Tarzan Triumphs (1943)

Director:

Wilhelm Thiele

Writers:

Edgar Rice Burroughs (characters)
Carroll Young (story)
(more)

Release Date:

19 February 1943 (USA)

Genre:

Action | War | Adventure

Plot:

Zandra, white princess of a lost civilization, comes to Tarzan for help when Nazis invade the jungle...

Plot Keywords:

Animal Attack | Loincloth | Nazi | Sequel | Tarzan

Cast

Johnny Weissmuller	...	Tarzan
Johnny Sheffield	...	Boy
Frances Gifford	...	Zandra
Stanley Ridges	...	Colonel Von Reichart
Sig Ruman	...	Sergeant
Philip Van Zandt	...	Captain Bausch
Rex Williams	...	Lt. Reinhardt Schmidt aka Sheldon
Pedro de Cordoba	...	Oman, the Patriarch
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Sven Hugo Borg	...	Heinz, Nazi Pilot (uncredited)
Stanley Brown	...	Achmet (uncredited)
George Lynn	...	Nazi Pilot (uncredited)
Manuel París	...	Pallandria, Townsman (uncredited)
Otto Reichow	...	Grüber, Nazi Pilot (uncredited)
Wilhelm von Brincken	...	General Hoffman in Berlin (uncredited)
William Yetter Sr.	...	Nazi Guard (uncredited)

Directed by
Wilhelm Thiele		(as William Thiele)

Writing credits
Edgar Rice Burroughs		(characters)
Carroll Young		(story)
Roy Chanslor		(screenplay) and
Carroll Young		(screenplay)

Produced by
Sol Lesser	....	executive producer
Wilhelm Thiele	....	associate producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Paul Sawtell

Cinematography by
Harry J. Wild		(as Harry Wild)

Film Editing by
Hal C. Kern		(as Hal Kern)

Production Design by
Harry Horner

Art Direction by
Hans Peters

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Clem Beauchamp	....	assistant director

Sound Department
John C. Grubb	....	sound technician

Stunts
Babe DeFreest	....	stunt double: Frances Gifford (uncredited)
Paul Stader	....	stunts (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Elmer Ellsworth	....	wardrober

Editorial Department
Hal C. Kern	....	supervising editor (as Hal Kern)

Music Department
C. Bakaleinikoff	....	musical director

Production Companies

• Sol Lesser Productions (as Principal Artists Productions)

Distributors

• RKO Radio Pictures (1943) (USA) (theatrical)
• RKO Radio Pictures (1949) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Banner Productions (1960) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)

Also Known As:

Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan Triumphs (USA) (complete title)

Runtime:

76 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Norway:7 (1972) | Sweden:15 | USA:Approved (PCA #8892)

Filming Locations:

Sherwood Forest, California, USA

Company:

Sol Lesser Productions

Trivia:

Jane's absence was explained in a letter saying that she's visiting relatives in England. Maureen O'Sullivan was sick of playing Jane, but her absence probably had more to do with the fact that the franchise had switched from MGM to RKO, and O'Sullivan was a Metro contract player.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Tarzan is fighting the Nazis, he rips the magazine off a machine gun and tosses it to the ground. A moment later, one of the Nazis starts climbing to the top of the building to use the gun, and you can see the magazine still there. Yet when the Nazi arrives at the gun, the magazine is missing again.

Quotes:

Tarzan: Nazi hyena dead now.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Exponerad (1971)

Weissmuller's Tarzan RKO debut; Less Pretentious, Great Fun!

While Tarzan was a popular moneymaker at MGM, with the outset of WWII, the studio felt Johnny Weissmuller was getting too old, Maureen O'Sullivan wanted out of the series, and the overseas market was lost, so the series was dropped...but RKO would prove the Ape Man had a LOT of life left in him!

Veteran producer Sol Lesser, 53, loved the character, and snapped up the rights for the studio, wisely keeping Weissmuller, 39, and 'Boy' Johnny Sheffield, now nearly 12, in their signature roles. O'Sullivan, no longer interested in 'Jane', was written out (caring for her ailing mother in London), and the elements that fans loved best (nearly superhuman heroics, comedy from chimp co-star, Cheetah, wild animal footage) were 'beefed up', dropping the romantic interludes, the large number of black 'extras', that provided authenticity (but were expensive for a smaller studio to maintain, for a single series), and, indeed, most of the 'glossiness' that marked the MGM entries. Even the signature Tarzan 'yell' had to be replaced (as the manufactured howl, part Weismuller, part studio magic), was the property of the studio; Weismuller created a 'new' one, that would become so popular that it would be kept, long after he finally retired from the role.

The first RKO entry was perhaps the best of their series; TARZAN TRIUMPHS brought the Nazis into the jungle to tap the mineral resources of a 'lost' city, eventually kidnapping Boy, and leading the previously isolationist Ape Man to utter the famous tag line, "Now Tarzan make war!" With lovely Frances Gifford as a native princess, providing sex appeal (and a really weird scene of Boy trying to 'hook up' the princess and lonely Ape Man, to enlist his help against the Nazis), and Sig Ruman, who went from Marx Brothers' foil to one of Hollywood's busiest 'Nazis', as one of the villains, the action adventure is very entertaining (if extremely violent...Tarzan actually encourages the locals to grab a gun and kill, Boy shoots one Nazi soldier with a pistol, and even CHEETA machine guns one!), and the film was a huge hit for the studio.

Tarzan, at a new home, was back in the 'swing' of things!