Swamp Fire (1946) User Reviews

Bayou Tapestry

[richardchatten · 5/10 · 30 September 2017]

Historically of interest as Johnny Weissmuller's only starring vehicle in a role other than Tarzan or Jungle Jim, 'Swamp Fire' boasts an original screenplay by Geoffrey Homes - soon to script the classic 'Out of the Past' - and has a solid supporting cast led by shoulder-padded femme fatale Virginia Grey and a moustached and outrageously accented Buster Crabbe as the villain. Weissmuller as usual fights an alligator, but the most daunting task the film presents him with is appearing throughout fully clothed and speaking in sentences.

'Swamp Fire' is for the most part a subdued drama with Weissmuller moodily carrying the baggage of his war service in the coast guard when he lost a ship under his command. The featured cast's scenes are all obviously shot on the soundstage; the Louisiana footage evidently the work of a second unit employing stand-ins, including a montage of various New Orleans bars - starting with the 'Historical Old Absinthe House' - that Weissmuller boozes his way through on a massive bender before he regains his mojo.

B-Movie makes good --- even after 60 years.

[vitaleralphlouis · 6/10 · 3 September 2008]

SWAMP FIRE never aspired to be anything more than a low budget B-movie intended for the double feature trade that thrived in the 1940's. Oddly, 37% of the votes on IMDb are a "10" -- no more idiotic than the 10-scores given to so many rotten pictures of 2006-2006 -- but equally inaccurate.

The main asset is Johnny Weissmuller -- herein playing a rare non-Tarzan role during the time when he was still thriving in his Tarzan role. But it doesn't end there. This is a tidy little good story about the Cajuns (and others) living in southern Louisiana at the time just after World War II. Even in 2008 the narrative holds up well and the swamp atmosphere is a big plus.

Ignore the reference to 2 Tarzans. Technically Buster Crabbe did play Tarzan, but almost nobody saw that movie. Johnny Weissmuller was the only true Tarzan to most folks, although I also credit Lex Barker.

Here's the inside word: Weissmuller was ready to quit Tarzan -- after 14 years -- for just one reason. In Swamp Water, as in Jungle Jim, he was allowed to wear clothes; not just a loin cloth. The ravages of age get the best of us all.

adventure in the bayou, tarzan vs. tarzan

[ksf-2 · 5/10 · 3 July 2018]

As the film opens, the narrator explains the swampland behind the credits, and how they must defend against fires. "Johnny" (Weissmuller) has just come back from war, home to the bayou and to "Toni" (Carol Thurston, who was actually 16 years younger than Weissmuller). Distractions for both Johnny and Toni... Virginia Grey is the rude, snooty outsider Janet, who is chasing Johnny, and local boy Mike (Buster Crabbe) has been after Toni the whole film. Another plot point here is that Johnny keeps having war-time flashbacks, and that has been delaying him from getting back into the ship piloting. Things happen quite fast, once they get going... it's only 69 minutes, so there really isn't much time for character development. Everything happens, all at once. and the storyline is kind of all over the map. Antics ensue. It's passable adventure. Directed by William Pine, who had co-founded prolific Pine Thomas studios. Story is ok. Picture quality is pretty bad... it seems to be a copy of a copy. Written by Daniel Mainwaring, who had written TONS of crime stories and adventure novels.

What Really Happened When Two Famous Movie Tarzans Square Off ...One Against The Other!

[wgie · 8 May 2005]

What happens behind the scenes of "Swamp Fire" are much more interesting that the film itself.

Some time ago around 1973 I attended a Western Film Festival, and was provided the opportunity to ask Buster Crabbe a question. My question simply put was this, "I have often wondered if you and Johnny Weissmuller (both famous movie Tarzans and both Olympic Gold Medalist in swimming ever had the opportunity to compete in swimming one against the other? Mr. Crabbe was very gracious as he corrected me by saying that there was only one great movie Tarzan, and that was Weissmuller. He panned his portrayal of Tarazan and indicated he was best remembered as for being the movies first "Flash Gordon" and "Buck Rodgers" of the cliff hanger chapter serials.

