So much average

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

Although the MGM Tarzan films with Johnny Weissmuller were usually of high quality I had some problems with Tarzan Escapes. This film which does have a bit of continuity in it to connect with the two previous Weissmuller outings, I had some trouble wrapping my mind around the plot.The story has Maureen O'Sullivan's cousins from Great Britain, William Henry and Benita Hume searching for Jane to resolve an inheritance issue back in the old country. They want her to go, but their guide John Buckler also would like to get the famous white ape man Tarzan back into civilization for exhibition.Try as I might I could not believe that Buckler was able to trick Tarzan as easily as he did. The Tarzan we know has a lot more jungle smarts than what is shown here. Of course he doesn't stay captive long, it helps to be on a first name basis with all the elephants in the jungle.Herbert Mundin is always good to have around as he plays Buckler's assistant and one with a conscience. Mundin played a variation on his role as the timid seaman in Mutiny On The Bounty in Tarzan Escapes. Mundin was always a favorite of mine and his death in a car crash in 1940 robbed the screen of a very funny character actor.But what was really freaky was reading about John Buckler who was killed right after making this film also in a car crash with his father, actor Hugh Buckler. Buckler drowns in a swamp in this one and in real life drove into a river and also drowned.Though the film has the usual MGM production values that a place like RKO couldn't bring to its later Tarzans, the story here was a bit much for me to swallow.

Nasty hunter Captain Fry (John Buckler) leads an expedition to Tarzan's stomping ground with the aim of capturing the ape-man and exhibiting him in England. Unaware of Fry's nefarious intentions, Jane's cousins, Eric and Rita (William Henry and Benita Hume), tag along for the journey hoping to convince their relative to return to England in order to help them claim the fortune that has been left to them in a will.It's back to the Mutia escarpment for more jungle action in the third of the Weissmuller Tarzan films; unfortunately, this time around, much of what made the first two films so much fun—the gloriously un-PC violence and steamy sexuality—is missing thanks to the introduction of the Hays code, Hollywood's moral guidelines.So instead of Maureen O'Sullivan giving us an eyeful in her animal skin bikini, we have her wearing a much more demure dress, and when the film gets down to the dispatching of native bearers, much of the nastiness happens off-screen; the film also suffers due to a troubled production which saw much of the original film being re-shot and re-edited. It all amounts to a rather tame offering that lacks the thrills and spills of Weissmuller's earlier outings as the affable ape-man (even the nasty execution via tree that horrified me as a child was less gruesome than I remembered).Still, the film remains fairly watchable thanks to the chemistry between Weissmuller and O'Sullivan, some funny antics from Cheetah the Chimp (she teases lion cubs, attempts to ride a zebra, and laughs as comedy relief Rawlins tries to master swinging on a vine), the impressive sight of Tarzan's 'town-house' (complete with elephant powered elevator!), and one particularly bizarre scene featuring a weird dodo-like bird (which I presume must have been performed by a man with no legs, walking on his hands in a feathered suit!!!).6.5 out of 10, rounded up to 7 for IMDb.

A strange entry in the MGM series, 'Tarzan Escapes' eschews a predictable plot and at times wants to be a serious melodrama about Tarzan and Jane's relationship. Well, as serious as any such plot could be, anyway. The film reportedly was re-shot extensively because of excessive gore, and there are hints of such in the released version, both in the way certain natives are killed and in a cave where large, deadly lizards dwell. Perhaps all of this and more contribute to the weird way the film progresses, alternating between the aforementioned Tarzan/Jane soap opera and much jungle violence. There is also excessive comic relief provided by Herbert Mundin. Over the course of the series, particularly the episodes with Johnny Weismuller and Maureen O'Sullivan, it's made clear time and again that Tarzan and Jane are madly in love. One can certainly see why the Apeman is ape over Jane, but why on earth Jane feels the same for him is never adequately explained. No matter how many times she tries to explain it, it just doesn't make sense that a beautiful, sophisticated English woman should prefer living in a tree, barefoot and wearing a skimpy animal skin, with a monkey and a guy who has a vocabulary of about twenty words. It is hinted at, sometimes pretty heavy-handedly, that the jungle love they share beats a one-night stand in London any day, so maybe that's it. In any event, their unbreakable if inexplicable bond is tested in 'Tarzan Escapes,' when Jane agrees to return to England briefly with her two cousins to deal with some legal matters regarding a will. Tarzan doesn't take it well at all; he's convinced she's dumping him for good and will never return. He mopes around the jungle while Cheetah tries to cheer him up. Meanwhile, Captain Fry (John Buckler), leader of the safari, has plans to kidnap Tarzan and take him back to England as a circus attraction. Yeah, right. Give up that crazy dream. Fry eventually runs afoul of a dangerous tribe; Tarzan comes to the rescue and saves them all but realizing Fry's treachery, forces him back into a cave where those killer lizards reside, and that's the end of Fry. Though things were not nearly as standardized as they would be in later MGM films, we see the beginnings of recurring ideas and situations, such as the elaborate treehouse and its Flintstones-style amenities, like the elephant-operated elevator. (Why Tarzan needs an elevator when he can just run up the tree ten times as fast is another good question. It must be for Jane.) The production still bears the creakiness of early 30's film-making, despite an impressive use of varied sets and locales; there was a very noticeable change starting with the next film in the series. From then on, the MGM polish became unmistakable and would remain for the rest of the run. 'Tarzan Escapes', perhaps because of its extensive reworking, stands apart from other entries in the series and taken on its own terms, is very much worth seeing.

Third film in the Johnny Weissmuller--Maureen O'Sullivan Tarzan series. Two of Jane's cousins come to the jungle to persuade her to return to civilization. With them is safari hunter Captain Fry (John Buckler) who secretly has plans to capture Tarzan and bring him back to civilization as a sideshow attraction. And then there is the vicious native tribe near by...Not as good as the first two (which were great) but still very enjoyable. This film was a disaster--it took 2 years to make and went through multiple rewrites, reshoots, cutting, editing and was overhauled completely when a test audience hated it. The film is pretty violent (for 1936) but the original was even more so with a vampire bat sequence that got completely cut out! The sex has been toned down too--Jane is dressed VERY modestly this time around and she's fully clothed during the underwater swimming sequence (she was totally nude in "Tarzan and his Mate". Still, this film isn't really for kids. The violence IS pretty strong. Also Tarzan and Jane's tree house is quite elaborate this time around. And there are shots of Cheetah laughing that are hysterical.The acting varies--Weissmuller is very good as Tarzan--his emotions show clearly through his face (but he does look a little old in a few sequences); O'Hara is still bad as Jane and everybody else is TERRIBLE--especially Buckler and Herbert Munder (stuck with the thankless "comic" relief role).Still this is fast-moving with plenty of action. Worth catching.