TARZAN AND THE AMAZONS (1945)

This is an enjoyable, if somewhat odd, entry into the Weissmuller series. It starts with Jane returning from England where she has been helping with the war effort. We know Tarzan isn't the brightest light in the jungle because he doesn't seem to notice that when she left she was Maureen O'Sullivan and now she has come back as Brenda Joyce. Of course there is a treasure seeking safari on the loose led by Barton MacLane (again!) who are searching for the lost city of the Amazons. Oddly the Amazons seem to all be of the same age and rather pretty, except for their queen who is old Maria Ouspenskya - and nobody is older than Maria Ouspenskya! - who talks as though she is warning everybody about lycanthropy. Tarzan films are always better when there is a lost city around but why do they all seem to be populated by Europeans? As with all the later Tarzan films there is not a black face in sight anywhere. Johnny Sheffield is Boy again and one has to say that he was one of the more pleasing child actors in that he never really became irritating. This is quite violent for a Tarzan movie with lots of pretty Amazons getting shot, the entire safari being wiped out and Tazan watching two of the bad guys going under the quicksand without any attempt to help. Even Boy is condemned to death at one point in the story. Oh, by the way Cerpts, Weissmuller's nipples still look evenly placed to me. Direction by Kurt Neumann. Fun. Rating ***

Johnny Sheffield today (scary, eh?)

P.S. After my last TARZAN review a reader of this blog asked me how I could possibly give the film a *** rating. The answer is simple : I enjoy these films. They make no pretense to be anything more than what they are. I don't expect great art - or any art really. Any film that keeps me entertained without making me bored or irritated gets a ***.