“Now Tarzan Go to War” – Tarzan Triumphs (1943)

          With the advent of World War II, M-G-M decided to dump the Tarzan franchise.  50% of the grosses had come from overseas markets which the studio had seen dry up.  Producer Sol Lesser and RKO were happy to pick up the rights.  M-G-M also traded Johnny Weismuller, Johhny Sheffield, and Cheetah, but not Maureen O’Sullivan.  The excuse was that O’Sullivan was a contract player, but the truth was that Mrs. O’Sullivan was sick of playing Jane and looked at the shift to RKO as a way out.  RKO cast Frances Gifford as the jungle babe.  She had caught eyes starring in a serial called “Jungle Girl”.   (Probably that credit on her resume was sufficient to get the role of “jungle girl”.)   M-G-M, in a dick move, refused to allow Lesser to use the iconic Tarzan yell.  The yell in the movie is abbreviated and weaker.  “Tarzan Triumphs” was the first RKO release after six made by M-G-M.  It was the first Tarzan movie that could be classified as a war movie.  The U.S. State Department encouraged Lesser to make a morale-booster.  This was something of a challenge considering previous films had made it clear Tarzan was a pacifist and previous outings had supported isolationism.  I’m sure director William Thiele, an Austrian, was up for the challenge.

                        For those in the audience concerned about the switch to RKO, the opening scene opens comfortingly with Boy (Sheffield) riding with Cheetah (sigh of relief!) on an elephant (Bully).  Boy says “ungawa”.  Jane may have taught Tarzan English, but Tarzan taught Boy Junglish.  Boy sees the lost city of Palandrya (it’s only a model) and then proceeds to fall off the cliff.  He is rescued by the Wonder Woman-looking Zandra (Gifford).   We learn that Jane is in London with her ailing mother.  She mentions the Blitz in a letter.  The war seems far away, but it intrudes via an “iron bird” carrying Nazi paratroopers.  A Captain Bausch had lived with the Palandryans and clued der Fuhrer in on their exploitable resources.  Their mission is to conquer the “haven of peace” (like they did to Austria).  This will be easier than Poland.  At first, Tarzan refuses to get involved.  “Jungle people only fight to live, civilized people live to fight.”  The only exception is if a jungle person’s son is captured by bad guys.  “Now Tarzan make war”.  So much for isolationism.

                        I had not seen a Weismuller Tarzan movie since my childhood.  I have fond memories, but as an adult I have learned that it’s usually not good to tamper with childhood movies.  They usually don’t hold up.  Plus, this Tarzan movie is a war movie, which means it was jumping genres.  I had no expectation that it would even be decent.  I watched it because my brother Jason is a huge Tarzan fan and he recommended it.  I was skeptical, but what the hell.  I have reviewed “The Incredible Mister Limpet”. 

                        If you are a Weismuller Tarzan fan and a war movie fan, this movie is right up your jungle trail.  The RKO features were lower budget.  The Palandrya set was recycled from “Gunga Din” (1939).  The movie makes up for the lower budget by upping the body count (a Tarzan record).  Fourteen Nazis are killed and they all deserve it.  The deaths are varied and range from being eaten by cannibal fish to being lured into a lion trap.  Most of the killings are done by Tarzan, but he doesn’t hog all the fun.  Boy kills one with a pistol and Cheetah uses a machine gun.  Because he’s Cheetah.  In fact, the movie would have been more accurately entitled “Cheetah Triumphs” or better yet, “Now Tarzan Go to War” (a line that drew applause from audiences). 

                        Thiele knows he is making a Tarzan movie, so he includes the swimming scene and the crocodiles and the vine-swinging.  It’s a war movie, but he doesn’t force in war footage.  Instead, we get the usual wildlife footage.  The swim scene involves some flirting with Zandra which would have enraged Jane, but did not impress the studio execs.  It was deemed that Gifford did not have enough chemistry with Weismuller so this was her last Tarzan film.  By the way, somehow she manages to change from her cleavagey Wonder Woman costume to more modest swimwear.  But then again, the Nazis packed pith helmets to replace their army helmets, so the movie is costume-fluid.  Thiele does not force some Tarzan tropes into a war movie.  Tarzan does not wrestle with a crocodile (or any other animal).  He does not enlist the animal kingdom.     However, he does rescue a damsel in distress and battles civilized villains.  It is a Tarzan movie, after all.

                        Weismuller was near the midway point of his Tarzan career and he is still virile and physical.  He is not at the O’Sullivan stage.  He doesn’t just go through the motions.  It helps that the cast is better than average.  The two main Nazi baddies are not buffoons and they don’t chew too much jungle.  More importantly, the sergeant is played by Sig Ruman (who played Schultz in “Stalag 17”).  He brings some comic relief, but comes out a distant second to the incomparable Cheetah.  That chimp was dynamite!  I recently watched several service comedies that had less laughs than were provided by that monkey.  Stick around for the end where Nazi officials mistake Cheetah for Hitler.

                        “Tarzan Triumphs” is the best Tarzan war movie.  I know it has little, or no, competition, but it is not a bad war movie.  It is a fun watch and it was able to make the leap to a different genre without embarrassing the series.  I would guess the State Department was pleased with it.

GRADE =  B-