Johnny Weissmuller Movies

Broadway impresario Florenz Ziegfeld brought his legendary "Follies" to the silver screen in Glorifying the American Girl. The barely visible plotline concerns a virginal young miss (Mary Eaton) who aspires to greatness as a Follies girl. With stars in her eyes, she heads to New York, leaving her hometown boyfriend to fend for himself. Upon arriving in the Big Apple, our heroine links up with a two-bit dancer who offers to make her a star -- if only she'll let him make her, period. The greater part of the film is given over to a re-creation of a "typical" Follies production, replete with musical solos by Rudy Vallee and Helen Morgan and a sidesplitting comedy sketch with Eddie Cantor and Louis Sorin as a pair of kvetching Jewish tailors ("Vat's der idea uff calling me a damn fool in front uff der customers?" "So, it's a secret?"). From time to time, the camera cuts away to the many celebrities enjoying the show, including journalist Ring Lardner, nightclub doyenne Texas Guinan, New York mayor Jimmy Walker, Paramount Pictures head man Adolph Zukor, and Flo Ziegfeld himself, accompanied by his then-wife, Billie Burke. And yes, that's Johnny Weissmuller on-stage as a provocatively undraped "Nature Boy." As a bonus, the musical score was the handiwork of Irving Berlin. Originally filmed in Technicolor, Glorifying the American Girl is presently available only in black-and-white. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Most Tarzan enthusiasts consider 1934's Tarzan and His Mate to be the best of the Johnny Weissmuller-Maureen O'Sullivan Tarzan efforts. Certainly it is the sexiest, with Weissmuller and especially O'Sullivan wearing next to nothing for most of the film's running time. Picking up where 1932's Tarzan the Ape Man left off, the film's plot is set in motion by avaricious ivory hunter Paul Cavanaugh, who arrives in the African jungle in search of the fabled Elephant's Graveyard. Accompanying Cavanaugh is Neil Hamilton the former fiance of Jane Porter (Maureen O'Sullivan), who for the past two years has been living with jungle lord Tarzan (Johnny Weissmuller) without benefit of clergy (this is strictly a pre-code effort, as evidenced by Jane's bikini-like attire and the now-famous skinny-dipping sequence). Jane briefly entertains notions of returning to civilization, but opts for her blissful outdoor existence with Tarzan. The plot rears its ugly head again when Cavanaugh shoots Tarzan and leaves him for dead, the better to seek out the precious ivory unimpeded. Rescued by his simian friends, Tarzan races towards the elephant's burial site, where Cavanaugh and Hamilton have been eaten by lions and Jane is next on the menu. A convenient elephant stampede--heralded by that classic Tarzan ahh-ee-yahhhh-ee-yahhhh--saves Jane from the lion's fangs in the nick of time. Tarzan and His Mate was the last of MGM's "Tarzan" series to be targeted for a strictly adult audience: the remaining MGM Tarzans, made under stricter censorship guidelines, were geared for the whole family. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Tarzan Finds a Son was to have been Maureen O'Sullivan's final Tarzan film, with Jane getting killed in the final reel. But Edgar Rice Burroughs refused to allow MGM to kill his character, so MGM had to increase her salary a substantial amount to do a few more Tarzan adventures. Tarzan Finds a Son was also the first MGM Tarzan film in three years and it introduced a new character --Boy (Johnny Sheffield). Tarzan (Johnny Weissmuller) finds Boy as an infant in a plane-wreck deep in the heart of the African jungle. He takes the baby to his jungle home where he and Jane (Maureen O'Sullivan) raise him as their own son for five years. When Boy's relatives find out that he is alive, they are less than happy, since he stands to receive a large inheritance. An evil African tribe then captures Tarzan and Jane and it is left to Boy to try to rescue them. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

This final "Tarzan" entry from the MGM assembly line is arguably one the least effective of the series, though it certainly has its adherents. It all begins when Boy (Johnny Sheffield), adopted son of Tarzan (Johnny Weissmuller) and Jane (Maureen O'Sullivan), is kidnapped from the jungle by crooked circus promoters Rand (Charles Bickford) and Shields (Paul Kelly) and spirted off to America. This requires Tarzan and his mate to adopt "civilized" clothes and head to New York City, with the troublesome Cheeta the Chimpanzee along for the ride. There are some amusing moments as Tarzan tries to acclimate himself with the Big Apple, and some less amusing ones as Cheeta gets hold of a powder puff and lays waste to an expensive hotel room. The film's highlight, Tarzan's leap from the Brooklyn Bridge, comes at the film's halfway point, and accordingly things slow down considerably during the final reels. Tarzan's New Adventure works better as a stunt than as an official series entry, but it is still preferable to some of the so-so RKO Radio Tarzan films which were to follow. One racially questionable sequence involving black comedian Mantan Moreland has been understandably removed from some TV prints. ~ Hal Erickson, 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

