Tarzan and the Lost Safari ** (1957, Gordon Scott, Robert Beatty, Yolande Donlan, Betta St John, Wilfrid Hyde White, George Coulouris, Peter Arne, Orlando Martins) – Classic Movie Review 8,059

Director H Bruce Humberstone’s 1957 Tarzan and the Lost Safari stars Gordon Scott in his second swing as the Ape Man, who this time leads to safety the playboy ‘Doodles’ Fletcher (Wilfrid Hyde White) and his party who have crashed in the jungle, while white hunter Tusker Hawkins (Robert Beatty) tries to sell the party of five to the Oparian Chieftain Ogonoore (Orlando Martins) for sacrifice to their lion god.

Tarzan and the Lost Safari is average jungle adventure stuff, but it is quite feisty and enjoyable, and it is attractively shot in Eastmancolor and CinemaScope (it is the first of the Tarzan films to benefit from being shot in colour) and on African locations in Congo, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia as well as in the studio at ABPC Elstree Studios, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, England (as Associated British MGM Studios), and at the Iverson Ranch, Chatsworth, Los Angeles.

Tarzan and the Lost Safari also features game performances from Yolande Donlan, Robert Beatty, Betta St John, Wilfrid Hyde White, George Coulouris, Peter Arne and Orlando Martins.

Tarzan and the Lost Safari is directed by H Bruce Humberstone, runs 86 minutes, is made by Solar Film Productions, is released by MGM, is written by Montgomery Pittman and Lillie Hayward is shot in Eastmancolor and CinemaScope by R Pennington-Richards, is produced by John Croydon and Sol Lesser, and is scored by Clinton Parker.

It is followed by Tarzan’s Fight for Life (1958).

Betta St John returns to the series in Tarzan the Magnificent (1960).

Betta St John (left) in Dream Wife (1953).

American actress, singer, and dancer Betta St John was born Betty Jean Striegler Betty Jean Striegler in Hawthorne, California, on 26 November 1929. Along with Shirley Temple, she was part of the Meglin Kiddies troupe of actors, singers and dancers. She debuted aged 10 in an uncredited part in Destry Rides Again (1939) and played an orphan in Jane Eyre (1943). Her first adult starring role was in Dream Wife (1953). She appeared in The Robe, All the Brothers Were Valiant and The Student Prince.

Later, living in England, she appeared in starring roles in British films including High Tide at Noon, two Tarzan films, Tarzan and the Lost Safari (1957) and Tarzan the Magnificent (1960), and the horror films Corridors of Blood with Boris Karloff and Horror Hotel with Christopher Lee. She continued to act until her retirement in 1965.

Betta St John died at an assisted living facility in Brighton, England, on 23 June 2023, aged 93.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8,059

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