Tarzan the Tiger *** (1929, Frank Merrill, Natalie Kingston, Al Ferguson, Lillian Worth) – Movie Review 8090

Director Henry MacRae’s 1929 Tarzan the Tiger is a creaky but fascinating early talkie serial in 15 parts or chapters, in which the Ape Man battles slave traders to bring Jane to safety. It is a historical film classic as the first talkie movie serial, the first talkie Tarzan and the first Tarzan yell.

It stars Frank Merrill as Tarzan/ Lord Greystoke, Natalie Kingston as Jane,
Tarzan’s wife, and Al Ferguson as soldier of fortune Albert Werper, with Lillian Worth (dancer and exotic actress Mademoiselle Kithnou of mixed Indian and European descent) as Queen La of Opar, the High Priestess of the Sun Worshipers who has sworn that she will have no other mate than Tarzan.

Tarzan returns to Africa with Jane and his friend Werper for the gold treasure of Opar to secure his estates in England. But Werper is the bad guy, wanting the gold for himself, and his real friend is Arab slave trader Achmet Zek, who wants revenge on Tarzan and Lady Jane.

Tarzan the Tiger is a sequel to the successful 1928 silent movie serial Tarzan the Mighty, with many of the cast returning, some in slightly different roles.

The bad payback for Merrill was that Universal dumped him as Tarzan, deciding his voice was not suitable for talkies, and abandoned the planned sequel Tarzan the Terrible. So Merrill retired from movies after this and became a Recreational Director for the Parks commission of the Los Angeles city administration.

Tarzan the Tiger was produced and released in both silent and sound versions. The sound version, in which the movies first Tarzan yell was heard, invented by Frank Merrill, consisted of a crude musical score, sound effects and a few lip-synched lines on a record. But the serial only survived because it had been released as a talking serial.

The Universal movie serial is based on the novel Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar by Edgar Rice Burroughs and is written for the screen by Ian McClosky Heath (continuity) and Ford Beebe (titles). It was considered lost, but a copy has been found and today the serial is available on DVD and, as it is in the public domain, available for download on the internet.

Paul Panzer plays Mohammed Bey, Clive Morgan plays Philip Annersley, Sheldon Lewis plays slave-trafficking Nomad chief Achmet Zek, Frank Lanning plays Witch Doctor and Charles Gemora plays Taglat the Gorilla / Chulk the Gorilla.

Tarzan the Tiger is directed by Henry MacRae, runs 266 minutes, is made by Adventure Pictures, released by Universal, is written by Ian McClosky Heath (continuity) and Ford Beebe (titles), is shot in black and white by Wilfrid M Cline, is produced by Henry MacRae, William Lord Wright (supervising producer) and Carl Laemmle (presenter), is scored by David Broekman, Sam Perry and Heinz Roemheld, and is designed by Charles D Hall and David S Garber.

The episode titles are: 1. Call of the Jungle; 2. The Road To Opar; 3. The Altar of the Flaming God; 4. The Vengeance of La; 5. Condemned To Death; 6. Tantor the Terror; 7. The Deadly Peril; 8. Loop of Death; 9. Flight of Werper; 10. Prisoner of the Apes; 11.The Jaws of Death; 12.The Jewels of Opar; 13. A Human Sacrifice; 14. Tarzan’s Rage and 15. Tarzan’s Triumph.

This first ever version of Tarzan’s jungle call yell is described as a Nee-Yah! noise but Tarzan’s distinctive, ululating yell started with Johnny Weissmuller in Tarzan, the Ape Man (1932).

Frank Merrill, who was the US National Gymnastics champion from 1916 to 1918, previously played Tarzan in 1928’s Tarzan the Mighty, an earlier silent action film serial directed by Jack Nelson and Ray Taylor. Joe Bonomo was cast as Tarzan but, while filming Perils of the Wild, fractured his left leg and injured his sacroiliac joint performing a stunt. Nelson remembered Merill from working with him on a previous film, thought he was an ideal replacement and he started filming the next morning. It is now considered a lost film.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8090

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