Only the Italians would have the audacity to focus an entire film around the spectacle of a "jungle girl" running around wearing only a small thong. A cheap and shoddy bad film which will prove to be a hoot for lovers of the obscure and bizarre, this set-bound jungle adventure romp features a group of guys and girls hunting through the jungle for a girl who has been brought up in the wild by animals. All manner of low-budget mayhem ensues, as half of the party turn out to be traitors and vicious natives and jungle animals attack. The plot is nothing more than a female version of the oft-filmed Tarzan story, but it lacks the curious mixture of glossiness and raw excitement that most Tarzan films have to offer. Instead, we're left with unconvincing sets and plenty of stock footage to pad out the predictable tale.
Inserted scenes include plenty of native rituals (in which topless black women dance seductively to the beat of a drum) and plenty of shots of elephants going about their business in the jungle. Sometimes the film cuts between a set-bound jungle location to a shot of Tarzana swinging through the trees on a vine and the effect is less than impressive. Tarzana also plays with lions and an irritating chimpanzee to show how close to nature she is. Of course, most of the danger comes from within the party of explorers rather than outside as their ranks are torn apart by scheming baddies wanting to get a large inheritance for themselves.
The cast is a usual stereotyped B-movie bunch, with the square-jawed fearless leader, the supporting buxom blonde bimbo, the evil upper-class Brit (who bears an uncanny resemblance to Tim Curry!), to the swarthy bad guy, the overweight jolly bearded friend and the lower-down-the-line native guides, whose lives are predictably cheap. Femi Benussi essays the role of Tarzana and frankly I found her to be pretty irritating. Sure, she walks around topless for the entire movie, but her childlike naivety quickly becomes wearing and her character a fool. Much more to my style was Franca Polesello playing the token blonde, who also spends the film stripping off and taking impromptu showers in waterfalls. Hilariously, she bares her breasts at the end of the movie, in order to appetise the male viewers and also show Tarzana that she is the "same" as her.
Ken Clark is the imported American lead and manages to be quite a likable chap, although his expression is limited and his character even more so. Being a film made in the late '60s, with the boundaries of censorship breaking down, the film introduces a minor sleazy aspect to the proceedings as a pervert watches the naked girls with glee and later on tries unsuccessfully to rape one of the women. As the nudity actually fits the context in this case the characters seem at ease with it and it does seem natural, and at least has a plot as well (unlike the majority of those cheapie nudist-flick pics of the early '60s). The violence, of people being shot, speared or eaten by a cheetah, is bloodless and kept to a minimum. While admittedly a bad movie, TARZANA, THE WILD GIRL is a fun film to watch with much to recommend to bad film lovers.
Inserted scenes include plenty of native rituals (in which topless black women dance seductively to the beat of a drum) and plenty of shots of elephants going about their business in the jungle. Sometimes the film cuts between a set-bound jungle location to a shot of Tarzana swinging through the trees on a vine and the effect is less than impressive. Tarzana also plays with lions and an irritating chimpanzee to show how close to nature she is. Of course, most of the danger comes from within the party of explorers rather than outside as their ranks are torn apart by scheming baddies wanting to get a large inheritance for themselves.
The cast is a usual stereotyped B-movie bunch, with the square-jawed fearless leader, the supporting buxom blonde bimbo, the evil upper-class Brit (who bears an uncanny resemblance to Tim Curry!), to the swarthy bad guy, the overweight jolly bearded friend and the lower-down-the-line native guides, whose lives are predictably cheap. Femi Benussi essays the role of Tarzana and frankly I found her to be pretty irritating. Sure, she walks around topless for the entire movie, but her childlike naivety quickly becomes wearing and her character a fool. Much more to my style was Franca Polesello playing the token blonde, who also spends the film stripping off and taking impromptu showers in waterfalls. Hilariously, she bares her breasts at the end of the movie, in order to appetise the male viewers and also show Tarzana that she is the "same" as her.
Ken Clark is the imported American lead and manages to be quite a likable chap, although his expression is limited and his character even more so. Being a film made in the late '60s, with the boundaries of censorship breaking down, the film introduces a minor sleazy aspect to the proceedings as a pervert watches the naked girls with glee and later on tries unsuccessfully to rape one of the women. As the nudity actually fits the context in this case the characters seem at ease with it and it does seem natural, and at least has a plot as well (unlike the majority of those cheapie nudist-flick pics of the early '60s). The violence, of people being shot, speared or eaten by a cheetah, is bloodless and kept to a minimum. While admittedly a bad movie, TARZANA, THE WILD GIRL is a fun film to watch with much to recommend to bad film lovers.