Tarzan Triumphs (1943)

Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

If you are familiar with the original Tarzan novels of Edgar Rice Burroughs, there's no reason to scoff at the idea of Tarzan taking on the Nazis. This territory was already covered in the seventh novel of the Tarzan series (and one of the best), "Tarzan the Untamed." Set during World War I, this novel starts with German troops destroying Lord Greystoke's home and kidnapping Jane. Tarzan sets out to find the officer responsible, and in the process he finds himself in an actual combat situation, in which he uses his jungle wiles to sabotage the German side.Interestingly, "Tarzan the Untamed" leads to a climax involving a strange European civilization hidden in a deep valley, rather like the one featured in "Tarzan Triumphs." Although the script for "Tarzan Triumphs" is credited as an original story, it seems clearly inspired by "Tarzan the Untamed."

I was amazed to see one reviewer thought this was among the best of the series, as the original MGM series with Johnny Weissmuller had just switched to lower-status RKO and now were being made with considerably smaller budgets. In addition, Maureen O'Sullivan was on contract with MGM still and so there was no Jane in the series (until they eventually replaced her with another actress). Until then, they gave a wider variety of reasons to explain why she wasn't there--and it sounded a lot like Larry Mondello's father from "Leave it to Beaver". Not only had the budgets and Jane changed, but RKO relegated these good films to B-movie status--not only because of the budgets but because of the plots which were, to put it charitable, strange.Here in this film, Tarzan actually (and I am NOT kidding) fought the Nazis!!! Now if this doesn't clearly illustrate the term "jumping the shark", I don't know what does!! To "jump the shark" means when a series has reached its apex and is on the way down--and they do something very desperate to try to revive it. On "Happy Days" it was having the Fonz jump a shark tank on his motorcycle. On "The Brady Bunch" it was the addition to Cousin Oliver. On "Fairly Odd Parents" (and MANY other series) it was the addition of a baby. Well, although the Tarzan series was before TVs were available to the general public, it was a series and Tarzan fighting Nazis was clearly a case of jumping that 'ol shark!! In addition to Nazis in the middle of a lush jungle (shouldn't they have been taking over Europe or invading Russia?!?), we find that Tarzan has gone to charm school and grammar school, as his normal vocabulary of about 20 words has grown dramatically. The real surprise, though, was Boy--who apparently was taking on-line classes with University of Phoenix, as he spoke BETTER than kids educated in the USA! If you care about the plot (and RKO obviously didn't), it begins with Boy blundering about and almost killing himself (a very familiar plot device). He is saved by a sexy lady who comes from a tribe that speaks perfect English and also went to charm school. Later, when this lady's tribe is enslaved by the dreaded Hun, Tarzan responds by becoming the next Chuck Norris and wiping them out pretty much by himself (with some help from his jungle friends). Never mind that the Nazis had guns and grenades and the like! Because the plot is 100% stupid, you can't seriously give this film a high score. However, it IS still entertaining in a kitschy sort of way. And, if you want to see just how badly the Weissmuller series has sunk, give this one a look.

TARZAN TRIUMPHS (RKO Radio, 1943), directed by Wilheim Thiele, the seventh in the long running jungle series starring Johnny Weissmuller, the first of the Sol Lesser productions distributed by RKO Radio, finds Tarzan assuming new territory and dangerous ground at the RKO sound-stages following six successful "Tarzan" adventures distributed by MGM between 1932 to 1942. The production values no way equaled the status MGM put into its series, however, the format used at RKO virtually follows the same pattern from the previous films, with slight alterations to the "Tarzan" character, such as the use of a new soundtrack for the Tarzan yell, heard twice here, unlike those many have become accustomed to from the earlier episodes. Weissmuller's Tarzan continues to speak in mono syllables ("Boy stay! Tarzan get." or "Tarzan thank," etc.) rather than incomplete sentences. Along with Weissmuller, Johnny Sheffield, who plays Boy, son of Tarzan, along and their pet chimpanzee, Cheetah, each resume their characters with much familiarity as enacted at MGM. Tarzan's mate, Jane, played six times previously by Maureen O'Sullivan, had broken away from the series, thus having her "Jane" character omitted here and in the next entry. For this outing, Frances Gifford substitutes as the heroine called Zandra. Due to Gifford's near physical resemblance to Maureen O'Sullivan makes one wonder why Gifford wasn't considered to play Jane. For now, Tarzan and Boy team up with the support of new characters and Nazi villains worked into the story rather than hunters and native tribes. The story opens with Boy (Johnny Sheffield) leaving the tree-house and riding his elephant, accompanied by his chimpanzee pet, Cheetah, to meet with Tarzan (Johnny Weissmuller), who had earlier gone to the seacoast to obtain a letter written to him by Jane, who's away visiting with relatives in war-torn England. Along the way, the ever curious Boy gets himself in trouble when wanting to take a closer look at the lost city of Palandria located at the bottom of a cliff. Falling off the crevasse, landing on top of a semi loose branch, Zandra (Frances Gifford), the white princess of that lost civilization, comes to his rescue. In helping Boy, the two find themselves trapped on the narrow ledge, that is, until Tarzan arrives in time to save the day. As Tarzan, Boy and Zandra part company, Zandra returns to her civilization where her people welcome some strangers, Nazis who have parachuted down from their airplane. In time, the welcomed guests "repay" their friendly hospitality by turning the peaceful community into slaves while taking possession of their wealth in tin and oil. In the meantime, Lieutenant Scheldon Schmidt (Rex Williams), who had also parachuted from an airplane, injures his leg while holding onto his shortwave radio. Tarzan rescues the German youth from a near drowning. With the help of Boy, they take the injured party to their tree-house for rest and recovery. Because Cheetah has taken and hidden the coil needed to make radio communication to his homeland, Schmidt stirs trouble by chasing after and shooting Cheeta. Sensing danger, Boy's elephant comes to Cheetah's rescue by forcing both Nazi and heavy boulder over a cliff, killing the abductor. Because of the Nazi invasion in her city, Zandra comes to Tarzan for help. Tarzan succeeds in doing away with the Germans by leading them to the river where they are attacked by cannibal fish. While Tarzan feels the Nazi invasion in Palandria does not really concern him, Zandra feels it does, knowing that as long as the Nazis are around, no one is safe. Only after the Nazis invade Tarzan's domain, with its leader, Von Reichart (Stanley Ridges) abducting Boy and holding him prisoner in Nazi headquarters for not revealing the whereabouts of the coil for the radio does Tarzan begin to realize and cry out, "Now, Tarzan make war!!!" (It's been said by Bob Dorian, former host of American Movie Classics, that this scene alone found audiences in movie theaters cheering and applauding). An average Tarzan adventure by today's standards with a timely message of how an invasion of a territory and war amongst a peaceful people does concern everybody. As with the Tarzan character, who lives a secluded life in his little habitat, with his philosophy, "Nazi leave me alone, Tarzan leave them alone," all that changes when Nazis take over his territory and become a danger to Boy. Against all odds, such as being held prisoner himself, tied up against the pole to await execution by firing squad at dawn does Tarzan manage to become a one man revolution. Tarzan, who fights to survive while the enemy, the Nazis in this case, survive to fight, brings forth his own war for that, as quoted by Tarzan, "In jungle, the strong always win." The supporting players include Sig Rumann as the Head Nazi; Philip Van Zandt as Captain Bausch; Pedro De Cordoba as Patriarch; and Stanley Brown as Archmet. Frances Gifford, who makes her sole venture in the series, gets some screen time in a stretched out segment filling in for Jane by swimming with Tarzan, and preparing dinner for him and Boy.As with the entire Tarzan movie series that has spanned decades, TARZAN TRIUMPHS, at 76 minutes, aired frequently on commercial television for many years before shifting over to the American Movie Classics cable channel (1997-2000) and Turner Classic Movies (TCM premiere: May 14, 2011). Unlike the MGM entries, the six features made at RKO Radio starring Weissmuller from 1943 to 1948, were never distributed onto video cassette but later onto DVD around 2008. Next chapter: TARZAN'S DESERT MYSTERY, where Tarzan and Boy (minus Jane) encounter more Nazis once more but with a few added surprises along the way. (**)

Tarzan Triumphs is one of the best of the series. Part of the credit goes to its cast. Boris Karloff to put part of a gangster's brain into Stanley Ridges head in Black Friday in 1940, three years before he starred in this killer Tarzan entry as a classically dastardly Nazi. Francis Gifford (as Zandra) is a genuine babe. Wow! And of course, Johnny Weissmuller is your perfect Tarzan. However, in a brilliant bit of casting, it must be noted that the real star of this epic is ... Cheetah as Cheetah. Thank God, they didn't use Ray Corrigan and his fabled gorilla suit!Heretofore unbeknown to most of us, it's quite apparent from seeing Tarzan Triumphs that Cheetah really has an axe to grind against the evil Nazi's, who invade central Africa and take over Zandra-ville. When Cheetah gets word of this, he goes ... ape! Tarzan unwisely gets himself captured. Brilliant! Ungowa, indeed! This leaves one one man, er, monkey for the job of saving not only Tarzan, but Zandra, her entire town and, for that matter, the whole of central Africa: you got it...Cheetah.In reality, this film gives us all sorts of talents we didn't know Cheetah possessed prior to this film. For instance, who know that Cheetah was deadly with a Browning water-cooled machine gun? I didn't. Deciding to take matters into his own little hands, Cheetah blows up a Nazi machine gun next or two atop a tower in town. Then he goes to work. Geez, in a matter of a couple minutes, he kills thousands of Nazis. Who knows, maybe tens of thousands? That darned monkey killed millions of Nazi's and what was his reward? The Congressional Medal of Honor? No. The Silver Star? Uh-uh. Zandra? Sorry, even though he was dumb enough to get captured, Tarzan got her. No, Cheetah didn't get diddley squat. Not even a ding-dang banana. Where were the Oscar voters back then? To show his frustration (probably at not getting babacious Zandra), he did a couple back flips, everyone laughed - and the movie ended. By all means, don't miss Cheetah, star of Tarzan Triumphs...oh yeah, and Johnny Weissmuller and Francis Gifford (yee ha!).