He then went on to tell me about his stormy relationship with Johnny Weismuller over the years. Apparently, Weismuller beat Crabbe's mentor, the legendary Duke Kahanomoku in the 1924 Olympics in the 100 Meter Free Style. Several years later while Buster Crabbe was preparing for his eventual victory in the 1934 Olympic 400 meter Free Style...the two met, and Crabbe challenged Weissmuller to a swim. Weismuller who by this time had gained a few pounds accepted the cocky Crabbe's challenge for a 100 Meter Free Style competition in a good natured way. Crabbe narrowly beat the older Weismuller, and joked..."Johnny...See you in the 400 Meter Free Style event.", all the while realizing this was his stongest swimming event, and that an out of shape Weissmuller had even a lesser chance than before of beating him. Weissmuller apparently didn't appreciate the comment responding, "Not me kid!". In 1933 Crabbe made two Tarzan type movies "King of the Jungle" and "Tarzan the Fearless" in an attempt to replace Weissmuller as Tarzan of the movies. The effort failed as neither film was memorable, but the fact remained that Crabbe had tried to replace Weismuller and this did not sit well with Johnny. Years later in 1946 the two great Olympic athletes signed for the William H. Pine film "Swamp Fire". Weissmuller was set to play the "good guy" and Crabbe signed to play the "heavy". Crabbe indicated that while making the film an out of shape Johnny Weissmuller liked to drink bourbon between scenes. The Director, William Pine, approached Crabbe about the films final fight scene, telling him he wanted to be very realistic....and he wanted a lot of bubbles during the underwater fight between him and Weissmuller. Crabbe complied and aggressively grabbed Weissmuller as he pulled him down into the water and held him. Bubbles were flaring up everywhere, as the intoxicated Weissmuller fought for a breath of air. Crabbe indicated he regretted doing that to Weissmuller...but the apology didn't seem to work as Weissmuller continued to be distant to him throughout the years.

"God is My Bar Pilot"

[lugonian · 5/10 · 22 September 2008]

SWAMP FIRE (Paramount, 1946), directed by William H. Pine, marked a rare opportunity for Olympic champion Johnny Weissmuller in a non-Tarzan performance for the very first time on screen (not counting a cameo appearance in the 1943 all-star musical, STAGE DOOR CANTEEN for United Artists). Having acquired the role and loincloth since his introduction as the Jungle Lord in TARZAN THE APE MAN (MGM, 1932), followed by nearly ten sequels thus far, Weissmuller finally got his chance breaking away from the jungle into something completely different, a he-man adventure in the tradition of William H. Pine, producer and director of profitable "B" products since the early 1940s, many starring Richard Arlen. SWAMP FIRE provides Weissmuller a chance to enact fully clothed, either in striped shirt and cap or coast guard uniform. He does get to do Tarzan-like duties such as diving into the river and wrestling an alligator in order to rescue a lady in distress, along with battling with a villain, played by another former Olympic champ, Larry "Buster" Crabbe, who, at one point in Hollywood history, rivaled Weissmuller with an independent production as TARZAN THE FEARLESS (1933).

