Tarzan's New York Adventure (1942)

TARZAN'S NEW YORK ADVENTURE (MGM, 1942), directed by Richard Thorpe, the sixth installment in the popular series, includes more finals than firsts. For starters, it's the first since the series began to distribute the next installment less than a year following the previous film, instead of the standard two to three years; but most important, this is the first to provide Tarzan, Jane and Boy outside their native soil into new territory (not overlooking that Jane originated from England); and the first to present the jungle family full clothing attire. As for the finale, this was the last Tarzan adventure for MGM starring Johnny Weissmuller, the last with Maureen O'Sullivan playing Jane, the last with the traditional jungle underscoring played during the opening credits superimposed over the map of Africa, and the last produced on a higher budget scale. While MGM canceled the series, this didn't mark the end of Edgar Rice Burrough's jungle hero nor of Johnny Weissmuller. Even if this were the final Tarzan movie made, this would have been a fine conclusion. However, the series resumed over at the RKO Radio studios where Tarzan and Boy (Johnny Sheffield) continued to perform their usual tasks dealing with great tales of action and adventure with Brenda Joyce making her debut as Jane in TARZAN AND THE AMAZONS (1945).

For its 71 minutes, the shortest in the MGM series, in spite of its hokeyness and trite dialog (some of it spoken by Paul Kelly), and evidence of severe cuts in order to quicken the pace, the movie does have enough ingredients to assure entertainment, especially for children. It starts off with the jungle family doing their morning swim, followed by an airplane (called "Iron Bird" by Tarzan), piloted by Jimmie Shields (Paul Kelly) along with hunters making a landing. After its leader, Buck Rand (Charles Bickford) shoots and kills one of the lions, Tarzan orders the men leave before morning. By the rise of the morning sun, Manchester Mountford (Chill Wills), one of the hunters, faces some danger with a lion, and it is Boy who comes to his rescue. Amazed by the way the youngster handles himself with animals, one of the men suggests the boy make a great circus attraction. Afterwards comes a native uprising with flying spears. Tarzan and Jane swing into action but as one of the natives cuts the vine, the couple fall to the ground, leaving them unconscious. They later awaken to find themselves surrounded by blazing fire started by the natives Believing Tarzan and Jane have perished, and finding the natives are heading towards them, the hunters make a hasty departure, taking Boy with them. Having survived the fire and guided to safety by Cheetah, Tarzan and Jane find that Boy was taken away. Upon learning the whereabouts of the hunters, Tarzan and Jane attempt to get their son back following them to New York City. While there it is Jane who take charge of Tarzan, who finds it difficult not only being in "Stone Jungle," but his adjustment in wearing clothes. They track down the hunters and Boy to a circus in Long Island, but have quite a time dealing with authorities and Rand's abductors to get him back.

Supporting players include Virginia Grey as Jimmie's girl, Connie Beach, ; Russell Hicks as Judge Abbotson; Cyrus Kendall as Ralph Sargeant. Look for Willie Fung as a tailor trying to measure suits for Tarzan, and Charles Lane as the aggressive attorney who cross examines Jane to a point in having Tarzan grab hold and throw him across the courtroom.

TARZAN'S NEW YORK ADVENTURE starts off in familiar territory of Africa, but once it shifts over to New York City does the story really get underway. After Boy's departure, he isn't seen until when the movie is more than half over. The focus here is solely on Tarzan and Jane (Cheetah, too). Aside from Tarzan riding in a taxi, taking a shower with his clothes on and doing his ape call, with Cheetah along for the ride providing comedy relief, the big topper includes the most memorable of all, Tarzan surrounded by police on the Brooklyn Bridge which leaves him no choice but to take a 200 foot dive to the East River as Jane calmly watches amongst the crowd. This scene pales in comparison to Tarzan's swinging on ropes of flagpoles from building to building and hanging on a ledge. In spite of being in foreign territory, Tarzan does keep the tradition going by getting help from the circus elephants leading to a stampede in order to rescue Boy from his abductors.

TARZAN'S NEW YORK ADVENTURE, one of the very best in the series, did have frequent revivals on commercial television for many years prior to 1990, followed by more revivals when shown on the American Movie Classics cable channel (1997-2000) and Turner Classic Movies(TCM premiere: Saturday, May 7, 2011). This, along with others in the MGM series, are available either on video cassette or DVD. Next in the series: TARZAN TRIUMPHS (RKO, 1943) (***)