Tarzan Finds a Son! (1939)

Director:

Richard Thorpe

Writers:

Edgar Rice Burroughs (characters)
Cyril Hume (screenplay)

Release Date:

16 June 1939 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Family | Romance

Tagline:

Super Story of a Super Man ! The Titan of all Tarzans . . . Giant of all jungle thrills . . . worth the years it took to make !

Plot:

Tarzan's jungle home, and his family, Jane and Boy, are threatened by men greedy for gold.

Plot Keywords:

Jungle | Heir | Bare Chested Male | Gun | Self Sacrifice

Cast

Johnny Weissmuller	...	Tarzan
Maureen O'Sullivan	...	Jane Parker
Johnny Sheffield	...	Boy (as John Sheffield)
Ian Hunter	...	Mr. Austin Lancing
Henry Stephenson	...	Sir Thomas Lancing
Frieda Inescort	...	Mrs. Lancing
Henry Wilcoxon	...	Mr. 'Sandee' Sande
Laraine Day	...	Mrs. Richard Lancing
Morton Lowry	...	Mr. Richard Lancing
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Gavin Muir	...	Pilot (uncredited)

Directed by
Richard Thorpe

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Edgar Rice Burroughs		characters
Cyril Hume		screenplay

Produced by
Sam Zimbalist	....	producer

Original Music by
William Axt		(uncredited)

Cinematography by
Leonard Smith		(photographed by)

Film Editing by
Gene Ruggiero
Frank Sullivan

Art Direction by
Cedric Gibbons

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Dolph Zimmer	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
Urie McCleary	....	associate art director
Glen Barnes	....	set designer (uncredited)

Sound Department
Douglas Shearer	....	recording director

Stunts
Harry Monty	....	stunt double: Johnny Sheffield (uncredited)
Paul Stader	....	stunts (uncredited)

Music Department
Sol Levy	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)

Other crew
Delos Jewkes	....	voice double: Tarzan's yell (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (as Loew's Inc.)

Distributors

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1939) (USA) (theatrical) (controlled by Loew's Incorporated)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (1992) (USA) (VHS)
• Nothing's New Video (2005) (USA) (VHS)
• Warner Home Video (19??) (Netherlands) (VHS)
• Warner Home Video (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2006) (USA) (DVD)

Other Companies

• The Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus  elephants for stampede provided by (uncredited)

Also Known As:

Tarzan in Exile (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

82 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White (Sepiatone)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Australia:G | Finland:S | USA:Approved (PCA #5299) | Norway:7 (1959)

Filming Locations:

Backlot, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios - 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

Johnny Sheffield claims that he was handpicked by Johnny Weissmuller after screening hundreds of applicants for the role of boy. Weissmuller is also the person who taught Sheffield to swim for the movie.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Mr. Richard Lancing: Wildebeest again.
Mrs. Richard Lancing: I think we've seen about a million today.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Tarzan: Silver Screen King of the Jungle (2004) (V)

It's a boy!

With Tarzan (Johnny Weismuller) and Jane (Maureen O'Sullivan) nicely settled into their treetop des-res (complete with all mod cons), it was only going to be a matter of time before we heard the pitter patter of little footsteps (other than Cheetah's, of course). However, with the Hays Code in full effect, and our arboreal lovebirds not actually wed, they sure weren't going to be permitted to have a child of their own via the normal method.

The writers of the Tarzan series get around this problem by having a child delivered from the sky by 'the great metal stork'—a plane that crashes in the jungle with a baby boy as the only survivor. Cheetah finds the wailing bundle of joy and whisks him off to Tarzan and Jane, who decide to adopt the lad, naming him Boy (Tarzan's second choice, after having Elephant rejected by Jane).

Five years of blissful family life later, and an expedition turns up at the escarpment searching for the plane and any possible survivors. But Tarzan and Jane have become rather attached to their little tyke, and aren't about to give him up, especially when they discover that two of the visitors only want Boy for his vast inheritance.

Aimed at the matinée crowd, this particular instalment features none of the graphic nastiness or raciness that can be found in the first two Tarzan films (the obligatory native killing at the end of the film—via a huge skull-cracking device—is brief and non-explicit); instead, we get mild peril as Boy is attacked by pipe-cleaner tarantulas and a back-projected rhino, comic relief courtesy of Cheetah the chimp, and a lot of fun interplay between Tarzan and his 'son', the best scene being an impressively shot moment of underwater horseplay.

6.5 out of 10, happily rounded up to 7 for the bit where Cheetah turns his lips inside-out to amuse the new arrival (which makes me laugh just thinking about it).