TARZAN ESCAPES (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1936), directed by Richard Thorpe, based on the characters created by Edgar Rice Burroughs, reunites Johnny Weissmuller and Maureen O'Sullivan in their third outing as Tarzan and Jane. While this ranks as one of the finer films in the series, it's best known today mostly for an intense scene that doesn't exist in the finished product. Following the controversial TARZAN AND HIS MATE (1934) with such notables as Jane's skimpy two-piece outfit along with her long shot skinny dipping alongside Tarzan, TARZAN ESCAPES does have its moments of controversy such as some graphic violence, with much of it trimmed, hence the Production Code that had recently gone into effect.
The story starts off with plot development and character introduction involving Rita and Eric (Benita Hume and William Henry) who hire Captain Fry (John Buckler, whose physical appearance resembles that of Basil Rathbone) to lead them to the Mulia Escarpment and locate their cousin, Jane Parker, living somewhere in the jungles of Africa. During their expedition, which consists of Herbert Henry Rawlins, better known as Jiggs (Herbert Mundin), and Bomba, (Darby Jones), Fry's native boy, the Parkers do find Jane (O'Sullivan), taking residence in a tree house with Tarzan (Weissmuller), her mate. After a happy reunion, Rita informs Jane of a large inheritance and must return to England in order to claim it. Learning that they have financed the expedition with their last savings, and being torn between her loyalty to her family and Tarzan, Jane agrees to go on the condition that she's spend an entire day with Tarzan before departing, with the indication that Tarzan understands that she will be return after signing the documents to have the couple rightfully claim the money. In the meantime, Fry, who reveals himself as a conniving villain, convinces Tarzan that Jane is never coming back and succeeds into tricking Tarzan into a specialty built metal cage where he attempts to take the jungle man back to civilization where Fry attempts to make money by showcasing him as a circus attraction.
TARZAN ESCAPES has Tarzan doing just as the title indicates. After he is caged, and desperate in reclaiming Jane, he manages to break out with the help of his elephant friends, and avenge himself on the evil Fry. As mentioned earlier, the most celebrated scene missing from the final print is the one where Tarzan fights off devil bats and hostile pygmies in a haze-shrouded swamp. According to one of the "Tarzan" documentaries featuring O'Sullivan reminiscing about how the terrifying devil bat scene took nearly a week to complete, only to be deleted following a preview by which audiences found too intense. Although much of the movie had been toned down through edits and revisions, which explains why it was in production for nearly two years, the finished product of TARZAN ESCAPES can still be considered graphic for its time anyway, especially in what results with certain characters, especially Captain Fry, making this possibly the last "adult oriented" Tarzan adventure. Herbert Mundin as Jiggs, along with Tarzan's pet chimp, Cheetah, set the tone in breaking away from the seriousness in obtaining moments of amusement, such as Jiggs attempting to swing from tree to tree on Tarzan's vine with not much success. This became the last in the series to provide Jane with her operatic distress call as well as her leaping from the tree into the arms of Tarzan like a professional acrobat.
As much as Johnny Weissmuller can be criticized for his bad acting at times, and doing nothing more than being Tarzan of the movies, belting out his jungle yells for example, he's more articulate than in the previous two films, with his speech consisting of mono syllables that would remain through the duration of the Tarzan/Weissmuller series, he convincingly shows the emotional impact and tender side to his character, especially the thought of losing Jane. In a rare instance used in the series, Tarzan's fight in him is gone and at this point doesn't care what happens to him as he lets himself get captured by hunters. He shows his true love for Jane in allowing her return to England, especially through those sentimental moments as the couple spend their last day together at their own private Garden of Eden swimming and resting themselves alongside the lake. This tender scene usually got the ax whenever this 90 minute movie played on a 90 minute time shot on commercial television, which could be shown that way without spoiling the continuity so to have longer ad time. Regardless of difficulties in getting this movie completed, this third MGM installment is certainly no disappointment.
