This is the fourth MGM Tarzan film starring Johnny Weismuller and Maureen O'Sullivan. The film begins with a plane crashing in Africa. All but a boy die in the crash and the child is rescued--much like Tarzan was saved years ago. The boy is taken to Tarzan and Jane's jungle condo and they adopt the child.
Five years have passed and the family is deliriously happy. However, their idyllic family life is disrupted when a search party arrives. They are relatives of the boy and indicate he is the heir to the Greystoke fortune*--and want to take him back to England to claim his inheritance. But what this jungle family does not know is that all but nice Henry Stephenson from this rescue party are jerks and they plan on using the child to claim the fortune and then dispose of him! Tarzan isn't sure of their plan--he just wants to keep Boy, as he loves him like his very own son. But Jane is tricked into believing that sending the boy with these people is in his best interest, so she tricks Tarzan and helps the group escape with Boy. Only then does she learn that they are a bunch of wicked jerks--and by then it appears too late. Can Tarzan somehow escape and rescue his family or are they fated to be killed? Tune in and see.
This is another well-made Tarzan film from MGM--and not to be confused with the many, many badly made Tarzan films made by lesser production companies. While it's not nearly as good as the earlier Tarzan films, it still is quite entertaining and well-acted.
By the way, unlike the early films in this series, the studio appeared to real African elephants in some scenes. Training this variety of pachyderm was much tougher than the Asian elephants used previously but it did make the film look more accurate. So how did they manage to do it? Well, they were Asian ones fitted with prosthetic ears! While they did this also in "Tarzan and His Mate", it looked really bad. Here, however, it's harder to recognize the clever deception. Too bad they still used a few guys in ape costumes here and there! Otherwise, a very good production. And, if it seems a bit familiar, the plot for this film was awfully similar to the earlier Weissmuller film "Tarzan Escapes".
By the way, was it just me or did Boy seem a bit stupid?! It seemed like every five minutes the kid was nearly getting himself killed! In one scene he messes with a rhino and with another he nearly gets swept down a waterfall. But, like Kenny, the kid seems to somehow survive.
*This is a weird plot element, as in the original Edgar Rice Burroughs story, it was Tarzan himself that was the heir to this Greystoke fortune. Why this was changed in this film is odd. Perhaps this would make Boy one of Tarzan's close biological relatives.
Five years have passed and the family is deliriously happy. However, their idyllic family life is disrupted when a search party arrives. They are relatives of the boy and indicate he is the heir to the Greystoke fortune*--and want to take him back to England to claim his inheritance. But what this jungle family does not know is that all but nice Henry Stephenson from this rescue party are jerks and they plan on using the child to claim the fortune and then dispose of him! Tarzan isn't sure of their plan--he just wants to keep Boy, as he loves him like his very own son. But Jane is tricked into believing that sending the boy with these people is in his best interest, so she tricks Tarzan and helps the group escape with Boy. Only then does she learn that they are a bunch of wicked jerks--and by then it appears too late. Can Tarzan somehow escape and rescue his family or are they fated to be killed? Tune in and see.
This is another well-made Tarzan film from MGM--and not to be confused with the many, many badly made Tarzan films made by lesser production companies. While it's not nearly as good as the earlier Tarzan films, it still is quite entertaining and well-acted.
By the way, unlike the early films in this series, the studio appeared to real African elephants in some scenes. Training this variety of pachyderm was much tougher than the Asian elephants used previously but it did make the film look more accurate. So how did they manage to do it? Well, they were Asian ones fitted with prosthetic ears! While they did this also in "Tarzan and His Mate", it looked really bad. Here, however, it's harder to recognize the clever deception. Too bad they still used a few guys in ape costumes here and there! Otherwise, a very good production. And, if it seems a bit familiar, the plot for this film was awfully similar to the earlier Weissmuller film "Tarzan Escapes".
By the way, was it just me or did Boy seem a bit stupid?! It seemed like every five minutes the kid was nearly getting himself killed! In one scene he messes with a rhino and with another he nearly gets swept down a waterfall. But, like Kenny, the kid seems to somehow survive.
*This is a weird plot element, as in the original Edgar Rice Burroughs story, it was Tarzan himself that was the heir to this Greystoke fortune. Why this was changed in this film is odd. Perhaps this would make Boy one of Tarzan's close biological relatives.