the need to wear clothes in America, so as not to stand out. This leads to some hijinx in a tailor's shop. More fun is had at a hotel, where Cheeta gets loose and runs wild with Jane's makeup kit. The talent of Jiggs the Chimpanzee, who was the main simian actor of the "Cheeta" character through the years, cannot be overstated. Watch and see for yourself what he can do onscreen.
The plot, once it reaches New York, is self-explanatory. Jane and Tarzan, fully dressed, want their Boy back. Jane tells Tarzan that they will have to use the law, because the devious circus owner has applied for adoption of Boy.
Here does the story culminate in a courtroom proceeding, where a besuited Tarzan is called to testify as to his fitness to raise Boy in the jungle, as opposed to giving him a chance in civilization with the circus owner.
As in other Tarzan movies, this presents the writers with a chance to espouse some very beautiful and moving Utopian philosophy. Weissmuller, on the stand, haltingly describes all he can do for Boy.
Teach, feed, protect, cure if sick, and lead.
The Judge concurs that he cannot think of anything else that is required of a father. You'd have to see the scene for yourself, but being that this is Tarzan, I know you get the gist.
The courtroom drama does not end peacefully, and this leads to some incredible stunts and tension at the Brooklyn Bridge.
That is all I will reveal, but I must add once again that I was very moved by the philosophy of the Tarzan movies. Really, it is very humane, and Green, which is all the rage politically now but here it was being talked about almost 80 years ago. Tarzan is 100% anti-gun, which I am in total agreement with, and there are many other moments of dialogue and plot situations that describe this philosophy that are too subtle to describe; you need to see the film to understand.
Natural living versus civilization.
And of course we feel that sentiment in our bones. We live with all these systems, economic, political, scientific, and we call them "progress", but what we see in the Tarzan films (Utopian though they may be), is that there is a lot to be said for the natural way of life, and for non-violence, and for the abolition of guns, and for allowing animals to live and be themselves.
To live according to the intuition God has given us.
Jane would chime in, and rightfully so I think, to say that an invention like radio is not such a bad thing, nor are other advancements in the modern world.
But In the Tarzan movies, from the books by William Rice Burroughs (who wound up living in Tarzana, California, a few miles from where I write), Nature is All, and gives all. No progress is needed, because in reality, there is no such thing as "progress".
The human race is the only species that doesn't understand this.
Life is eternal and cyclical, not linear. We go round and round, we do not need to die with the most toys and win, because we will be back if we just let things be.
Tarzan understand. Which is why these movies are so great.
There are not enough Thumbs Available for me to adequately recommend every movie in the Weissmuller/Tarzan series, and especially the half dozen originals from MGM, with Maureen O'Connor as "Jane". In their own way, they are some of the greatest films ever made. /////
See you in the morning. Huge love. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
Friday, February 8, 2019
Thursday, February 7, 2019
"Tarzan's Secret Treasure"
Tonight's Tarzan was "Tarzan's Secret Treasure" (1941). Boy is swimming in a pond while Tarzan and Jane prepare breakfast nearby. This opening sequence is cute because Cheeta is helping Jane hard boil the eggs (which are the size of cantaloupes) in a hot spring, while Tarzan picks gigantic grapes and sets the table at an outdoor, Gilligan's Island-style kitchen. Tarzan and Jane join Boy at the pond. He shows them a "rock" he has pulled up from the bottom. "Good for slingshot", he says. "Heavier than stone".
It is gold that he has found. He shows his parents several nuggets, but Tarzan is not impressed. "Much rock on escarpment", he tells Boy. Jane explains to both of them what gold is, how it has something called "value" that can be used to "buy" things in "civilization".
"What is 'buy' "?, asks Boy. Jane then explains a little bit of basic economics, but Boy - and Tarzan - fail to understand. This scene is played from a philosophical standpoint, and goes beyond the tenets of formula capitalism or socialism. Boy just straight up doesn't understand the need for money, Tarzan concurs, and Jane tries to clarify but ends up conceding the point. They live in the jungle (which for them is a metaphor - almost - for the Garden Of Eden), so money has no meaning.
We are seeing some progressive philosophies from ol' Tarzan and his family. He has been consistently anti-gun; now he goes entirely beyond economics to second Boy's question, "What is 'buy' "?
This is from a movie made 78 years ago. Ahh, but we already know we love Tarzan, and we have explained many of the reasons why.
Of course, the idea of "no money" is, in itself, a Utopian philosophy that doesn't take into account human nature, but it's still really cool that such a point of view is expressed in the Tarzan movies, where the protagonist has been raised far from civilization (and greed, avarice, etc.) and thus has his own ideas about the way things should be. No guns, no money, but instead trust and sharing.
Of course, because Boy has found gold at the bottom of the pond, and because Tarzan knows of vast amounts at the top of the escarpment, you just know some outsiders are gonna show up. They do, in a safari headed up by Reginald Owen, who assures Tarzan that his group are not hunters but scientists. Tarzan is intuitive, and trusts scientists no more than hunters, because scientists also want to bother animals. Maybe not kill them, but disrupt jungle all the same.
Jane intervenes, as always. The scientists are English, she still feels a strong connection to her homeland, and she is always trying to teach Tarzan and Boy about the ways of the outside world. Jane realizes, though, that Tarzan runs entirely on his intuition. No matter the words coming out of anyone's mouth, he has an instinct for what is true.
One of the scientists finds out about Boy's gold, and from there the plot develops and greed takes over.
At various points, the Tarzan formula will kick in. Savage tribes will accost the interlocuters. Crocodiles will slide into the river the second a bad guy falls from a canoe. Cheeta will get into scrapes with lions.
And eventually, the remaining villains will try and fail to capture Tarzan. They will imprison Jane and Boy in their quest for gold, but will run into cannibals near the end of the movie.
That's pretty much the final showstopper, when you run into cannibals, right?
But in Tarzan movies - and I really shouldn't tell you this because it's a spoiler - the elephants always have the final say.
One last thing about "Tarzan's Secret Treasure".......the villain is a Very Special Person, one who has entertained us several times in recent weeks, and has become one of our favorite Screen Personalities.
Can you believe it? The Bad Guy was Tom Conway. "The Falcon". So how cool was that?