The story opens with this narrative that gives the general idea of both story and leading character: "Here in the delta country of Louisiana where the Mississippi merges with the gulf, at pilot town 90 river miles below New Orleans, lives a courageous and colorful group of men, the Associated Bar Pilots. Summer and winter, calm and storm, the bar pilots are on duty taking ships across the dangerous bars into the river. There the river pilots take over and guide the craft northward to New Orleans. Always members of the coast guard reserve, the bar pilots enlisted for active duty during the war. Most continued their piloted duties. Others were assigned to combat. Our story is about one of these. Pilot Johnny Duval returns from combat duty in the home on the Delta." Fade in: Johnny Duval (Johnny Weissmuller), a coast guard, is on his way home to Cypress Point after serving in World War II. Not exactly a hero, he is haunted by nightmarish flashbacks and guilt for losing both his men and ship during combat duty. After having his row boat hit by "Higgins," a passing motor boat belonging to Janet Hilton (Virginia Grey), an attractive but quick tempered society girl from the city, Johnny agrees taking her with him so she can acquire a boat to rent. Janet meets with Johnny friends, but makes a bad impression on them with her attitude. Johnny's love for Toni (Carol Thurston) stirs up jealousy towards Mike Kalavich (Larry "Buster" Crabbe - sporting mustache and Russian accent), a trapper who intends on taking her away from Johnny. Before the title of "Swamp Fire" takes its toll, Johnny, who has conquered his fear by performing a heroic duty, is recommissioned as lieutenant in the coast guard, later meeting with another accident that finds him destitute and drowning his sorrows by getting drunk in bars. After being struck by an car and placed in a hospital, he is soon taken in by Janet with every intention of separating him from both his people and fiancé so to have him for herself.

While SWAMP FIRE might have opened up a whole new career for Weissmuller, ranging in similar roles enacted by other jungle heroes as Jon Hall or Buster Crabbe, SWAMP WATER is has some moments of interest in having Weissmuller in more contemporary settings, speaking in complete sentences unlike his Tarzan character, and having kissing scenes with his female co-star (Thurston). Other than that, the story is basically 69 minutes of routine material. Others members of the cast include Edwin Maxwell (Captain Pierre Moise); Pedro DeCordoba (Jim Rousseau); Pierre Watkin (P.T. Hilton); and Marcelle Corday (Grandmere Rousseau).

Rarely seen on television since the mid 1980s, current prints of SWAMP FIRE eliminate its original Paramount logo with either Grand National or Special Pictures for its studio opening, the latter found in the Alpha Video DVD distribution. Although watchable with some exciting scenes, SWAMP WATER it's hardly a memorable event. After the release of SWAMP FIRE, Weissmuller returned to the African jungle in a couple more "Tarzan" adventures before starting out a whole new adventure in another film series, as "Jungle Jim" for Columbia, with one entry co-starring Buster Crabbe.(**1/2)

I wanna watch this one with a Cajun!

[planktonrules · 3/10 · 8 March 2011]

I am probably not the best person to review this film. That's because it's set in the swamps of Louisiana and I have little knowledge of this or its people. So, when I hear actors putting on Cajun accents and behaving like locals, I really don't know how good a job they are doing. I sure wish I could have sat down with a Cajun to get their input.

This is a very low budget B-movie that I chose to watch because of its very interesting casting choices. Johnny Weissmuller AND Buster Crabbe star in this one. Both played Tarzan (though Crabbe only in one film) and both were American Olympic swimming champs! Weissmuller plays a river pilot who has just returned from war. Unfortunately, his confidence is shot following the sinking of one of his boats in combat--now he's afraid to return to guiding boats through the treacherous rivers and bayous. However, in a pretty cool scene, Weissmuller is tricked into 'saving the day' and assuming command of a ship--thus regaining his pride and confidence. Things now look good--he gets a job with the Coast Guard and can marry his sweetheart. But, when another accident occurs, his confidence is once again shaken and a spoiled rich lady conspires to keep him for herself and separate himself his friends and fiancée. Can Weissmuller see the light or is he doomed to be a rich lady's new toy? Tune in, if you'd like, to see.

The film has several obvious strikes against it. Weissmuller has very little screen presence here. As Tarzan he was great but here his character just lacks energy and charisma. Crabbe is better. He does overact a bit but at least has tons of energy and personality (even though he's a baddie). The other main problem is that the film, despite its very unusual setting, is rather clichéd and quite predictable. It's not a terrible B-movie but it's also not a particularly distinguished one--and one you can easily skip.

Johnny and Buster have fun in the Cajun Sun!

