Adventures of Tarzan Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		2.5
Audio		2.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		2.5

Adventures of Tarzan Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman August 15, 2022

Note: This film is available as part of The Tarzan Vault Collection.

According to several online data aggregators, as well as the vaunted Guinness Book of World Records, Sherlock Holmes is the fictional character who has been portrayed the most times on stage and screen. Perhaps surprisingly, and admittedly probably not authoritatively since I was only able to find a few "Top 10" lists of literary characters matriculating to the movies and/or television, Tarzan doesn't even seem to be anywhere near the head of any list, which seems positively unusual given the plethora of movie and television outings featuring the character, though I did find one site that had the character in the Number 4 position. Many folks probably almost automatically default to thinking of Johnny Weissmuller as the character, since he was so memorable in the role starting with 1932's Tarzan the Ape Man, and also because the Weissmuller Tarzan films have long been such a staple of television broadcasts where generations have literally grown up watching them. But of course other fans will have a whole glut of alternatives to choose from in terms of a "favorite Tarzan", and this new set from The Film Detective kind of ironically follows in the footsteps of the label's The Sherlock Holmes Vault Collection in providing some early examples of film adaptations of a legendary literary character, including the first ever feature film to present Edgar Rice Burroughs' legendary tale.

When is a Tarzan movie not a Tarzan movie? When it's actually a Tarzan serial which has been re-edited to feature film length (or something approximating it), as is the case with this kind of odd entry in the Tarzan canon. Much like the first film featuring Elmo Lincoln as Tarzan (which of course was the first film featuring Tarzan), The Adventures of Tarzan has some potentially off putting elements, including an emphasis on Arab slave trading (what would probably be called human trafficking these days), as well as some questionable depictions of various "natives". The story here has some positively peculiar refractions to any number of other films, including (and I'm not kidding) Waterworld (in terms of one particular distinctive plot point which won't be spoiled here, but which anyone who has ever seen the Costner epic will recognize once it shows up here).

This was Lincoln's last foray in the role, and suffice it to say he wasn't really the most athletic Tarzan to begin with, and several years on into his tenure, things have probably not improved. The story here is actually culled, at least in part, from Burroughs, and focuses on the plight of Jane (Louise Lorraine), who has her own "issues" with slave traders, but who also is deemed essential to figuring out where a priceless cache of loot might be hidden (and that's a big clue to the Waterworld connection, for those who may be wondering).

As patently ridiculous as much of this film is, something made even more challenging due to the fact that it's been whittled down to feature length size from a much longer original (the complete serial is evidently lost), there are still some interesting aspects here, including the fact that Jane has a little competition this time in the form of Queen La of Opar (Lillian Worth), one of the film's chief nemeses for our hero, but also one with certain seductive qualities. There's also a subplot involving Tarzan's title as Lord Greystoke, courtesy of another quasi-villain, Tarzan's cousin William (Scott Pembroke).

Adventures of Tarzan Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Adventures of Tarzan is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of The Film Detective with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.34:1. This is a marginal step up from the quality levels seen in Tarzan of the Apes, though my advice is to not get your expectation bar set too high. Once again there's quite a bit of damage on display, though less than in the earlier silent, along with some of the same issues seen in that first film, including warped frames and image instability, as well as a general blurriness that is especially noticeable on things like printed intertitles. There's a glut of outdoor material here which probably helps detail levels, at least in close-ups, but again expectations should probably be tempered. Grain probably looks at least relatively more organic in this presentation than in the first film.

Adventures of Tarzan Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

As with Tarzan of the Apes, the orchestral score is presented in either DTS 2.0 Mono or Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono, but unlike the first film, BD Info "agreed" with my players that this was indeed DTS and not DTS-HD Master Audio. The soundtrack, like the video presentation, is arguably a bit better than the one on the first film, but it still has a somewhat boxy and thin sound. That said, I found the overall sonics of the orchestral forces here to be somewhat more full bodied than in the first film. As with the first film, there is some background hiss that can be heard.

Adventures of Tarzan Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The Film Detective has packaged Tarzan of the Apes and Adventures of Tarzan on one disc, and that disc has the following supplements:

• Law of the Jungle: The Cinematic Adventures of Herman Brix (HD; 27:52) is a great archival interview with Herman Brix, who later changed his name to Bruce Bennett to try to escape being thought of as Tarzan. Brix gives quite a bit of biographical background, including the little trivia factoid that he was supposed to be the star of what became the Weissmuller franchise, but broke his shoulder appearing in a football film, which took him out of the running, for a while, at least.


• Adventures of Tarzan Commentary with Ed Hulse

Adventures of Tarzan Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

As Ed Hulse discusses in his interesting commentary, there's so much that was excised (or unavailable) from the original serial that the story here can be a bit of a jumble, and what's left may raise a few eyebrows among the more politically correct crowd. Technical merits are iffy, but the supplements appealing, for anyone who may be considering making a purchase.