He was a professor in this case, who succumbs to Gold Fever, but to be watching a Tarzan movie and then all of a sudden to have Tom Conway show up was an extra special bonus.
As with all of the Johnny Weissmuller/Maureen O'Sullivan "Tarzan" movies, "Tarzan's Secret Treasure" gets two gigantic Thumbs Up. The finale at Garden of The Gods added a final touch to my appreciation.
Tomorrow night we have one last Weissmuller Tarzan Movie to watch. Then we will be done, and probably we will experience some withdrawal symptoms.......
But down the road we will watch 'em all again, because they stand out in the history of film, and we love 'em. ////
See you in the morning. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
It is gold that he has found. He shows his parents several nuggets, but Tarzan is not impressed. "Much rock on escarpment", he tells Boy. Jane explains to both of them what gold is, how it has something called "value" that can be used to "buy" things in "civilization".
"What is 'buy' "?, asks Boy. Jane then explains a little bit of basic economics, but Boy - and Tarzan - fail to understand. This scene is played from a philosophical standpoint, and goes beyond the tenets of formula capitalism or socialism. Boy just straight up doesn't understand the need for money, Tarzan concurs, and Jane tries to clarify but ends up conceding the point. They live in the jungle (which for them is a metaphor - almost - for the Garden Of Eden), so money has no meaning.
We are seeing some progressive philosophies from ol' Tarzan and his family. He has been consistently anti-gun; now he goes entirely beyond economics to second Boy's question, "What is 'buy' "?
This is from a movie made 78 years ago. Ahh, but we already know we love Tarzan, and we have explained many of the reasons why.
Of course, the idea of "no money" is, in itself, a Utopian philosophy that doesn't take into account human nature, but it's still really cool that such a point of view is expressed in the Tarzan movies, where the protagonist has been raised far from civilization (and greed, avarice, etc.) and thus has his own ideas about the way things should be. No guns, no money, but instead trust and sharing.
Of course, because Boy has found gold at the bottom of the pond, and because Tarzan knows of vast amounts at the top of the escarpment, you just know some outsiders are gonna show up. They do, in a safari headed up by Reginald Owen, who assures Tarzan that his group are not hunters but scientists. Tarzan is intuitive, and trusts scientists no more than hunters, because scientists also want to bother animals. Maybe not kill them, but disrupt jungle all the same.
Jane intervenes, as always. The scientists are English, she still feels a strong connection to her homeland, and she is always trying to teach Tarzan and Boy about the ways of the outside world. Jane realizes, though, that Tarzan runs entirely on his intuition. No matter the words coming out of anyone's mouth, he has an instinct for what is true.
One of the scientists finds out about Boy's gold, and from there the plot develops and greed takes over.
At various points, the Tarzan formula will kick in. Savage tribes will accost the interlocuters. Crocodiles will slide into the river the second a bad guy falls from a canoe. Cheeta will get into scrapes with lions.
And eventually, the remaining villains will try and fail to capture Tarzan. They will imprison Jane and Boy in their quest for gold, but will run into cannibals near the end of the movie.
That's pretty much the final showstopper, when you run into cannibals, right?
But in Tarzan movies - and I really shouldn't tell you this because it's a spoiler - the elephants always have the final say.
One last thing about "Tarzan's Secret Treasure".......the villain is a Very Special Person, one who has entertained us several times in recent weeks, and has become one of our favorite Screen Personalities.
Can you believe it? The Bad Guy was Tom Conway. "The Falcon". So how cool was that?
He was a professor in this case, who succumbs to Gold Fever, but to be watching a Tarzan movie and then all of a sudden to have Tom Conway show up was an extra special bonus.
As with all of the Johnny Weissmuller/Maureen O'Sullivan "Tarzan" movies, "Tarzan's Secret Treasure" gets two gigantic Thumbs Up. The finale at Garden of The Gods added a final touch to my appreciation.
Tomorrow night we have one last Weissmuller Tarzan Movie to watch. Then we will be done, and probably we will experience some withdrawal symptoms.......
But down the road we will watch 'em all again, because they stand out in the history of film, and we love 'em. ////
See you in the morning. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
Wednesday, February 6, 2019
"Tarzan Finds A Son" + The Phony Speech and The Fake Media
Tonight's Tarzan was "Tarzan Finds A Son" (1939), the fourth movie in the series. As it opens, a small plane is flying over the vast jungle, carrying a young couple and their infant son. As they discuss plans for their stay in Africa, the pilot cuts in to tell them that he is experiencing a change in the air currents. He tries to control the plane but is swiftly losing altitude. After deciding on an emergency landing, he tries to set the plane down in a jungle corridor, but the vegetation is too thick. The plane skids into a tree. The pilot and the young woman are killed instantly. Her husband is dragged off by cannibal tribesmen. Prior to this, and most fortunately, Cheeta had been the first "person" to arrive at the crash site. The baby survived. Cheeta pulled him from the wreckage and carried him to a treetop before the cannibals even got there.
Tarzan shows up shortly thereafter and Cheeta hands the baby to him. The communication between Tarzan and the animals in these films, and the intuition between all of them (even from animal to animal, and species to species) is truly incredible, and the way it is edited and incorporated into the storylines is something very special in all of the history of cinema. You may be wondering why I have gone off on a Tarzan tangent; the animal magic in these movies is part of the reason. I repeat : these films aren't just entertainment, they are unique in style and content. There is nothing else like them, and they are full of jungle animals.
When Tarzan brings the baby home to the Treehouse, Jane has to explain to him exactly what it is, and that it must have parents somewhere nearby. They go out to search the area, discover the crashed plane, and know that the parents are dead. Jane tells Tarzan that they must adopt the child, and a name is decided on by Tarzan : "Boy".
From there, we fast forward several years. "Boy" (Johnny Sheffield) is now about eight years old. He follows his "Dad" everywhere and emulates Tarzan's every move. The first half hour is devoted to his development. He gets into his share of mischief with animals, gets tangled in a gigantic spider web. Tarzan is always getting him out of jams, and he gets angry at Boy, but then they laugh, and bond, because Tarzan is proud of Boy's independent spirit.
