Tarzan and the Amazons
Encyclopedia
Tarzan and the Amazons (1945) is an adventure
Adventure
An adventure is defined as an exciting or unusual experience; it may also be a bold, usually risky undertaking, with an uncertain outcome. The term is often used to refer to activities with some potential for physical danger, such as skydiving, mountain climbing and or participating in extreme sports...
film starring Johnny Weissmuller
Johnny Weissmuller
Johnny Weissmuller was an Austro-Hungarian-born American swimmer and actor best known for playing Tarzan in movies. Weissmuller was one of the world's best swimmers in the 1920s, winning five Olympic gold medals and one bronze medal. He won fifty-two US National Championships and set sixty-seven...
in his ninth outing as Tarzan
Tarzan
Tarzan is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungles by the Mangani "great apes"; he later experiences civilization only to largely reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adventurer...
. Brenda Joyce
Brenda Joyce (actress)
Brenda Joyce was an American film actress. She was born as Betty Graftina Leabo in Excelsior Springs, Missouri, although family and friends referred to her as Graftina....
makes the first of five appearances as Jane
Jane Porter (Tarzan)
Jane Porter is a major character in Edgar Rice Burroughs's series of Tarzan novels, and in adaptations of the saga to other media, particularly film.- In the novels :...
and Johnny Sheffield
Johnny Sheffield
Johnny Sheffield was an American child actor.-Early life:He was born as John Matthew Sheffield Cassan in Pasadena, California, the second child of actor Reginald Sheffield and Louise Van Loon...
returns as Boy. Henry Stephenson
Henry Stephenson
Henry Stephenson , sometimes credited as Harry Stephenson, was a British character actor....
and Maria Ouspenskaya
Maria Ouspenskaya
Maria Alekseyevna Ouspenskaya was a Russian actress and acting teacher. She achieved success as a stage actress as a young woman in Russia, and as an elderly woman in Hollywood films.-Life and career:...
co-star. The movie was produced by Sol Lesser and Kurt Neumann, written by John Jacoby and Marjorie L. Pfaelzer (based on characters created by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Edgar Rice Burroughs
Edgar Rice Burroughs was an American author, best known for his creation of the jungle hero Tarzan and the heroic Mars adventurer John Carter, although he produced works in many genres.-Biography:...
) and directed by Kurt Neumann. It was released on April 29, 1945. http://www.erbzine.com/mag6/0625.html
Plot summary
Tarzan and Boy, on their way to meet Jane, who is returning from nursing work in England to support the warWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
effort, rescue an "Amazon" woman from an attack by a black panther
Black panther
A black panther is typically a melanistic color variant of any of several species of larger cat. Wild black panthers in Latin America are black jaguars , in Asia and Africa they are black leopards , and in North America they may be black jaguars or possibly black cougars A black panther is...
. During the attack, she drops a golden bracelet which Cheeta
Cheeta
Cheeta is a chimpanzee character appearing in numerous Hollywood Tarzan movies of the 1930s–1960s as well as the 1966–1968 television series, as the ape sidekick of the title character, Tarzan...
picks up. The Amazon woman's ankle is twisted in the incident and she cannot walk. Telling Boy to wait for him, Tarzan carries the woman through a mountain pass to the valley where her city of Palmyria is located. Boy disobeys Tarzan, follows them at a distance, and discovers the location of the city, then returns to wait for Tarzan.
After they reunite with Jane, a group of explorers, led by Sir Guy Henderson, discover the bracelet Cheeta has, and its markings are matched to other relics supposedly from a lost city of Amazons. The explorers attempt to enlist Tarzan to lead them to Palmyria. Tarzan refuses, but Boy, believing he is aiding the advancement of science, is duped into guiding them there.
Boy and the party are captured by the Amazons, and their queen declares that in lieu of the death penalty for invading their city, they will all be forced to work the rest of their lives in the Palmyrian quarries with the other men they keep for labor. The woman Tarzan saved from the panther takes pity and releases them. The group, led by Ballister, Henderson's unsavory second-in-command, and Anders, then sets about looting the city's treasure vaults. When Henderson objects, Ballister kills him, then fatally knifes the woman who released them. She is able to sound an alarm before she dies, and the invaders are all killed save Ballister and Anders, who escape with two pieces of treasure.
Boy is recaptured and condemned to die. Cheeta warns Tarzan of Boy's impending doom. Tarzan races to Palmyria, meets Ballister and Anders, and backs them into a mud bog in which they sink and die. He returns the Amazon's treasure in exchange for Boy's freedom.
Cast
- Johnny WeissmullerJohnny WeissmullerJohnny Weissmuller was an Austro-Hungarian-born American swimmer and actor best known for playing Tarzan in movies. Weissmuller was one of the world's best swimmers in the 1920s, winning five Olympic gold medals and one bronze medal. He won fifty-two US National Championships and set sixty-seven...
as Tarzan - Brenda JoyceBrenda Joyce (actress)Brenda Joyce was an American film actress. She was born as Betty Graftina Leabo in Excelsior Springs, Missouri, although family and friends referred to her as Graftina....
as Jane - Johnny SheffieldJohnny SheffieldJohnny Sheffield was an American child actor.-Early life:He was born as John Matthew Sheffield Cassan in Pasadena, California, the second child of actor Reginald Sheffield and Louise Van Loon...
as Boy - Henry StephensonHenry StephensonHenry Stephenson , sometimes credited as Harry Stephenson, was a British character actor....
as Sir Guy Henderson, well-meaning explorer - Maria OuspenskayaMaria OuspenskayaMaria Alekseyevna Ouspenskaya was a Russian actress and acting teacher. She achieved success as a stage actress as a young woman in Russia, and as an elderly woman in Hollywood films.-Life and career:...
as Amazon Queen - Barton MacLaneBarton MacLaneBarton MacLane was an American actor, playwright, and screenwriter. Although he has appeared in many classic films from the 1930s through the 1960s, he was known for his role as Gen...
as Ballister, villainous member of Henderson's party - Don DouglasDon DouglasDon Douglas was a film actor, born Donald Douglas on 24 August 1905 in Kinleyside, Scotland, UK.He appeared in over 100 films from the late 1920s to the 1940s including The Great Gabbo , Life Begins , Men in White , Madame X , Cheers for Miss Bishop , Now, Voyager , Little Tokyo, U.S.A. , Tall in...
as Anders - Steven GeraySteven GeraySteven Geray, born Istvan Gyergyay on November 10, 1904 and died aged 69 on December 26, 1973 in Los Angeles, California. He was a film actor who appeared in over 100 films and dozens of television programs...
as Brenner - J. M. KerriganJ. M. KerriganJoseph Michael Kerrigan , better known as J. M. Kerrigan, born in Dublin, Ireland, was an Irish character actor.-Life:Kerrigan worked as a newspaper reporter until 1907 when he joined the famous Abbey Players...
as Splivens - Shirley O'Hara as Athena
Production notes
- Maureen O'Sullivan was originally announced to be returning as Jane prior to production when the actress appeared interested in a new offer made by Sol Lesser. She then changed her mind and the role was recast.
- Brenda Joyce portrayed Jane in five Tarzan films. Four opposite Johnny Weissmuller and one opposite Lex Barker.
- From this film onwards, Tarzan's home was no longer on top of the Great Escarpment, but seemingly just up river from the nearest trading post. The change was not explained or alluded to.