The New Adventures of Tarzan Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		3.0
Audio		3.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		2.5

The New Adventures of Tarzan Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman August 15, 2022

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.

Herman Brix is featured in a rather appealing career spanning interview included on Disc One of this set, and he is full of anecdotes about all sorts of things, including the kind of combo platter of bad luck and good luck that ended up getting him cast as Tarzan. He was actually slated to star in what became the Weissmuller franchise until an injury took him out of the running, but opportunity came knocking again due to a rather interesting set of circumstances that saw Edgar Rice Burroughs himself perhaps attempting to wrest back control of his character from "outsiders", making this the only Tarzan film to feature the imprimatur of Burroughs as a producer.

While this is an inarguably noble attempt to get Tarzan back to his roots (so to speak), by which is meant returning to Burroughs' original formulation, there was a ton of backstage drama both in terms of the production but also some of the interpersonal relationships that turned this entire enterprise into something of a soap opera. Brix, who later rechristened himself Bruce Bennett in an attempt to escape the outsized shadow of Tarzan, is one of the better portrayers of the character in terms of handling both the athleticism required but also the ability to morph between an "Ape Man" and the more cultured Lord Greystoke.

Interestingly, there's no Jane this time around, and in fact some of that aforementioned soap operatic element comes courtesy of leading lady Ula Holt, playing a secret agent (maybe -- rewriting on the fly evidently wasn't especially concerned with continuity) on the hunt for a priceless relic called The Green Goddess (hopefully not a bottle of salad dressing). If Adventures of Tarzan suffers from having been redacted from a serial, at times none too artfully, The New Adventures of Tarzan can serve as a potent reminder of how repetitive and padded a full length serial could be. Guatemalan locations (which contributed mightily to production challenges) provide some nice exotic settings, and while patently goofy a lot of the time, the intrigue in this film seems almost like a riff on another famous literary adventurer, Allen Quatermain.

The New Adventures of Tarzan Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The New Adventures of Tarzan is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of The Film Detective with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.36:1. I'm rating this the best of the three films in this set, but that 3.0 score had perhaps best be understood as being "on the curve", so to speak. This definitely has the best overall detail levels, and generally the most consistent contrast of the three films in the set, but there is still rampant damage and bugaboos similar to those seen in the other two films, including quite a bit of wobble and things like warped frames. The entire presentation has the same slightly blurry, fuzzy look that the other two films do, but probably less problematically, and some of the outdoor material in this film actually looks relatively decent, with okay detail levels on things like chimp fur. Grain has a bit of a mottled, dirty appearance, but at least there are no egregious signs of digital tweaking. My score is 2.75.

The New Adventures of Tarzan Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Like the two other films in this set, The New Adventures of Tarzan features DTS 2.0 Mono and Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono tracks, but unlike those other two films, this one is a talkie! Tarzan's iconic yell begins each episode and it's manifestly different than Weissmuller's (or Carol Burnett's, for that matter), and it immediately points out that the high end on this track can be a little clipped. There's also outright distortion a few times during noisier moments, but for the most part there really aren't any huge problems with an understanding that this is an archival audio track that has had little to no restoration performed. Dialogue is rendered cleanly enough, but there are optional subtitles for those who may need or want them.

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

While The Film Detective packaged the first two films on Disc One of this three disc set, they've spread the 12 chapters of this serial over two discs, which contain the following supplements:

Disc Two

• Drawn to the Jungle: The Early History of Tarzan in Comics (HD; 10:52) is a fun overview with Donald F. Glut.


• The New Adventures of Tarzan episodes 1-5 commentary with Ed Hulse

Disc Three

• Swinging into Action: The Early Adventures of Tarzan on Film (HD; 19:46) offers C. Courtney Joyner, Bruce Scivally and Richard Heft focusing on Edgar Rice Burroughs and Tarzan.


• The New Adventures of Tarzan episodes 6-12 commentary with Ed Hulse

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

Herman Brix makes a very appealing Tarzan, but this is an often confusing effort that seems to have suffered from an almost insane amount of production and personal snafus along the way. Technical merits are definitely improvable, even if they're the best in this set, but the supplements are very appealing, for anyone who may be considering making a purchase.