The ubiquitous Tarzan Underwater Synchronized Swimming Scene this time involves Tarzan and Boy, in place of Jane, as this film is about the Son. Boy and Tarzan have a long swim with a sea turtle. This is the Peaceful Interlude In Nature that always takes place in the Tarzan movies, before the hunters come, and this time they come yet again, in the form of another safari, led by a hunter in the service of cousins of the plane crash couple. The cousins, as you might expect, have a fortune to inherit if they can prove the couple are deceased, for they are next in line......except for Boy, who is an heir to Lord Greystoke.
Now we are getting into the lore of the Edgar Rice Burroughs books, which I know nothing about, but in any event, the Tarzan formula is being followed, in which a Safari, headed up by an arrogant hunter in the service of greedy English clients, is confronted by Tarzan and stopped in it's tracks.
Tarzan's hatred of guns is on display once again, and man, I love that this was promoted several times in the Tarzan films, because I hate guns myself. Always have.
The cousins who have financed the expedition are determined to bring Boy back to England with them. They enlist the soft-hearted Jane in their quest. She is malleable because she too is English. Part of her soul remains there, though her heart is in the jungle with Tarzan. She allows herself to be convinced that it is in Boy's best interests to be taken back to London, to become civilized.
I cannot reveal any more of the plot, because treachery is afoot against the trusting Tarzan, the motivations of which will surprise you.
'Tarzan Finds A Son" follows the formula of the sequels, i.e. a safari heads for the Escarpment for financial gain. They encounter savage tribes but ultimately find Tarzan and Jane. Then their objectives are presented, which always come into conflict with Tarzan's belief system, and then they try to sabotage him, because they know they cannot take him on outright.
This time he steals all their guns and throws them into a deep gulch underwater.
To make that kind of statement in 1939 is very impressive, I think.
Two Obvious Huge Thumbs Up for "Tarzan Finds A Son". Again, these are unique movies, because half the actors are animals, and then you have the singular Tarzan persona and athleticism of Johnny Weissmuller, and the natural Eve-like electricity of Maureen O'Sullivan, surely one of the most charismatic movie stars to ever grace the screen. /////
Now, on an entirely different subject, of course I tuned in to the SOTU, the State Of The Union speech, which I thought should have been re-abbreviated as the STFU speech.
I will be brief, because I abhor this man, and I hate what has happened to our country. I think all State Of The Union speeches are phoney-baloney, no matter who is making them, because every one of them has the exact same content. Blah, blah, blah.....look how great we are doing (meaning "we", the politicians in control at that time).
I can't stand the speech because it doesn't mean anything, whether given by Obama, Trump, Clinton or Bush. It's just a bunch of baloney, every single time.
But in this case, my feelings go past that assessment, because this time, The so-called president is a proven criminal. Not just a "bad guy" or a "right-winger", but a straight-up criminal who stole an election and is beholden to Russia.
So here's what I hate about tonight, and it has to do with the news media.
Here I watch MSNBC every night, and every night they are rabid anti-Trump. "Mueller report"! "Impeach"! "He's dangerous"! "He Lies"!
And of course we all know this from day one. I have repeatedly asked, "why is this man not in prison"?
And so what I hate is that this same "supposedly truth-driven" MSNBC, and CNN too, treat the State Of The Union as if it is being given by "The President".
Not a criminal, who they have excoriated for two years, but "The President". All of a sudden, Trump is "The President".
What will he say? Will he compromise? Will he play to his base? What about his chances for re-election?
His chances for re-election. This, coming from a phoney-baloney MSNBC who on every other night try to cheerlead the Mueller Investigation, which - no matter the end result, has run out of time, because this criminal will have likely served out his four year term by the time the investigation is released......and the freaking news media, calling this bum out for what he is, most nights, but then acting as if he is "The President", who has an opinion that should be given weight, on this night, just because it is the State Of The Union.
Sorry to go on a tirade, but what a bunch of baloney the whole thing is. So fake, so false.
Yeah, yeah, MSNBC, CNN, tell me again what's gonna become of this guy, this CRIMINAL who has subverted our democracy. Tell me again about the Mueller Report.
And then talk tonight about his chances for re-election. Because, he is after all, "The President".
And it's as if nothing ever happened these past two years.
So I say Screw It. Watch Tarzan movies instead. Nothing is going to be done about Trump in this election cycle. Better hope the Dems have someone who can beat him in 2020. /////
T'was chilly today, but I had a nice hike at Limekiln.
Sorry about the tirade, but I truly detest this man, to the core of my being. And I hate the phoney reporting, as if something is being done about him.
See you in the morn. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
Tarzan shows up shortly thereafter and Cheeta hands the baby to him. The communication between Tarzan and the animals in these films, and the intuition between all of them (even from animal to animal, and species to species) is truly incredible, and the way it is edited and incorporated into the storylines is something very special in all of the history of cinema. You may be wondering why I have gone off on a Tarzan tangent; the animal magic in these movies is part of the reason. I repeat : these films aren't just entertainment, they are unique in style and content. There is nothing else like them, and they are full of jungle animals.
When Tarzan brings the baby home to the Treehouse, Jane has to explain to him exactly what it is, and that it must have parents somewhere nearby. They go out to search the area, discover the crashed plane, and know that the parents are dead. Jane tells Tarzan that they must adopt the child, and a name is decided on by Tarzan : "Boy".
From there, we fast forward several years. "Boy" (Johnny Sheffield) is now about eight years old. He follows his "Dad" everywhere and emulates Tarzan's every move. The first half hour is devoted to his development. He gets into his share of mischief with animals, gets tangled in a gigantic spider web. Tarzan is always getting him out of jams, and he gets angry at Boy, but then they laugh, and bond, because Tarzan is proud of Boy's independent spirit.
The ubiquitous Tarzan Underwater Synchronized Swimming Scene this time involves Tarzan and Boy, in place of Jane, as this film is about the Son. Boy and Tarzan have a long swim with a sea turtle. This is the Peaceful Interlude In Nature that always takes place in the Tarzan movies, before the hunters come, and this time they come yet again, in the form of another safari, led by a hunter in the service of cousins of the plane crash couple. The cousins, as you might expect, have a fortune to inherit if they can prove the couple are deceased, for they are next in line......except for Boy, who is an heir to Lord Greystoke.