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

Tarzan (Johnny Weissmuller) goes on one of his occasional pro-ecological kicks in Tarzan and the Huntress. This time, the Lord of the Jungle runs afoul of an animal-trapping exposition headed by titular huntress Tanya (Patricia Morison). Not wishing to see his jungle friends packed in crates and shipped off to zoos, Tarzan does everything he can to discourage Tanya from seeking out specimens in his territory. The plot then goes off on a different tangent, as Tanya's unscrupulous partner Weir (Barton MacLane) conspires with aspiring despot Prince Ozira (Ted Hecht) to knock off the Prince's benevolent uncle, King Faroud (Charles Trowbridge). Tarzan saves the day by summoning his elephant pals to trammel the villains, but not before his mate Jane (Brenda Joyce) and his adopted son Boy (Johnny Sheffield) are placed in the usual deadly peril. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The "mermaids" are really tribal pearl divers in this diverting Tarzan adventure. Their livelihood is threatened by an evil white trader (Fernando Wagner), who sets himself up as a "god." With the help of lovely diver Linda Christian (later Mrs. Tyrone Power), Tarzan defeats the wicked despot, but not before several underwater battles, not the least of which involves an octopus. If the jungle settings of Tarzan and the Mermaids don't look particularly African, that's because the film was shot at the Churubusco Studios in Mexico. Mermaids represents the final appearance of Johnny Weissmuller as Tarzan. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Pygmy Island was entry number five in Columbia's "Jungle Jim" series. Johnny Weissmuller is back as Jungle Jim, who this time around leads a search for missing WAC officer Ann Kingsley (Ann Savage). He'd better hurry; enemy agents are also on the trail of the heroine, who became lost while searching for material vital to the U.S. defense program. Somewhere in the foliage is a tribe of white pygmies (!), who cast their lot with Jungle Jim against the bad guys. Highlights in Pygmy Island include a stampeding elephant herd and a couple of fierce jungle battles pitting our hero against a crocodile and a gorilla. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Mark of the Gorilla was Number Four in Columbia's "Jungle Jim" series. Johnny Weissmuller stars as Jim, who this time around contends with homicidal fortune hunters. At stake is a buried treasure, consisting of ill-gotten Nazi loot. Villain Brandt (Onslow Stevens) hires a couple of thugs to pose as killer gorillas, in hopes of scaring the natives away from the burial site. Believe it or not, this monkey masquerade was played straight, though it's difficult not to giggle when watching the film today. As was customary in the "Jungle Jim" series, Mark of the Gorilla has two leading ladies: Trudy Marshall (the mother of actress Deborah Raffin) as Jungle Jim's assistant, and Suzanne Dalbert as an incognito European queen. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Fury of the Congo was the sixth entry in Columbia's "Jungle Jim" series, though in most markets it was the fifth to be released. Johnny Weissmuller returns as Alex Raymond's comic strip hero Jungle Jim. The plot this time around has Jim coming to the rescue of a native tribe which has fallen under the influence of evil dope peddlers. Benumbed by drugs, the tribesmen have been ordered to hunt the Okongo, a hybrid beast that is the source of a dangerously powerful narcotic. The film builds steadily to an exciting climax in a blinding sandstorm. The villainy is handled by William Henry, Lyle Talbot and George Eldredge, while the "femme interest" is provided by shapely native girl Sherry Moreland. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Voodoo Tiger was the ninth of Columbia's "Jungle Jim" "B"-pictures, with seven more on the docket before the series expired in 1955. Johnny Weissmuller returns as Jungle Jim, who this time comes to the aid of anthropologist Phyllis Bruce (Jean Byron), who has arrived in Africa to study tribal customs. Jim is sidetracked when asked to join the search for a French treasure of art that disappeared during the war. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Killer Ape is one of the most violent entries in Columbia's "Jungle Jim" series. In this outing, Jim (Johnny Weissmuller) finds out that members of the Wazuli tribe are selling animals to white hunters. These animals are in turn used for illegal research in a scheme to create drugs for bacterial warfare. Before Jim can foil the villains' plans, he must first clear himself of a murder charge. The film's title derives from the tribesmen's habit of wearing ape costumes to scare away outsiders. As usual, many of the film's best scenes go to Tamba the Chimp, who gets even more screen time than leading lady Carol Thurston. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide