Tarzan and the Amazons (1945)

Excellent adaptation.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

Well the story lines may be very predictable but you just can't beat a late night movie with Johnny Weissmuller, the five time Olympic gold medal winner playing in his recurring role of Tarzan. In this film the civilized city dweller Jane (played by Brenda Joyce) befriends a couple of so called archeologists who want Tarzan to take them to the fantasy world inhabited by the Amazon woman deep in the jungle.When Tarzan refuses to be their guide and take these suspicious characters deep into the Amazon jungle, Boy (Johnny Sheffield) agrees to substitute himself as their jungle guide and direct them to the hidden fortress where the Amazon woman live and seem to thrive without men.It doesn't take long for these greedy archeologists to show their true reasons for wanting to find the Amazon women's fortress, and that reason is for the treasures that the Amazon woman possess. So the film contains family values, greedy treasure hunters, good looking Amazon woman, Tarzan to the rescue, and of course Cheetah the chimpanzee getting into his usual mischief. It is another very good action/adventure film for all the Tarzan fans out there.I give it a solid 7 out of 10 rating some 73 years after the films original release date.

Jungle king Johnny Weissmuller (as Tarzan) rescues sexy screaming Shirley O'Hara (as Athena) from some hungry felines. She turns out to be part of a group of similarly sexy White Amazon women in leopard skin one-piece suits. Apparently, the animals wanted their fur back. Soon after carrying Ms. O'Hara home to Amazon queen mother Maria Ouspenskaya, Mr. Weissmuller and cute son Johnny Sheffield (as Boy) welcome beautiful blonde Brenda Joyce (recast as Jane) into the wilds of Africa, after the her character spent two films nursing soldiers during World War II...Ms. Joyce notices how much young Sheffield has grown, is politely mum about Weissmuller's expanding waistline, and has a hug for "Cheeta" the chimp. As it turns out, Harry Stephenson (as Guy Henderson) and the archaeologists bringing Joyce back to the fold become interested in finding the recently visited (by Weissmuller) Amazon kingdom. Villainous Barton MacLane (as Ballister) gets greedy and Sheffield's life is threatened. "Tarzan and the Amazons" is fairly typical for the series, with lovely background scenery and Ms. Ouspenskaya's women being the main attractions.***** Tarzan and the Amazons (4/29/45) Kurt Neumann ~ Johnny Weissmuller, Johnny Sheffield, Brenda Joyce, Maria Ouspenskaya

After a brief hiatus from the series, the character of Jane returns now in the form of the statuesque Brenda Joyce. Johnny Weissmuller's starting to get visibly older and the same may be said for Johnny Sheffield as Boy, who's voice is now changing and growing deeper. Still, this is a solid entry where a hidden civilization consisting of beautiful women (their queen is old Maria Ouspenskaya - the gypsy woman from THE WOLF MAN) begins to take action when greedy men stumble upon their secret domain, previously only known to exist by Tarzan. Good action, thrills.*** out of ****

The politics of this movie struck me like a thunderbolt a few years ago. Even as a child, I had found something odd about it. But finally I realized as a middle-aged man what was wrong: The empire of the Amazons is a xenophobic, brutal, collectivist dictatorship.It's not at all like the gentle lost civilizations in other Tarzan movies. It's a robotic workers' paradise, a Stalinist mini-state plopped down in the primeval heart of Africa. It's the kind of place Tarzan normally would hate, but he is its staunch ally. He practically grovels. And the villains are greedy men obsessed with gold. They're not saints, certainly, but are they any worse than the people Tarzan throws in with? And to cap it all off, the high priestess is played by the most famous Russian actress in America at the time, Maria Ouspenskaya.I can't cite all the evidence without spoilers, but just look at this movie for yourself. They are everywhere.What's up here? Consider the timing. This movie was made in 1945, the last year of World War II, the apex of U.S.-Soviet cooperation. American movies were celebrating the Soviet system, with the active encouragement of the U.S. government. All this would change soon, but in 1945, Josef Stalin was a hero in Hollywood.Are the Amazons the Soviets? Are the gold-seekers the forces of capitalism? I think so. With the kind of strong left-wing views permeating Hollywood at the time, it wouldn't be so ridiculous to have a Red screenplay in the jungle.This doesn't alarm me, and it probably sailed over most viewers' heads. (Nothing like pretty girls to take your mind off politics.) But I find it a very cogent theory, and I'm certain I wasn't the first person to think of it.Please don't write me off as a kook. Look and see.