Tarzan Triumphs was the first of 6 films Johnny Weissmuller made at RKO. Maureen Sullivan had moved on so the writers introduced Frances Gifford as Zandra in the female lead.
TARZAN TRIUMPHS (1943)
Johnny Weissmuller (Tarzan), Frances Gifford (Zandra), Johnny Sheffield (Boy), Stanley Ridges (Colonel Von Reichart), Sig Ruman (Sergeant), Philip Van Zandt (Captain Bausch), Rex Williams (Lt. Reinhardt Schmidt), Pedro de Cordoba (Oman) and Cheta the monkey.
Directed by Wilhelm (as William) Thiele; Screenplay by Carroll Young and Roy Chanslor based on characters created by Edgar Rice Burroughs; Produced by Sol Lesser and Wilhelm Thiele; Original music: Paul Sawtell; Music Department: C. Bakaleinikoff; Cinematography: Harry Wild; Production Design by Harry Horner; Art Direction: Hans Peters; Assistant director: Clem Beauchamp; Stunts: Babe DeFreest (for Frances Gifford) and Paul Stader; Supervising editor: Hal Kern; Wardrobe supervisor: Elmer Ellsworth.
RKO Radio Pictures
Production dates: August 1942 - September 1942
Release date: January 20, 1943 (premiere); February 19, 1943
Running time: 76 Minutes
Filmed in Black and White
In the first movie Weissmuller made for producer Sol Lesser at RKO, Tarzan and Boy are living on the Great Escarpment, though Jane has returned to England. A small force of German paratroopers lands and takes over the lost city of "Polandria" as an advance base for the conquest of Sub Saharan Africa. Tarzan continually ignores the requests for help from the helpless and enslaved Polandrians, saying, "Jungle people fight to live, civilized people live to fight".
Only when Boy is kidnapped by the Germans does Tarzan shout, "Now Tarzan make war!" Tarzan infiltrates the lost city, destroying a machine gun and defeating the German invaders with his knife and an elephant blitzkrieg. The film's final scene has Cheetah speaking into the defeated Germans' short wave radio to call Berlin; the Germans mistake Cheetah for Adolf Hitler.
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