Now we are getting into the lore of the Edgar Rice Burroughs books, which I know nothing about, but in any event, the Tarzan formula is being followed, in which a Safari, headed up by an arrogant hunter in the service of greedy English clients, is confronted by Tarzan and stopped in it's tracks.
Tarzan's hatred of guns is on display once again, and man, I love that this was promoted several times in the Tarzan films, because I hate guns myself. Always have.
The cousins who have financed the expedition are determined to bring Boy back to England with them. They enlist the soft-hearted Jane in their quest. She is malleable because she too is English. Part of her soul remains there, though her heart is in the jungle with Tarzan. She allows herself to be convinced that it is in Boy's best interests to be taken back to London, to become civilized.
I cannot reveal any more of the plot, because treachery is afoot against the trusting Tarzan, the motivations of which will surprise you.
'Tarzan Finds A Son" follows the formula of the sequels, i.e. a safari heads for the Escarpment for financial gain. They encounter savage tribes but ultimately find Tarzan and Jane. Then their objectives are presented, which always come into conflict with Tarzan's belief system, and then they try to sabotage him, because they know they cannot take him on outright.
This time he steals all their guns and throws them into a deep gulch underwater.
To make that kind of statement in 1939 is very impressive, I think.
Two Obvious Huge Thumbs Up for "Tarzan Finds A Son". Again, these are unique movies, because half the actors are animals, and then you have the singular Tarzan persona and athleticism of Johnny Weissmuller, and the natural Eve-like electricity of Maureen O'Sullivan, surely one of the most charismatic movie stars to ever grace the screen. /////
Now, on an entirely different subject, of course I tuned in to the SOTU, the State Of The Union speech, which I thought should have been re-abbreviated as the STFU speech.
I will be brief, because I abhor this man, and I hate what has happened to our country. I think all State Of The Union speeches are phoney-baloney, no matter who is making them, because every one of them has the exact same content. Blah, blah, blah.....look how great we are doing (meaning "we", the politicians in control at that time).
I can't stand the speech because it doesn't mean anything, whether given by Obama, Trump, Clinton or Bush. It's just a bunch of baloney, every single time.
But in this case, my feelings go past that assessment, because this time, The so-called president is a proven criminal. Not just a "bad guy" or a "right-winger", but a straight-up criminal who stole an election and is beholden to Russia.
So here's what I hate about tonight, and it has to do with the news media.
Here I watch MSNBC every night, and every night they are rabid anti-Trump. "Mueller report"! "Impeach"! "He's dangerous"! "He Lies"!
And of course we all know this from day one. I have repeatedly asked, "why is this man not in prison"?
And so what I hate is that this same "supposedly truth-driven" MSNBC, and CNN too, treat the State Of The Union as if it is being given by "The President".
Not a criminal, who they have excoriated for two years, but "The President". All of a sudden, Trump is "The President".
What will he say? Will he compromise? Will he play to his base? What about his chances for re-election?
His chances for re-election. This, coming from a phoney-baloney MSNBC who on every other night try to cheerlead the Mueller Investigation, which - no matter the end result, has run out of time, because this criminal will have likely served out his four year term by the time the investigation is released......and the freaking news media, calling this bum out for what he is, most nights, but then acting as if he is "The President", who has an opinion that should be given weight, on this night, just because it is the State Of The Union.
Sorry to go on a tirade, but what a bunch of baloney the whole thing is. So fake, so false.
Yeah, yeah, MSNBC, CNN, tell me again what's gonna become of this guy, this CRIMINAL who has subverted our democracy. Tell me again about the Mueller Report.
And then talk tonight about his chances for re-election. Because, he is after all, "The President".
And it's as if nothing ever happened these past two years.
So I say Screw It. Watch Tarzan movies instead. Nothing is going to be done about Trump in this election cycle. Better hope the Dems have someone who can beat him in 2020. /////
T'was chilly today, but I had a nice hike at Limekiln.
Sorry about the tirade, but I truly detest this man, to the core of my being. And I hate the phoney reporting, as if something is being done about him.
See you in the morn. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
Tuesday, February 5, 2019
"Tarzan Escapes"
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) :):)
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) :):)
Monday, February 4, 2019
Super Bowl Sucked + Solo Singin' + "Tarzan and His Mate"
Well, I think it's safe to say that the Super Bowl sucked. Not only did the Rams lose, but they played their worst offensive game in Coach McVay's two years with the team. Now, the Rams defense was another matter. They were pretty incredible, holding The Brady Bunch to a mere 3 points through three quarters. Had Goff & Co. been able to get anything going offensively, there might have been a different outcome, but I'll not engage in shoulda/woulda/coulda. Overall, even besides the unhappy outcome, it was a boring game. Nothing much happened, and if there is a band in the entire world that is worse than Maroon 5, please don't tell me, I don't wanna know.
So, scrub it and wait til next year. We've got the Dodgers in the World Series and the Rams in the Super Bowl, but we just can't seem to beat those teams from Boston. But next year, we're gonna win one.
Right, Charlie Brown? :) I am referring to myself there, because I am the Eternal Optimist, haha.
Anyhow, enough sports. I am glad I don't get worked up about these things any more. /////
We made it to church this morn, despite all the rain, and I got to sing my little solo verse again, the same one I did last September, in an anthem called "Everyone Is Welcome Here". Folks seemed to like it, so maybe I will have a chance to sing some solos in other songs in the future. ////
Tonight I watched "Tarzan and His Mate" (1934), the first sequel to "Tarzan the Ape Man" which we saw last night. If the initial film was an adventure story, this one is even more so. The plot involves another search for ivory at the Mutia Escarpment, the location of a hidden elephant graveyard. Expedition leader Henry Holt (played by Neil Hamilton of "Commissioner Gordon" fame on "Batman") is ready to set out again for the Escarpment. He was along for the first safari, headed up by Jane Parker's father (C. Aubrey Smith), who died at the end of the first movie. Jane decided to remain in the jungle with Tarzan, and in this first sequel Holt is not only seeking a haul of ivory. He also hopes to convince Jane to return to civilization with him, for he is in love with her. Holt has a partner with him, a co-investor and ladies' man, who will prove to be devious in his motives.
