Tarzan's New York Adventure (1942)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

Richard Thorpe

Writers:

Edgar Rice Burroughs (characters)
Myles Connolly (screenplay)

Release Date:

May 1942 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure

Tagline:

In All The World No Thrill Like This!

Plot:

Tarzan and Jane go to New York to rescue Boy after he is kidnapped into a circus.

Plot Keywords:

Pilot | Animal Trainer | Brooklyn Bridge | Jungle | Elephant

Cast

Johnny Weissmuller	...	Tarzan
Maureen O'Sullivan	...	Jane Parker
Johnny Sheffield	...	Boy
Virginia Grey	...	Connie Beach
Charles Bickford	...	Buck Rand
Paul Kelly	...	Jimmie Shields, Pilot
Chill Wills	...	Manchester Montford
Cy Kendall	...	Col. Ralph Sergeant
Russell Hicks	...	Judge Abbotson
Howard C. Hickman	...	Blake Norton, Tarzan's Lawyer (as Howard Hickman)
Charles Lane	...	Gould Beaton, Sargent's Lawyer
Miles Mander	...	Portmaster
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Matthew Boulton	...	Portmaster (scenes deleted)

Also Known As:

Tarzan Against the World (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

71 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Australia:G | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl | USA:Approved (PCA #5040) | Norway:7

Filming Locations:

Wakulla Springs, Florida, USA

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

Cameo: [Elmo Lincoln]the first movie Tarzan, as a circus roustabout.

Goofs:

Continuity: Tarzan gives the spear to Boy handle up and blade down. When Boy takes it, next shot, it is reversed.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Boy: Cheetah! What is it?
Jane: Cheetah must be seeing things. What is it, Tarzan? What is it?
Tarzan: Uguna. Strange sound in sky. Big. Far off.
Jane: I don't hear anything.
Tarzan: Tarzan hear. Cheetah hear. Elephant hear.
Boy: Now I hear it. Like a great wind coming.

Movie Connections:

Followed by Tarzan and the She-Devil (1953)

Soundtrack:

I'm Thru with Love

Could this be the best Tarzan film of all time?

Ask anyone over the age of 30 who is the best Tarzan and you may receive several answers. Ron Ely would be a popular choice; so would Gordon Scott. But I'll lay good money that the top answer would be Johnny Weissmuller.

By the time Tarzan's New York Adventure came to be made, Weissmuller had made the loin cloth his own and something new had to be done. As sacrilegious as it sounds, it was the taking of Tarzan out of his own environment that made this the best in his long list of jungle capers.

The plot is unimportant. Tarzan's son is taken away to New York and he travels there, accompanied by Jane, to bring him back. But it's the way that the whole premise is handled that ensures that this film will remain in the memory (it's remained in mine ever since I saw it, aged 7). You know Tarzan will win but you don't expect the way that he does it.

Weissmuller was a fine actor with little to say. And here, he doesn't need to say much. There's action, drama, and humour - everything one needs. Even the effects (apart from an occasional speeded up film shot) are sufficiently effective.