TARZAN ESCAPES, along with other Tarzan adventures produced by MGM, were distributed on video cassette in the early 1990s, and presented, with the exception of TARZAN THE APE MAN (1932), to have a successful run on American Movie Classics from 1997 to 2000, before premiering on Turner Classic Movies in June 2004 along with its distribution on DVD about the same time.(***) Next chapter: TARZAN FINDS A SON (1939).
The story starts off with plot development and character introduction involving Rita and Eric (Benita Hume and William Henry) who hire Captain Fry (John Buckler, whose physical appearance resembles that of Basil Rathbone) to lead them to the Mulia Escarpment and locate their cousin, Jane Parker, living somewhere in the jungles of Africa. During their expedition, which consists of Herbert Henry Rawlins, better known as Jiggs (Herbert Mundin), and Bomba, (Darby Jones), Fry's native boy, the Parkers do find Jane (O'Sullivan), taking residence in a tree house with Tarzan (Weissmuller), her mate. After a happy reunion, Rita informs Jane of a large inheritance and must return to England in order to claim it. Learning that they have financed the expedition with their last savings, and being torn between her loyalty to her family and Tarzan, Jane agrees to go on the condition that she's spend an entire day with Tarzan before departing, with the indication that Tarzan understands that she will be return after signing the documents to have the couple rightfully claim the money. In the meantime, Fry, who reveals himself as a conniving villain, convinces Tarzan that Jane is never coming back and succeeds into tricking Tarzan into a specialty built metal cage where he attempts to take the jungle man back to civilization where Fry attempts to make money by showcasing him as a circus attraction.
TARZAN ESCAPES has Tarzan doing just as the title indicates. After he is caged, and desperate in reclaiming Jane, he manages to break out with the help of his elephant friends, and avenge himself on the evil Fry. As mentioned earlier, the most celebrated scene missing from the final print is the one where Tarzan fights off devil bats and hostile pygmies in a haze-shrouded swamp. According to one of the "Tarzan" documentaries featuring O'Sullivan reminiscing about how the terrifying devil bat scene took nearly a week to complete, only to be deleted following a preview by which audiences found too intense. Although much of the movie had been toned down through edits and revisions, which explains why it was in production for nearly two years, the finished product of TARZAN ESCAPES can still be considered graphic for its time anyway, especially in what results with certain characters, especially Captain Fry, making this possibly the last "adult oriented" Tarzan adventure. Herbert Mundin as Jiggs, along with Tarzan's pet chimp, Cheetah, set the tone in breaking away from the seriousness in obtaining moments of amusement, such as Jiggs attempting to swing from tree to tree on Tarzan's vine with not much success. This became the last in the series to provide Jane with her operatic distress call as well as her leaping from the tree into the arms of Tarzan like a professional acrobat.
As much as Johnny Weissmuller can be criticized for his bad acting at times, and doing nothing more than being Tarzan of the movies, belting out his jungle yells for example, he's more articulate than in the previous two films, with his speech consisting of mono syllables that would remain through the duration of the Tarzan/Weissmuller series, he convincingly shows the emotional impact and tender side to his character, especially the thought of losing Jane. In a rare instance used in the series, Tarzan's fight in him is gone and at this point doesn't care what happens to him as he lets himself get captured by hunters. He shows his true love for Jane in allowing her return to England, especially through those sentimental moments as the couple spend their last day together at their own private Garden of Eden swimming and resting themselves alongside the lake. This tender scene usually got the ax whenever this 90 minute movie played on a 90 minute time shot on commercial television, which could be shown that way without spoiling the continuity so to have longer ad time. Regardless of difficulties in getting this movie completed, this third MGM installment is certainly no disappointment.
TARZAN ESCAPES, along with other Tarzan adventures produced by MGM, were distributed on video cassette in the early 1990s, and presented, with the exception of TARZAN THE APE MAN (1932), to have a successful run on American Movie Classics from 1997 to 2000, before premiering on Turner Classic Movies in June 2004 along with its distribution on DVD about the same time.(***) Next chapter: TARZAN FINDS A SON (1939).