People are voting emotionally.

Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

Not even Tarzan could defeat Benji and his interminable songs, however! What is there to be said about Tarzan and the Mermaids that hasn't already been said by the other fine reviewers on this site? Probably not a lot, but having caught this on TCM just this week the film is certainly a bizarre adventure. Given that the running time just tips the 60 minute mark there is substantial amount of padding on show (which never bodes well), from the long narrated intro (which also gives the villains' game away from the off), the various aqua pursuits of the island folk (although the cliff diving is thrilling, it must be said) and then the exploits of Benji. If Benji's full-length songs don't eat up enough screen time, then there is Benji preparing for and then engaging in a sea joust. Of the songs, it's interesting to note the pained but humouring faces of Jane et al when Benji treats them to his ditties - a bit like visitors enduring a friend's insistence that they sit through their 'talented' child's piano recital and who act all polite when all they really want to do is scream "ENOUGH!". Anyway, Cheetah has the right idea and nicks Benji's guitar early on, but sadly he is ordered by Tarzan to return it.Oh, and Benji is supposed to be a river postman, but he can't even get that right and forgets the only letter that he has to deliver to Tarzan Towers. Luckily, he has no qualms about invading privacy and having read it previously conveys, in the form of verse (cue five more minutes of Benji action), its contents from a now England-based Boy. Although, given the sketchy information Benji communicates, Boy is clearly living student life to the max and not missing the jungle one bit.Anyway, aside from no mermaids, we get the lovely Linda Christian as Mara, a crook pretending to be a God (who wants to marry Mara, which would rathar give the non-God game away on the wedding night, I'd have thought), George Zucco walking around an Aztec pyramid a lot (with some cool star-shaped shell necklace bling), and a secret island that curiously leads directly to Tarzan and Jane's gaff by river and only takes 10 minutes to get there by canoe (as Tiko, Mara's true love, also demonstrates when he randomly shows up at Tarzan/Jane's tree-top manor). So, a guilty pleasure, for sure, if you can survive Benji and his songs. But that is a big 'if'.

Tarzan and the Mermaids (1948) * 1/2 (out of 4) This sorry excuse for an adventure movie marked the twelfth and final film for Johnny Weissmuller in the role of Tarzan. This time out he and Jane (Brenda Joyce) are enjoying life without Boy who is in England studying. This time out Tarzan must save a woman (Linda Christian) who is being "offered" up to a man (George Zucco) pretending to be the God of Aquantania but our Ape Man friend knows he's just a fake and plans on saving the girl and showing the people the truth. RKO decided to shoot this Tarzan in Mexico City and it really shows because the locals are obviously not from Africa and none of the footage looks anything like a jungle. Most of the time it looks as if you're visiting a resort because the water is clear, the skies blue and there's not a single shot of what appears to be anything resembling a jungle. Who knows, perhaps RKO was rewarding their stars by allowing them to shoot in such a pretty location. I do somewhat doubt this because if they were too cheap to hire someone to write a story it's doubtful they were going to do anything useful for the cast. This entire film is so incredibly bad that one can't help but wonder if the screenwriters and director Florey were experimenting with some grass or some extremely harmful alcohol. The story is all over the place and it never makes a bit of sense as characters and their motivations seen to change every few minutes. The screenwriters and production crew couldn't even seem to deliver what the title promises because there's not a single mermaid to be seen and the only time the word is used is by a supporting player who throws the word out when Tarzan catches a (normal) woman at sea. This one word of dialogue seems to have been shot apart from the rest of the movie and just thrown in and I'm guessing it was thrown in after the producers realized that they wasn't a mermaid in the film. Weissmuller, clearly packing on the pounds by this point, sleepwalks through the film as does Joyce who is really wasted. The two of them don't seem interested in anything going on and have zero chemistry together. Zucco was a master at "B" films but sadly he doesn't add anything either as his dialogue will put you to sleep and his character just isn't very interesting. Christian isn't too bad in her part but the screenplay doesn't give her much to do. TARZAN AND THE MERMAIDS would mark the final film in the series and sadly it's the worst of the bunch. I guess this is to be expected because the previous two entries were rather poor and it's clear that everyone involved had given up all hopes for the series.

We begin with some background information about the plot, which concerns false god "Balu" and his native followers. Employing hocus-pocus, high priest George Zucco (as Palanth) wants "Balu" to become the bride of luscious Linda Christian (as Mara). She would rather have handsome Gustavo Rojo (as Tiko). "Tarzan and the Mermaids" features no mermaids, but Ms. Christian is referred to as one. Intermittent singer John Laurenz (as Benji) brings news explaining the absence of "Boy", who is studying in England. This was the last appearance of Johnny Weissmuller (as Tarzan) in the series. Clearly growing too old for the role, Mr. Weissmuller turned in his loincloth and signed on for the more appropriate "Jungle Jim" series. All of this is secondary to the lush Acapulco location and photography, which makes this a pleasant film in spite of itself.***** Tarzan and the Mermaids (3/29/48) Robert Florey ~ Johnny Weissmuller, Linda Christian, Gustavo Rojo, John Laurenz

I've seen thousands of films (I was practically brought up in the cinema as my mum worked in the Granada, Acton when I was growing up) and this is quite simply the worst I've ever seen. Perhaps it's because I was working as an usher one hot summer in the sixties and was subjected to this film 12 times! The acting is terrible, storyline ridiculous, music painful and design kitsch. Maybe it's about expectations? It's not even so bad that it becomes compulsive viewing in the way that some B movies are? If they lose the negative for this one, the history of cinema will remain intact!!