Tarzan on Blu-ray

[Mikezilla3k]

Films not yet on Blu-Ray/DVD Only

[RCRochester]

Good news for Canadian Tarzan fans, on December 31st, TCM Canada will be having a Tarzan marathon featuring the following movies:

Tarzan and the Jungle Boy (1968) - Starring Mike Henry as Tarzan.

Tarzan and his Mate (1934) - Starring Johnny Weissmuller and Maureen O'Sullivan, in a racy and risque pre-code Tarzan adventure.

Tarzan, the Ape Man (1932) - Starring Johnny Weissmuller in his debut as Tarzan.

Tarzan's Three Challenges (1963) - Starring Jock Mahoney, a good way to check out this film before the Warner Archive blu-ray release in January.

Tarzan and the Valley of Gold (1966) - Starring Mike Henry as Tarzan.

Tarzan's Greatest Adventure (1959) - Starring Gordon Scott, recently released on blu-ray by Warner Archive, features Sean Connery as a henchman.

Check out the full schedule including show times here:

http://www.tcm.com/schedule/canada/i...ate=2018-12-31

[CV19]

Originally Posted by RCRochester

With the recent release of Tarzan's Greatest Adventure on blu-ray and the announcement of the two Jock Mahoney Tarzans, I'm hopeful we'll start to see more of his adventures in the near future.

As a child, I remember watching all the Johnny Weissmuller adventures as well as some of the Lex Barker and Gordon Scott films from the 1950's too. However, for me Weissmuller was the Tarzan. This would be a bit of nostalgia for me as I honestly haven't watched any of these since I was at school.....many years ago.

[RCRochester]

Originally Posted by CV19

As a child, I remember watching all the Johnny Weissmuller adventures as well as some of the Lex Barker and Gordon Scott films from the 1950's too. However, for me Weissmuller was the Tarzan. This would be a bit of nostalgia for me as I honestly haven't watched any of these since I was at school.....many years ago.

The only Tarzan movie I saw as a kid was Greystoke when it first came out on home video in the 80s. I later saw a few of the Weissmuller films, particularly the early ones which were his best, as well as the softcore Bo Derek one.

TCM aired Tarzan's Greatest Adventure and Tarzan the Magnificent about a month before the former was announced on bluray. It was my first time seeing both of them and I thought they were great. I'm looking forward to catching up with more of these later period films with the blu-ray releases of the Mahoney films as well as the TCM airings on December 31st. I only know Mike Henry from Smokey and the Bandit so seeing him as Tarzan is going to be interesting.

[Spooked]

I've never dove into Tarzan, but this thread is a great idea - thank you for starting it! There seems to be so much fantastic material out there for this world.

[CV19]

Originally Posted by RCRochester

I'm looking forward to catching up with more of these later period films with the blu-ray releases of the Mahoney films as well as the TCM airings on December 31st. I only know Mike Henry from Smokey and the Bandit so seeing him as Tarzan is going to be interesting.

I have to say that I don't recall watching any of the Jock Mahoney or Mike Henry films, but it would be interesting to compare them to the earlier black & white versions from the 1930's/40's. Greystoke I'm sure I only ever saw the one time, so I should revisit that one.

I remember the BBC here in the UK showing the Weissmuller films during the late 1970's/early 80's period - usually a Saturday morning if I recall correctly. In those days there were lots of classic cinema from the same period shown on TV, including the Laurel & Hardy movies and various MGM musicals.

[rikraq]

I really like the Mike Henry films. They were trying to be more James Bond-like. I grew up watching Tarzan movies and reruns of the Ron Ely tv show (KPLR TV Ch. 11, good times). I even like Tarzan and the Lost City starring Casper Van Dien. Of course, Tarzan the Ape Man with Bo Derek is a guilty pleasure.

[RCRochester]

Originally Posted by rikraq

I really like the Mike Henry films. They were trying to be more James Bond-like. I grew up watching Tarzan movies and reruns of the Ron Ely tv show (KPLR TV Ch. 11, good times). I even like Tarzan and the Lost City starring Casper Van Dien. Of course, Tarzan the Ape Man with Bo Derek is a guilty pleasure.

That’s what I’ve been reading about the Mike Henry films, so I’m really curious to see how they merge Tarzan with Bond. It seems like that was quite the thing to do during Bondmania because they did the same thing with Bulldog Drummond.

My head says they probably jumped the shark a bit by doing that (or swung across the crocodile on a vine?), but my heart says that I think I’m going to enjoy them anyway. I mean, it can’t be any worse than Tarzan fighting Nazis, right?

[GrouchoFan]

This reminds me, I really need to get my Johnny Weissmuller DVD sets out and give them a spin.

I remember, back when AMC actually showed, y'know, American MOVIE Classics, they had a Tarzan Festival one weekend, with lots of stuff I hadn't seen before. Or since.

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by GrouchoFan

I remember, back when AMC actually showed, y'know, American MOVIE Classics, they had a Tarzan Festival one weekend, with lots of stuff I hadn't seen before. Or since.

TCM did a Tarzan marathon back in...let me see...June of 2004. They showed all of the classic features from the Weismuller films all the way to the Mike Henry films, with the sole exception of the 1959 Tarzan, the Ape Man with Denny Miller. They also included the 1918 Tarzan of the Apes with Elmo Lincoln, the feature version of the serial Tarzan the Fearless with Buster Crabbe, the two features derived from the serial The New Adventures of Tarzan with Herman Brix, and the 1938 Tarzan's Revenge with Glenn Morris. I managed to get them all on SVHS tape (except for the Weismullers, all of which I had on LD and DVD).

As for AMC, I think it was when they did their remake of The Prisoner, I would joke about it as neither American, a Movie, nor a Classic. But by then, they'd already rebranded themselves simply as "AMC", and stopped referring to themselves as "American Movie Classics".

[RCRochester]

So in anticipation of the Tarzan movie marathon on TCM Canada today (which I'm DVR'ing and watching later on this week) I watched my recently acquired blu-ray of Tarzan's Greatest Adventure. This is a fun, Saturday afternoon matinee type adventure movie in which Tarzan, played by Gordon Scott, tracks down a quintet of villains who have stolen some dynamite in order to blast their way into a diamond mine upriver.

Much has been said about this film being a sort of reboot in which Tarzan does away with the "Me Tarzan, You Jane" style pidgin and actually talks like an educated man, which I think adds to our confidence in his abilities as a hero. Gordon Scott does a good job as Tarzan though he still looks like a pretty clean-cut 50s guy for someone who lives in the jungle. Sara Shane plays the leading lady although there really is no romance between the characters as Tarzan is more focused on getting the job done while Shane's character seems to just annoy him by messing things up all the time, right from when she crashes a plane into the river after a bit of stunt flying, forcing Tarzan to kill a croc in order to save her. It's actually kind of funny looking at how the exhausted Tarzan seems to be really pissed off at her while she's trying to thank him.

There's some notable casting among the villains: British character Anthony Quale plays the lead heavy Slade, while Sean Connery plays an Irish henchman who spends half the time bullying his colleagues which includes Al Mullock, best known for his appearances in the spaghetti westerns of Sergio Leone.

The film is directed by Brit John Guillermin who had a pretty solid career in Hollywood which included 1984's Sheena, Queen of the Jungle! I also noticed that Nicolas Roeg (as Nick Roeg) was one of the camera operators. The images are lush and colourful and were filmed on location in Kenya, which lends an air of authenticity compared to some of the studio bound productions the past, even though the odd stock shot of jungle animals doesn't always blend well with the main footage.

I'm glad that Warner Archive released this film on blu-ray first as it's probably one of the most accessible films in the series and having Connery in the cast is a major selling point, even if it's a small role. I hope though that they continue to release these films beyond the two Jock Mahoney films coming out next month, because there's so many and they did a really good job with this one.

[Jack Webb]

I hope Warner releases more as well. The Mike Henry films are particularly entertaining.

[RCRochester]

It's not on blu-ray but today I watched my DVR recording of Tarzan and the Valley of Gold starring Mike Henry. As has already been stated, the film had a bit of a Bond influence, mainly during the beginning (although there is a scene later on involving a helicopter where Tarzan outright steals a quip from From Russia With Love), but once the movie gets going, Tarzan dons the loincloth and it turns into a fairly standard Tarzan adventure, only set in Mexico with some wonderful location shots. Mike Henry makes for a pretty stiff leading man though, even by Tarzan standards, and I'm not surprised he ended up suing over unsafe working conditions considering for one thing you have an adult male lion just running around beside him, sometimes with a 6-year-old kid riding on its back and pyrotechnics going off around them. In the end though, it was a pretty fun movie.

[rikraq]

Originally Posted by RCRochester

Mike Henry makes for a pretty stiff leading man though, even by Tarzan standards

[StingingVelvet]

I really like the 80's version with Connor McLeod of the Clan McLeod. The latest one was pretty crap though. What's the best of the older ones, if I want to try one? I tend to only like 60's and up stuff, but you never know.

[RCRochester]

Originally Posted by StingingVelvet

I really like the 80's version with Connor McLeod of the Clan McLeod. The latest one was pretty crap though. What's the best of the older ones, if I want to try one? I tend to only like 60's and up stuff, but you never know.

I didn’t think the last one was crap but it wasn’t all that memorable to me.

Tarzan’s Greatest Adventure which I talked about a few posts above is regarded as one of the best, so if you’re not interested in the old 30s ones, that’d be a good one to check out. It’s from 1959 so its filmmaking style is close to a movie from the 60s.

[SMOOT]

I hope that next week's 2 Tarzan films coming to Blu-ray will sell well enough for Warner to issue more. The Weissmuller's (especially the MGM ones) plus "Tarzan the Magnificent" are the ones that I want.

[Jsandall]

Thanks for all of this, I've been getting into the books for the first time at almost 50! I've been wanting to get into the films, this is great info. Really appreciate it.

[RCRochester]

Originally Posted by Jsandall

Thanks for all of this, I've been getting into the books for the first time at almost 50! I've been wanting to get into the films, this is great info. Really appreciate it.

Funny you should bump this thread. I just watched Tarzan and the Jungle Boy last night, which I had on my DVR from December. I thought it was quite enjoyable. More of a traditional Tarzan film starring Mike Henry (filmed in Brazil but set in Africa), with a pair of brothers warring for control of a local tribe of natives, and Tarzan teaming up with a sexy female reporter (played by former Bond girl Aliza Gur) to look for a Tarzan-esque boy living in the jungle.

I actually did pick up the two Jock Mahoney titles on blu-ray earlier this month but haven't gotten around to watching them yet.

[davidsal]

Originally Posted by RCRochester

This is a dedicated thread to all of the various incarnations of Edgar Rice Burroughs's famous creation on blu-ray, as well as discussions about the films themselves, whether they're on blu-ray or not.

With the recent release of Tarzan's Greatest Adventure on blu-ray and the announcement of the two Jock Mahoney Tarzans, I'm hopeful we'll start to see more of his adventures in the near future.

The guys from the Warner Archive Podcast hinted that there are more Tarzan on the way. That was on the show where they talk about the last two blurays. I think they want to release the Cinemascope ones.