Cheta the Chimp Movies

This jungle adventure is comprised of two episodes from the 1966-69 TV show. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Tarzan and the Lost Safari is the first MGM-released Tarzan picture since 1942, and the first of the series to be lensed in color. Gordon Scott plays the Lord of the Jungle, herein guiding a group of high-society types through the jungle after their plane has crashed. Since there's no Jane in the film, old Tarz is permitted to extend every courtesy to heroines Gamage Dean (Yolande Donlan) and Diana Penrod (Betta St. John). The villain of the piece is white hunter Tusker Hawkins (Robert Beatty), who intends to turn over two of the safari members to tribal chief Ogonooro (Orlando Martins) in exchange for a fortune in ivory. Unlike earlier Tarzan epics, Tarzan and the Lost Safari was lensed in its entirety in Africa. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Two escaped convicts (George Macready and Glenn Anders) invade the jungle dominion of Tarzan (Lex Barker) to set up a gunrunning operation. One of the criminals has sworn to "get" Tarzan, who was responsible for his arrest, and to that end stirs up unrest between two African tribes. After narrowly escaping death at every turn, Tarzan quells the inter-tribal hostilities, rescues a voluptuous jungle queen (Dorothy Dandridge), and saves his mate Jane (Virginia Houston) from the murderous machinations of the criminals. Tarzan's Peril plays more like a serial than a feature film, but certainly lives up to its title. African-American actress Dorothy Dandridge's brief appearance as the jungle queen involves a "bondage" sequence that has been cited by several film historians (one of whom evidently had a crush on Ms. Dandridge) as being somehow symbolic. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Lex Barker first stepped into the loincloth of the Lord of the Jungle in Tarzan's Magic Fountain. The story gets under way when Tarzan rescues a long-lost aviatrix named Gloria (Evelyn Ankers), who has been kept youthful by the magic fountain of the title. Bad guys Trask (Albert Dekker) and Dodd (Charles Drake) try to exploit the recuperative waters for mercenary purposes. They accompany the rapidly aging Gloria on an expedition back to the secluded valley where the magic waters flow. When the villains make their evil intentions known, Tarzan swings into action. Brenda Joyce plays Jane, just as she had in the last of the Johnny Weissmuller "Tarzan" entries. Tarzan's Magic Fountain was co-scripted by horror-film vet Curt Siodmak. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Johnny Weissmuller's ninth Tarzan film is based on an interesting script by Carroll Young. Tarzan, Jane (Brenda Joyce), their son Boy (Johnny Sheffield), and faithful sidekick Cheta the Chimp stumble upon an entire village in which a peaceful tribe has been wiped out by what looks like murderous leopards. Investigating further, Tarzan confronts Lea (Acquanetta), the queen of a ruthless secret cult of cat people who wear iron claws. It is she who was responsible for the murders, and her followers capture Tarzan, Jane and Boy, and prepare to offer them as sacrifices to their feline dieties. Cheta is their only hope for escape. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide

During WWII, Johnny Weissmuller and his Tarzan character proved useful for Allied propaganda purposes. In the film Tarzan Triumphs, the plot had the ape man fighting Nazis in Africa. In Tarzan's Desert Mystery, released at the height of the war in 1943, he is once again battling Brownshirts in the Libyan desert. Tarzan meets up with Connie Bryce (Nancy Kelly), an American showgirl, and tangles with mercenary Arabs, legions of Nazi warriors, a giant spider, and a bunch of dinosaurs who somehow escaped extinction. In short, it's Tarzan against every evil villain an American filmmaker could have imagined at the time. The film included Johnny Sheffield as Boy, Tarzan's son, along with Tarzan's customary sidekick Cheta the Chimp. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide

Judging by the number of times it's popped up on TV, Tarzan's Secret Treasure was one of the most popular of the MGM "Tarzan" pictures, though it's hardly the best. This time around, a group of gold hunters invade the domain of Tarzan (Johnny Weissmuller), Jane (Maureen O'Sullivan) and Boy (Johnny Sheffield). Expedition leader Professor Elliot (Reginald Owen) is an honorable man, but his assistants Medford (Tom Conway) and Vandemeer (Philip Dorn) are scoundrels, while the party's aggressively Irish general factotum O'Doul (Barry Fitzgerald) remains an enigma until the final reel. Thinking they've done away with Tarzan, Medford and Vandemeer force Jane and Boy to lead them through the jungle to a hidden gold mine, only to be captured by a hostile tribe which specializes in literally tearing its captives apart (via tastefully gruesome stock footage from 1936's Tarzan Escapes). Will ol' Tarz revive in time to rescue his loved ones from fierce tribesmen and even fiercer crocodiles? Perhaps the "campiest" of MGM's "Tarzan" entries, Tarzan's Secret Treasure is chock full of laughable vignettes, one or two of them intentional. Best line: When Jane asks Boy what he's been doing all day, the plucky youngster, who's just survived a series of hair-raising perils culminating with his nearly being burned at the stake by superstitious natives, replies "Oh, nothing much." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Tarzan, The Ape Man was not only MGM's inaugural "Tarzan" film, but also the first to star former Olympic swimming champ Johnny Weissmuller as The Lord of the Jungle (strange but true: one of the pre-Weissmuller "Tarzan" candidates was Clark Gable!) Utilizing scads of stock footage from MGM's Trader Horn (1931), the film begins with great white hunter James Parker (C. Aubrey Smith) trekking through darkest Africa in search of the legendary Elephant Graveyard. Accompanying Parker is his daughter Jane (Maureen O'Sullivan) and her erstwhile beau Harry Holt (Neil Hamilton). The expedition is habitually sabotaged by the ecology-conscious Tarzan, a white man who'd been lost in the jungle years earlier and raised by Apes. Tarzan kidnaps Jane and spirits her away to the treetops, where she gradually overcomes her fear of the Loinclothed One and teaches him to speak English ("Tarzan...Jane", not "Me Tarzan...You Jane" as has often been reported). The perfect gentleman, Tarzan returns Jane to her father and swings off into the distance. When Parker, Jane and Holt are captured by pygmies, Tarzan comes to the rescue, with an entourage of his elephant friends. At fade-out time, Jane has decided to renounce civilization and spend the rest of her life with Tarzan. The only one of the MGM "Tarzans" actually based on the Edgar Rice Burroughs originals, Tarzan the Ape Man proved a surprise hit, spawning an endless parade of sequels and remakes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide