Tarzan, the Ape Man (1959)

Description

Tarzan swings back into action in this thrill-packed adventure starring Denny Miller, Cesare Danova, Joanna Barnes and Robert Douglas. When a Watusi leads them to believe his distant homeland lies near an elephants' graveyard, Colonel James Parker (Douglas), his daughter Jane (Barnes) and partner Harry Holt (Danova) embark on a hazardous trek to recover a fortune in ivory. Struggling through the jungle and heat, Jane is saved from a savage animal attack by a mysterious man of the wild (Miller). As the expedition travels through uncharted lands to a lost city fraught with peril and danger, their only hope of survival lies with the stranger who's won Jane's heart: Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle. A Technicolor remake of M-G-M's 1932 classic, Tarzan, the Ape Man was directed by two-time Oscar nominee Joseph M. Newman (This Island Earth) and features a score composed especially for the film by jazz legend Shorty Rogers. Review: A most excelent re-work of a previously filmed movie. - This movie helped usher in the " Color" Tarzan movie era! Once presented to the public in Black & White this version takes total advantage of color! they even use previous footage tinted blue of a beautiful to scale battle between Tarzan & a 15+ foot Crocodile. If you can get passed a Blonde-Haired Tarzan...there is no reason you wouldn't want to add this gem to your movie library. In fact, if you are a Tarzan enthusiast this is a must have! Without having the movie before me I can't say with 100% confidence, but I do believe this ushered in the colored Tarzan era! While Johnny Weissmuller Sr. was forced to suffer an inarticulate Tarzan...following the scripts handed to him by both M.G.M. & The other movie studio that together produced a staggering 12 movies. Herman Brix/ Bruce Benett gave us the truest version of an intelligent, articulate, world traveling Tarzan as written by E.R.B., this movie ushered in the colorized era of Tarzan films which eventually gave us Tarzan as written by E.R.B. This is a fine product! It is worthy in any movie library & definitely a must have movie for those collecting E.R.B. books turned into movies. I will close by stating they took full advantage of using color in films! This movie is worthy of study in the use of color in movies! Absolutely beautiful!!! Blu-Ray, DVD. Purchase without hesitation. A classic as well as a seminal moment in movie history, concerning Tarzan! I'm sure Mr. Weissmuller Sr. is loudly yelling his patented Tarzan yell! So loved by E.R.B. that he wrote both Johnny & his yell into the official Tarzan cannon! This is a movie not to be missed! Review: Forgotten Tarzan film is a mixed bag - As a longtime fan of the Tarzan films, I was happy to learn that this rarely-seen MGM production from 1959 was getting a DVD release. The film itself was an attempt to reboot the character independent of the long-running film series that began with the Johnny Weismuller film of the same name in 1932. This film hit theaters the same year as Paramount's "Tarzan's Greatest Adventure," starring Gordon Scott. Tarzan the Ape Man is a game attempt at recapturing what made the earlier film, and the character, so popular. Although it's ultimately no more faithful to Edgar Rice Burroughs' original stories than most film versions, it does a largely-credible job of updating the story for the time. Color had only come to the official series a couple of years earlier, so seeing Tarzan's jungle exploits in vivid Technicolor definitely brought new life to the character. Unfortunately, MGM's budget (around $680,000 according to the IMDB) meant that a lot of corner were cut. The use of animal stock footage in a Tarzan picture had been around since the 1930's, but Tarzan the Ape Man takes things a step further by recycling recognizable footage from previous Tarzan films. The character's trademark yell is even dubbed from the Weismuller films. Even if you accept all those things, the use of BLACK AND WHITE footage from Tarzan the Ape Man (1932) and Tarzan and His Mate (1934), mixed in with the color footage of the new film, is really difficult to overlook. As the new Tarzan, Denny Miller looks the part, but simply lacks the charisma or gravitas of other actors who've inhabited the role. Joann Barnes as Jane Parker comes off slightly better, but honestly, no one here really stands out. Director Joseph Newman tries to keep things moving; and taken purely as a b-budget adventure title, the film isn't that bad. Warner does its typical serviceable no-frills job with the DVD. I did notice the colors shifting just a bit in a few scenes, but it was over very quickly. Considering this is a minor film that even many hardcore Tarzan fans don't really embrace, it seems unlikely we'll ever see any further restoration of the source material. A good clean print of the film's theatrical trailer is also included. I'd recommend this one only for hardcore Tarzan fans who want to complete their collections. For the casual viewer, just stick with Weismuller.