With the help of one hundred African bearers, Holt and the safari make their way to the Mutia Escarpment, where they run into Jane just beyond the cliffside. Holt has brought with him several new dresses from London, of the latest fashion, as presents for Jane. She is happy to see him, and loves the clothing. This gives the filmmakers an excuse to have Jane engage in some pre-code undressing-and-changing, a staple in many pre-code movies as we have seen.
Holt is to be ultimately rejected, though, because Jane - living in the jungle for a year now - has fallen in love with Tarzan. A long segment comes up next that shows her teaching Tarzan to speak a bit of English, in between romantic cuddles and some athletic manhandling of Jane by Tarzan. This bonding sequence serves to verify the title : "Tarzan and His Mate", and it culminates in the most graphic pre-code sequence I have seen so far, a fully nude underwater scene for Jane, with Tarzan chasing and catching her for some synchronized swimming, Hollywood Style, in lieu of sex.
Tarzan not know sex at that point anyway because Jane not teach yet.
But this is certainly the most risque scene we have seen thus far.
After the romantic interlude to establish Jane as Tarzan's Mate (leaving Holt in dismay), the film returns to adventure with a vengeance. Peril is around every corner, hidden in the bushes and behind every treeline. The animal scenes in "Tarzan and His Mate" are incredible : charging Rhino attacks, crocodiles waiting in the river for anyone unfortunate enough to wade in, prides of lions stalking hunters and native bearers with organized precision. The lion scenes are particularly scary, and the thing is that the filmmakers wanted you to see how smart these animals are, and to demonstrate that the jungle is their land.
If you mess with them there, you are toast, no matter how many guns you are carrying.
And there is a hierarchy among the animals themselves. The elephants are at the top, with their size and superior intelligence. Even the fearless lions go running when a stampede of elephants is heard approaching.
Through all of this animal action Tarzan issues his own commands by his trademark yell. The beasts are mostly on his side, though again as with the first film, there are a few shots where you hope no animals were harmed.
This is really Maureen O'Sullivan's movie, so spirited is she and natural as an actress. I had not seen much of her work prior to the Tarzan films, but she is a very uninhibited actress and in that way she personifies the "pre-code ethic" if there could be said to be such a thing. She steals every scene she is in, and if the studio hadn't had Johnny Weissmuller in the lead role, a lesser Tarzan would have been overshadowed by O'Sullivan for certain.
Considering that these movies were filmed mostly in California and Florida, the filmmakers did a great job of simulating a jungle location. You really do feel as if you are watching an African safari when you see these early Tarzans. The editing especially gives you the feeling of being right there in the hunt, with animals appearing all around you, suddenly and without warning.
You are lucky to have Tarzan come to your rescue, or you would become lunch for a lion, dinner for a crocodile.......or even stew for a cannibal. Hey - they've gotta eat, too.
But even more, you are lucky to have Jane. Maureen O'Sullivan is stealing these films so far. We've got four left. ////
See you in the morning, more rain is supposed to fall. Sleep in, since you got up early for church today.
Love and more love til then. xoxoxoxoxoxooxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
So, scrub it and wait til next year. We've got the Dodgers in the World Series and the Rams in the Super Bowl, but we just can't seem to beat those teams from Boston. But next year, we're gonna win one.
Right, Charlie Brown? :) I am referring to myself there, because I am the Eternal Optimist, haha.
Anyhow, enough sports. I am glad I don't get worked up about these things any more. /////
We made it to church this morn, despite all the rain, and I got to sing my little solo verse again, the same one I did last September, in an anthem called "Everyone Is Welcome Here". Folks seemed to like it, so maybe I will have a chance to sing some solos in other songs in the future. ////
Tonight I watched "Tarzan and His Mate" (1934), the first sequel to "Tarzan the Ape Man" which we saw last night. If the initial film was an adventure story, this one is even more so. The plot involves another search for ivory at the Mutia Escarpment, the location of a hidden elephant graveyard. Expedition leader Henry Holt (played by Neil Hamilton of "Commissioner Gordon" fame on "Batman") is ready to set out again for the Escarpment. He was along for the first safari, headed up by Jane Parker's father (C. Aubrey Smith), who died at the end of the first movie. Jane decided to remain in the jungle with Tarzan, and in this first sequel Holt is not only seeking a haul of ivory. He also hopes to convince Jane to return to civilization with him, for he is in love with her. Holt has a partner with him, a co-investor and ladies' man, who will prove to be devious in his motives.
With the help of one hundred African bearers, Holt and the safari make their way to the Mutia Escarpment, where they run into Jane just beyond the cliffside. Holt has brought with him several new dresses from London, of the latest fashion, as presents for Jane. She is happy to see him, and loves the clothing. This gives the filmmakers an excuse to have Jane engage in some pre-code undressing-and-changing, a staple in many pre-code movies as we have seen.
Holt is to be ultimately rejected, though, because Jane - living in the jungle for a year now - has fallen in love with Tarzan. A long segment comes up next that shows her teaching Tarzan to speak a bit of English, in between romantic cuddles and some athletic manhandling of Jane by Tarzan. This bonding sequence serves to verify the title : "Tarzan and His Mate", and it culminates in the most graphic pre-code sequence I have seen so far, a fully nude underwater scene for Jane, with Tarzan chasing and catching her for some synchronized swimming, Hollywood Style, in lieu of sex.
Tarzan not know sex at that point anyway because Jane not teach yet.
But this is certainly the most risque scene we have seen thus far.
After the romantic interlude to establish Jane as Tarzan's Mate (leaving Holt in dismay), the film returns to adventure with a vengeance. Peril is around every corner, hidden in the bushes and behind every treeline. The animal scenes in "Tarzan and His Mate" are incredible : charging Rhino attacks, crocodiles waiting in the river for anyone unfortunate enough to wade in, prides of lions stalking hunters and native bearers with organized precision. The lion scenes are particularly scary, and the thing is that the filmmakers wanted you to see how smart these animals are, and to demonstrate that the jungle is their land.
If you mess with them there, you are toast, no matter how many guns you are carrying.
And there is a hierarchy among the animals themselves. The elephants are at the top, with their size and superior intelligence. Even the fearless lions go running when a stampede of elephants is heard approaching.
