Tarzan Escapes *** (1936, Johnny Weissmuller, Maureen O’Sullivan, John Buckler) – Classic Movie Review 2238

In directors James C McKay, Richard Thorpe and John Farrow’s troubled 1936 Tarzan episode, Johnny Weissmuller’s King of the Apes, Maureen O’Sullivan’s Jane and Cheetah perform astonishing jungle high-jinks and fight off the usual quota of bad guys and wild animals. Based again on the characters created by Edgar Rice Burroughs, it is the third in the MGM Tarzan series with Weissmuller.

In screenwriter Cyril Hume’s plot, an expedition under white hunter Captain Fry (John Buckler) arrives in the jungle with Jane’s cousins, Eric (William Henry) and Rita (Benita Hume), to try to bring Jane back to civilisation to claim a fortune left her, Fry also tries to take Tarzan into captivity for public display. Tarzan is caged but, obviously, Tarzan Escapes.

Started in 1934, it was two years in production, after the first version was considered too violent and scary, and even included a controversial ‘gruesome’ vampire bat sequence. MGM boss Louis B Mayer was shocked by the response to it at a public preview screening and ordered a reshoot. Maybe he was right, this second version was a big box-office hit.

Farrow was one of the directors brought in to rework the movie and he soon fell in love with O’Sullivan. They married two years later and Mia Farrow is their daughter.

‘Everybody cared about the Tarzan pictures,’ said O’Sullivan, ‘and we all gave of our best. They weren’t quickies.’

The scene featuring Tarzan fighting vampire bats that was cut from the final film after test audiences found the scenes too intense took a week to shoot. The first director James C McKay shot many of the so-called gruesome scenes, and he was replaced by Farrow in 1936 who re-shot much of the film. George B Seitz and William A Wellman also worked on the direction but Richard Thorpe gets sole credit for directing the film.

It follows Tarzan the Ape Man (1932) and Tarzan and His Mate (1934). O’Sullivan played Jane in Weissmuller’s first six Tarzan films before quitting, and Jane was not shown in the next two films.

© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 2238

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