[Michael1958 · 5/10 · 24 October 2002]

What a movie, what great acting! Not! The two guys who both played Tarzan, take on this high drama appearing as rough and tough cajuns in bayou country. Who is more of the stud? Who has the gals and alligators panting heavy each time they swagger by? You have to see this film to believe it. Johnny without his loin cloth and Buster without his French Foreign Legion cap from his tv days. I saw this movie at 5 in the morning about 20 years ago and boy was it the cure for insomnia. I was soon dozing off watching this junkbalaya. I kept awake only to see it's outcome. It is worth at least one watching. Then you will do as I did and say: "I shall not watch this film willingly again." I gave it a 5 vote wise for it's wonderful comedy moments, which I think was really supposed to be dramatic moments. Oh well, I am so low brow.

MM

Bayou Tarzans

[bkoganbing · 4/10 · 5 January 2012]

In between the Tarzan and Jungle Jim series of films, Johnny Weissmuller got to this item with one of his fellow film Tarzans. Swamp Fire casts Weissmuller and Buster Crabbe as a pair of bayou locals who are rivals for Carol Thurston.

Weissmuller saw war service in the Coast Guard while Crabbe basically sat World War II out. It's mentioned that the Coast Guard wouldn't take him, but there are other branches of the service. The fact that he apparently didn't do any service should have set off alarm bells with his issues.

But Weissmuller has a few of his own. He lost a craft in the Pacific and that upsets any man who makes a living on the water. But that doesn't bother Thurston nor rich New Orleans society woman Virginia Grey who eyes Weissmuller like a slab of beef at the butcher shop.

Crabbe gets really annoyed that Weissmuller's now got two women panting after him and he can't get to first base with Thurston once Weissmuller returned. It sets up all their conflicts for the remainder of the film.

Although Buster Crabbe did many roles besides Tarzan in his career, this was it for Johnny Weissmuller who had gotten too old for Tarzan. Other than the gimmick of the two Tarzans in bayou heat, there's not a whole lot else to recommend Swamp Fire.

Tarzan vs. Tarzan in the Lousiana bayou!

[reptilicus · 8/10 · 18 August 2007]

At some time in studio boardroom had to have said "Let's put those 2 guys that played Tarzan together in one movie. This idea will sell itself to the distributors." He was probably right because SWAMP FIRE is a decently made, well paced movie that does not disappoint viewers.

Johnny Weissmuller starts as Johnny Duval, a war hero returning to his bayou home. He lost a ship he was in command of during the war and vows he will not take up his old position as bar pilot. This does not at all bother his old rival Mike (Buster Crabbe sporting a mustache and a Cajun accent) who sees this as a chance to make time with Johnny's old sweetheart Toni (Carol Thurston, who also appeared with Weissmuller in the Jungle Jim movie KILLER APE (1951)). Too bad but Toni only has eyes for Johnny. To make matters worse a spoiled rich girl (Virgina Grey) has set her sights on Johnny and coerces her dad (Pierre Watkin) to buy up a lot of bayou land and outlaw all trapping, which means the local folks can no longer hunt to feed their families. Is that enough plot for you? Wait, there is a lot more to come, and somehow it all fits into the 68 minutes running time without any of the resolutions seeming like a plot contrivance.

Johnny faces his demons while navigating rough waters one night but just when you think things are going to start going well he is piloting another ship through a dense fog and rams a smaller boat captained by Toni's father! Trying to drink himself to oblivion he is found Ms. Grey who uses this opportunity to poison his mind against Toni. Does it work? Does it ever? Don't forget the jealous Mike is still hanging around and think Johnny has sold out his own people to join the yacht club crowd. He plans a revenge where he plans to . . . oh well . . . you saw the title of the movie, right?

The cast is fabulous. Pierre Watkin had played Perry White in both SUPERMAN serials for Columbia Pictures. Ms. Grey would go on to encounter dinosaurs in UNKNOWN ISLAND in 1948. Mr. Crabbe found a home in B westerns and Mr. Weissmuller never really leave the jungle; starring as Jungle Jim in movies and TV for many years to come.

Budget restraints are pretty obvious. This movie must set a record for the number of rear screen projection shots used but it is still fairly believable and fun to watch.