Through all of this animal action Tarzan issues his own commands by his trademark yell. The beasts are mostly on his side, though again as with the first film, there are a few shots where you hope no animals were harmed.
This is really Maureen O'Sullivan's movie, so spirited is she and natural as an actress. I had not seen much of her work prior to the Tarzan films, but she is a very uninhibited actress and in that way she personifies the "pre-code ethic" if there could be said to be such a thing. She steals every scene she is in, and if the studio hadn't had Johnny Weissmuller in the lead role, a lesser Tarzan would have been overshadowed by O'Sullivan for certain.
Considering that these movies were filmed mostly in California and Florida, the filmmakers did a great job of simulating a jungle location. You really do feel as if you are watching an African safari when you see these early Tarzans. The editing especially gives you the feeling of being right there in the hunt, with animals appearing all around you, suddenly and without warning.
You are lucky to have Tarzan come to your rescue, or you would become lunch for a lion, dinner for a crocodile.......or even stew for a cannibal. Hey - they've gotta eat, too.
But even more, you are lucky to have Jane. Maureen O'Sullivan is stealing these films so far. We've got four left. ////
See you in the morning, more rain is supposed to fall. Sleep in, since you got up early for church today.
Love and more love til then. xoxoxoxoxoxooxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
Sunday, February 3, 2019
"Tarzan the Ape Man"
I am thrilled to report that Tarzan is back! You are excited too, of course. This development came about because, while in the midst of viewing all of the RKO Tarzans that were included in the Volume Two collection, I though ahead and ordered Volume One from The Libe. I knew that we were hooked on the Tarzan series and therefore had to see the six original MGM films, beginning with the very first "talking" Tarzan movie, "Tarzan the Ape Man" (1932). Yes, there were Tarzans before Johnny Weissmuller, in several Silent movies of unknown (to me) box office success. But for all intents and purposes, the blockbuster franchise that is Tarzan began in 1932 with the film seen tonight and mentioned above.
We were used to the RKO Tarzan films produced in the mid-40s, and so this debut - made 15 years earlier than some of the RKOs - comes as a shock with the various differences in style. Hey, I watched the films out of order, what can I say. But yeah, Weissmuller at 28 looks like a kid in this flick, with shorter hair and still retaining his Olympian physique. In the later films he remained in phenomenal shape, but had moved past 40, so changes were inevitable. The main thing, however, is that "Tarzan the Ape Man" is much more of an adventure film than are the later sequels. It was made very early in the Talking Picture era, at the height of Universal's Monster Movie success, and just a year before "King Kong", a similar story of an expedition to mysterious Africa. Adventure into unknown lands was a popular theme in early Hollywood. In this way, "Tarzan the Ape Man" feels more like an Indiana Jones movie than do the more laid back sequels of the 40s, which I have reported on with their Saturday Matinee family-values and general good vibes. And you know I love those Tarzans.
"Ape Man", though, is a whole different ballgame, as raw as it's title.
Celebrated early actor C. Aubrey Smith (he of the Carved In Stone visage) is a hunter and explorer in search of a hidden landform called the Mutia Escarpment. The country is unspecified, but we are in Africa and the escarpment is reputed to be an elephant graveyard, where the behemoths wander off to die. The natives won't speak of this place. It is taboo for all the tribes, but C. Aubrey foresees a fortune in ivory, if only he can find it.
Near the beginning, his daughter Jane Parker (the legendary Maureen O'Sullivan) shows up in camp. Hey Tarzan fans! All you newbies like me, now we know the origin of Jane. She was the daughter of the hunter who discovered Tarzan.
I did not know that, or if I did, I knew it peripherally as a kid and then forgot it post haste. But know I know it again. So we have a backstory on Jane.
C. Aubrey tries to talk his daughter out of coming along on the expedition, but once you see her onscreen, you know his cause is lost. She is a spirited fireball. Soon the team - accompanied by native gear carriers - is crossing the deep jungle. In contrast to the sequels, the perils faced here feel tense and very realistic. Long scenes are spent showing a dangerous rafting journey, on a river filled with huge hippos and crocodiles. Lions crowd the shore, waiting for anyone who might panic and swim for safety. This is real stuff, and it looks like it. Keep in mind that this movie was also pre-code, and that designation does not, in retrospect, mean only sexy movies. Many adventure films were also made pre-code that had dialogue and scenes that were decidedly un-PC and would not have passed muster today.
The river scene with the hippos is harrowing. One hopes no animals were harmed.
Much of the middle of the film involves the hunting group's discovery of Tarzan as they near the escarpment.
He makes off with Jane, carries her up into a very high tree, and a tenuous relationship begins, brought on by Tarzan's curiosity and her fear and compliance.
By the time the plot kicks back in, a tribe of violent dwarves (not Pygmies) have captured the hunting group. The last twenty minutes of the film have all the tension of a monster movie. Gruesome torture of the captives is depicted, though not gratuitously. Everything is well-edited to maintain discretion, but the entire sequence has the feel of the "deepest darkest dangers of Africa" vibe of the early 20th century. As I say, there is a lot of non-PC stuff in this movie.
Me, I don't care about political correctness (barring extreme examples, of course). Mostly, "Tarzan the Ape Man" is a wholesome story about a barbarian's discovery of a woman, the first he has ever seen, and the way in which they slowly fall in love. The subtheme of the hunting expedition is just that, a subplot, and the semi-racist stuff and questionable animal tactics are just products of a bygone age. They aren't bad, really. It's just a portrayal of the way things were. Hunters really did requisition tribesmen to accompany them on expeditions, and they really did whip them into compliance. So in this respect, the movie is presenting the truth.
All of these critiques are made in hindsight by a viewer from 2019. In 1932, none of these things would have been an issue, and they aren't really for me, either, because they happened at a different time.
I shant boycott an otherwise tremendous film just because of a few questionable (non overt) scenes and situations, none of which are over the top anyway. I only report on all of this in the name of doing a thorough job.
"Tarzan the Ape Man" gets Two Gigantic Thumbs Up, for the performances of Maureen O'Sullivan and Johnny Weissmuller, and for the logistics involved in putting such a film together, i.e simulating a jungle environment and co-ordinating all of the involved animals, etc.
