Tarzan Goes to India ** (1962, Jock Mahoney, Leo Gordon, Mark Dana) – Classic Movie Review 8066

Producer Sy Weintraub took over the Tarzan franchise from Sol Lesser with Tarzan’s Greatest Adventure in 1959 and Tarzan the Magnificent (1960), and gave it a bright new look in colour, reviving the series, and now gives it a new Tarzan.

Director John Guillermin’s 1962 Tarzan Goes to India stars former top Hollywood stuntman Jock Mahoney (doubling for Errol Flynn, John Wayne, and Gregory Peck), who makes his Ape Man debut as a rather more mature than usual Tarzan (he was born in 1919 and had been making movies since 1946). The film also stars Indian Bollywood actors Feroz Khan, Simi Garewal and Murad in central roles.

And, so, yes, Tarzan Goes to India, summoned by Indian Princess Kamara (Simi Garewal) to save 300 elephants, and while there he creates a sanctuary for the elephants and other wild animals threatened by a company building a new hydroelectric dam, which will flood the valley surrounded by mountains to create a man-made lake to power an electric plant.

The pass the elephants can use to escape is about to be being closed and Tarzan comes up against an old foe, chief engineer Bryce (Leo Gordon), in his desperate efforts to save them.

The British film crew went to India, too, and the film is handsomely shot on location in India by Guillermin (who also co-writes with Robert Hardy Andrews), giving it the full CinemaScope and Metrocolor treatment, shot by cinematographer Paul Beeson.

Also in the cast are Mark Dana, Leo Gordon, Feroz Khan, Simi Garewal, Murad, Jagdish Raj, Abas Khan and G Raghaven. Feroz Khan’s voice is dubbed.

There was a shock for Weintraub though. It made a loss of $178,000.

It follows Tarzan the Magnificent (1960) with Gordon Scott as Tarzan and Jock Mahoney as the bad guy.

Tarzan Goes to India is followed by Tarzan’s Three Challenges (1963), set in Thailand.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8066

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