Johnny Weissmuller Keeps His Shirt On

[boblipton · 4/10 · 24 January 2024]

It's Cajun country about the bar pilots, the fellows who get the ships from the Gulf of Mexico through the maze of the Mississippi delta. Here's Johnny Weissmuller, returned from the war with some form of PTSD that has him afraid to pilot a ship, until Pierre Watkin's yacht is stuck in the mud. He gets it through just fine, abusing Watkin's daughter, Virginia Gray. So naturally she wants him, as does Cajun girl Carol Thurston, whom Cajun Buster Crabbe also lusts for.

It's another of the Pine-Thomas B movies for Paramount, which made use of sturdy plots and stars fallen on hard times and available on the cheap. Here the star is Weissmuller. He was still doing the Tarzan series, but for Sol Lesser at RKO. This was, presumably, his chance to show he could act, but while Bill Pine gets a decent performance out of him until he recovers his mojo, after that he becomes rather blah. He does get to wrestle an alligator, and to rescue Miss Thurston from the titular fire, but if that's enough to keep you interested for 69 minutes, you're a more patient man than I am. With Pedro de Cordoba, Edwin Maxwell, and Joseph Crehan.

Ex-Tarzan Crabbe's flaring nostrils out-acts ex-Tarzan Weissmuller's chest.

[horn-5 · 7 June 2001]

Because they were produced for and distributed by Paramount, the B-films from William H. Pine and William C. Thomas (known as the Dollar Bills)have acquired,for the most part, an undeserved reputation for being little jewels among the "B" genre. Stick a PRC or Monogram logo on most of them and the same historians who are ga-ga over them behind the Paramount logo would likely write them off as just more dross from Poverty Row. Not me, Bucky...I'd still love them for what they really were; Saturday matinee double-feature fodder. Highlights in this one include a fist-fight between Johnny Weissmuller and Buster Crabbe (I won't give away the winner, but check the cast order); a cat-fight between Virginia Grey and Carol Thurston that the male cast of Sienfeld would pay to see and, just to keep things moving, Weissmuller wrestles an alligator, there are two mid-water collisions between small-craft boats, a big ship wreck and a blazing swamp fire finale. Toss in a plot that has Weissmuller as a psycho-neurotic war veteran who, because he piled up his Navy destroyer on the rocks, now dreads returning to his pre-war occupation of a pilot guiding ships through the channels at the mouth of the Mississippi. Throw in icy Virginia Grey as a spoiled heiress out to take Johnny away from his job, his friends and the girl he loves (who knows why), and you have enough plot and action for two Pine-Thomas jewels. Heck of a good deal.

Pretty Good Indie

[dougdoepke · 10 December 2015]

For a cheap indie production, the movie does a pretty good job approximating Louisiana's bayous. Even the process shots are pretty well done. Getting Crabbe and Weismuller together was a casting coup. They make formidable rivals, especially in the water. The storyline sprawls a bit. But the main part has Duval (Weissmuller) trying to regain self-respect after piling up a couple of ships during the war and in the bayous. As a result, he's lost his commision. Also there's the problem of escaping spider woman Janet's (Grey) clutches and getting back to true love Toni (Thurston).

Weismuller's a little bland, which is likely why he preferred being called an athlete rather than an actor (IMDB). On the other hand, Crabbe's fiery as hot-headed bayou trapper, Mike. Sounds like writer Mainwaring gets in a leftist plug when he has Mike denounce rich man Hilton's purchase of the bayou which previously had been a commons. Unfortunately, the locals depended upon that commons for subsistence. The conflict sets up an interesting potential that unfortunately doesn't get beyond a quick plot device. It's also a general topic with a long history down to present day.

I guess I'd never considered how cargo ships navigated the Mississippi Delta to get to port New Orleans. Thanks to the movie, I have a new appreciation, though I wonder how much has changed in 70-years. Anyway, it's a rather unusual little feature, on the whole well done, with two of the biggest outdoor muscle men of the time.