This is a hard-core Tarzan as opposed to the later films. See it and judge for yourself. ////
This morning the rain was coming down sideways. They say we've got more to come tomorrow, but hopefully we will see you in church because we've got good singing to do.
And then after that we're gonna win a Super Bowl.
Go Rams!
See you in the morning with much love sent in between, falling on you like cats and dogs.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
We were used to the RKO Tarzan films produced in the mid-40s, and so this debut - made 15 years earlier than some of the RKOs - comes as a shock with the various differences in style. Hey, I watched the films out of order, what can I say. But yeah, Weissmuller at 28 looks like a kid in this flick, with shorter hair and still retaining his Olympian physique. In the later films he remained in phenomenal shape, but had moved past 40, so changes were inevitable. The main thing, however, is that "Tarzan the Ape Man" is much more of an adventure film than are the later sequels. It was made very early in the Talking Picture era, at the height of Universal's Monster Movie success, and just a year before "King Kong", a similar story of an expedition to mysterious Africa. Adventure into unknown lands was a popular theme in early Hollywood. In this way, "Tarzan the Ape Man" feels more like an Indiana Jones movie than do the more laid back sequels of the 40s, which I have reported on with their Saturday Matinee family-values and general good vibes. And you know I love those Tarzans.
"Ape Man", though, is a whole different ballgame, as raw as it's title.
Celebrated early actor C. Aubrey Smith (he of the Carved In Stone visage) is a hunter and explorer in search of a hidden landform called the Mutia Escarpment. The country is unspecified, but we are in Africa and the escarpment is reputed to be an elephant graveyard, where the behemoths wander off to die. The natives won't speak of this place. It is taboo for all the tribes, but C. Aubrey foresees a fortune in ivory, if only he can find it.
Near the beginning, his daughter Jane Parker (the legendary Maureen O'Sullivan) shows up in camp. Hey Tarzan fans! All you newbies like me, now we know the origin of Jane. She was the daughter of the hunter who discovered Tarzan.
I did not know that, or if I did, I knew it peripherally as a kid and then forgot it post haste. But know I know it again. So we have a backstory on Jane.
C. Aubrey tries to talk his daughter out of coming along on the expedition, but once you see her onscreen, you know his cause is lost. She is a spirited fireball. Soon the team - accompanied by native gear carriers - is crossing the deep jungle. In contrast to the sequels, the perils faced here feel tense and very realistic. Long scenes are spent showing a dangerous rafting journey, on a river filled with huge hippos and crocodiles. Lions crowd the shore, waiting for anyone who might panic and swim for safety. This is real stuff, and it looks like it. Keep in mind that this movie was also pre-code, and that designation does not, in retrospect, mean only sexy movies. Many adventure films were also made pre-code that had dialogue and scenes that were decidedly un-PC and would not have passed muster today.
The river scene with the hippos is harrowing. One hopes no animals were harmed.
Much of the middle of the film involves the hunting group's discovery of Tarzan as they near the escarpment.
He makes off with Jane, carries her up into a very high tree, and a tenuous relationship begins, brought on by Tarzan's curiosity and her fear and compliance.
By the time the plot kicks back in, a tribe of violent dwarves (not Pygmies) have captured the hunting group. The last twenty minutes of the film have all the tension of a monster movie. Gruesome torture of the captives is depicted, though not gratuitously. Everything is well-edited to maintain discretion, but the entire sequence has the feel of the "deepest darkest dangers of Africa" vibe of the early 20th century. As I say, there is a lot of non-PC stuff in this movie.
Me, I don't care about political correctness (barring extreme examples, of course). Mostly, "Tarzan the Ape Man" is a wholesome story about a barbarian's discovery of a woman, the first he has ever seen, and the way in which they slowly fall in love. The subtheme of the hunting expedition is just that, a subplot, and the semi-racist stuff and questionable animal tactics are just products of a bygone age. They aren't bad, really. It's just a portrayal of the way things were. Hunters really did requisition tribesmen to accompany them on expeditions, and they really did whip them into compliance. So in this respect, the movie is presenting the truth.
All of these critiques are made in hindsight by a viewer from 2019. In 1932, none of these things would have been an issue, and they aren't really for me, either, because they happened at a different time.
I shant boycott an otherwise tremendous film just because of a few questionable (non overt) scenes and situations, none of which are over the top anyway. I only report on all of this in the name of doing a thorough job.
"Tarzan the Ape Man" gets Two Gigantic Thumbs Up, for the performances of Maureen O'Sullivan and Johnny Weissmuller, and for the logistics involved in putting such a film together, i.e simulating a jungle environment and co-ordinating all of the involved animals, etc.
This is a hard-core Tarzan as opposed to the later films. See it and judge for yourself. ////
This morning the rain was coming down sideways. They say we've got more to come tomorrow, but hopefully we will see you in church because we've got good singing to do.
And then after that we're gonna win a Super Bowl.
Go Rams!
See you in the morning with much love sent in between, falling on you like cats and dogs.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
Saturday, February 2, 2019
"The Divorcee" starring Norma Shearer
Tonight's movie was "The Divorcee" (1930), a very early pre-code "talkie" that is part of my six film "Forbidden Hollywood Volume Two" collection. It was made so early in the sound era that a poster for the movie - seen on IMDB - touts it as an "all talking picture". Norma Shearer, the original First Lady of MGM, stars as a free-spirited young woman about to marry her sweetheart, a former college jock turned businessman (played by Chester Morris). The couple are part of an "in-crowd" of young people living in New York. The movie opens at a party thrown by one of the friends, at which much 1920s-style revelry is going down. There is music, dancing, drinking, young men in tuxedoes and top hats, young ladies in silk dresses and glittered shoes. They seem like the kind of young people who might have been from upper class families, probably attended Yale or Harvard. They party like crazy but have futures that are all planned out. Except for the marriage aspect, and that is what "The Divorcee" is all about. The business lives of the protagonists are not examined, only the relationships, and as is often the case, there are a lot of factors that come into play (i.e. outside influences) that affect the couple's chances for happiness just as much as their love for one another.
Right away, at the opening party, after the engagement of Shearer and Morris is announced, it is clear that there are two other chaps on hand who are very disappointed. One is the devil-may-care playboy Robert Montgomery, a tall, callow youth who straight up tells Shearer she should have married him, instead. She laughs him off in a good natured way because, though rich and handsome, he is not to be taken seriously. He doesn't even take himself that way, usually playing the role of jester to the rest of the friends.
Shearer's other unlucky suitor is more despondent. Hearing the engagement announcement, he gets progessively more drunk. When the party ends, he insists on driving his date home, though everyone in the car tries to talk him out of it. Of course, this ride ends in disaster. No one dies, but a crash leaves the girl disfigured. Paul, the suitor who was in love with Norma Shearer, ends up marrying the unfortunate girl out of pity.
Now we jump forward and have several situations in play. We have the Happy Couple (Morris and Shearer), about to celebrate their third wedding anniversary. We have the Unhappy Couple, married literally by "accident" (car), and we have Robert Montgomery, the rich boy, still single, always on the make if it suits him, but generally not seen as a threat.
Another party is taking place, the celebration of the Shearer/Morris anniversary. All is merry and the party is in full swing until an unknown woman shows up. She has been brought along as a guest of some other friends, and she seems to know Chester Morris, the seemingly Happy Husband.
The look in her eyes and her body language tell the story as Morris tries frantically to get rid of her. But she will not leave so easily. She wants her man. Norma Shearer walks into the kitchen just in time to see The Other Woman with her arms around Morris, her husband.
Norma tries to put on a brave face as the anniversary party continues, but the Happy Marriage of the couple has from that moment become a facade. Her husband is a cheater.
Last night I revealed a great deal of the plot for "Panique", because it did not matter as much as did the moral implications of the story. This time, I will stop where we are, because the plot creates the moral. The two go hand in hand and anything more I might say could act as a spoiler.
While in pre-code terms, there is not any skimpy dressing or sexual innuendo, there is some very frank talk about infidelity, both from the male and female point of view. It is interesting to see that after all these years (almost 90 since the movie was made), that the rationalizations of the husband and wife for their indiscretions are likely no different in their respective ways than would be those of a modern married couple.
Norma Shearer won the second ever Best Actress Oscar for her lead performance in "The Divorcee", and in my opinion it was well deserved, even though I am not aware of the performances of her competitors. It is hard to see, though, how her portrayal of the forsaken wife who fights fire with fire could have been bested by another actress in any role from any other movie released that year.
She was known for her roles of liberated women, and in "The Divorcee", her characterization and acting technique could be considered a template for all of the future portrayals of independent women that came decades later.
The film has the feel of a stage play. All the actors seem to be emoting and expressing themselves in that manner of broad and ebullient gestures, playing to the back row as it were. The cinematic technique is still barely evolved from the Silent Film era, and in Chester Morris' case, he is still doing some of the Silent Movie mugging for the camera, but all in all this is one of the best pre-code films we've seen so far, mainly because of Norma Shearer, a really great and underrated actress. ////
Two Very Big Thumbs Up for "The Divorcee", with it's Oscar winning performance by Shearer.
See you in the morning. A ton of rain is supposed to fall, but it pales in comparison to the amount of love sent. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
Right away, at the opening party, after the engagement of Shearer and Morris is announced, it is clear that there are two other chaps on hand who are very disappointed. One is the devil-may-care playboy Robert Montgomery, a tall, callow youth who straight up tells Shearer she should have married him, instead. She laughs him off in a good natured way because, though rich and handsome, he is not to be taken seriously. He doesn't even take himself that way, usually playing the role of jester to the rest of the friends.
Shearer's other unlucky suitor is more despondent. Hearing the engagement announcement, he gets progessively more drunk. When the party ends, he insists on driving his date home, though everyone in the car tries to talk him out of it. Of course, this ride ends in disaster. No one dies, but a crash leaves the girl disfigured. Paul, the suitor who was in love with Norma Shearer, ends up marrying the unfortunate girl out of pity.
Now we jump forward and have several situations in play. We have the Happy Couple (Morris and Shearer), about to celebrate their third wedding anniversary. We have the Unhappy Couple, married literally by "accident" (car), and we have Robert Montgomery, the rich boy, still single, always on the make if it suits him, but generally not seen as a threat.
Another party is taking place, the celebration of the Shearer/Morris anniversary. All is merry and the party is in full swing until an unknown woman shows up. She has been brought along as a guest of some other friends, and she seems to know Chester Morris, the seemingly Happy Husband.
The look in her eyes and her body language tell the story as Morris tries frantically to get rid of her. But she will not leave so easily. She wants her man. Norma Shearer walks into the kitchen just in time to see The Other Woman with her arms around Morris, her husband.
Norma tries to put on a brave face as the anniversary party continues, but the Happy Marriage of the couple has from that moment become a facade. Her husband is a cheater.
Last night I revealed a great deal of the plot for "Panique", because it did not matter as much as did the moral implications of the story. This time, I will stop where we are, because the plot creates the moral. The two go hand in hand and anything more I might say could act as a spoiler.
While in pre-code terms, there is not any skimpy dressing or sexual innuendo, there is some very frank talk about infidelity, both from the male and female point of view. It is interesting to see that after all these years (almost 90 since the movie was made), that the rationalizations of the husband and wife for their indiscretions are likely no different in their respective ways than would be those of a modern married couple.
Norma Shearer won the second ever Best Actress Oscar for her lead performance in "The Divorcee", and in my opinion it was well deserved, even though I am not aware of the performances of her competitors. It is hard to see, though, how her portrayal of the forsaken wife who fights fire with fire could have been bested by another actress in any role from any other movie released that year.
She was known for her roles of liberated women, and in "The Divorcee", her characterization and acting technique could be considered a template for all of the future portrayals of independent women that came decades later.
The film has the feel of a stage play. All the actors seem to be emoting and expressing themselves in that manner of broad and ebullient gestures, playing to the back row as it were. The cinematic technique is still barely evolved from the Silent Film era, and in Chester Morris' case, he is still doing some of the Silent Movie mugging for the camera, but all in all this is one of the best pre-code films we've seen so far, mainly because of Norma Shearer, a really great and underrated actress. ////
Two Very Big Thumbs Up for "The Divorcee", with it's Oscar winning performance by Shearer.
See you in the morning. A ton of rain is supposed to fall, but it pales in comparison to the amount of love sent. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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