The Tarzan Collection Starring Johnny Weissmuller: Volume Two (Tarzan Triumphs / Tarzan's Desert Mystery / Tarzan and the Amazons / and the Leopard Woman / and the Huntress / and the Mermaids) [DVD]

Here are some details to help you decide on whether to purchase this better-than-average RKO film set. First, I'll list the six films that you'll get on three DVDs (each of them stars Johnny Weissmuller) and some relevant information about each one:Tarzan Triumphs (1943, 76 minutes, directed by Wilhelm Thiele) -- The reclusive native residents of the hidden jungle enclave city of Pilandria are peaceful sun worshippers -- but not for long. The Nazis need their geological resources and one of the dastardly devils has accidentally discovered the secret location, returning with his goose-stepping pals. Jane has written to Tarzan about the war and how evil the Nazis are but the ape-man is not inclined to get involved in the conflict until they kidnap Boy (Johnny Sheffield). After that, it's all bad for the lamentable Nazis when Tarzan shouts, "NOW Tarzan make war!!!" This is a marvellous film and there are some notable supporting actors, such as Frances Gifford  ], who make it all that much better.Tarzan's Desert Mystery (1943, 70 minutes, directed by Wilhelm Thiele) -- World War II is on: Jane is away from the jungle (we never see her in this one) and she writes Tarzan to ship her some "jungle medicine" (from an obscure jungle region where prehistoric creatures exist) to cure allied soldiers whom have contracted a devastating fever in Burma. Through a comedy of errors and due to evil adversaries, Tarzan gets tossed into the clink of an Arab village. Cheetah the chimpanzee is a key figure in this one and the vain efforts at slapstick comedy do not benefit the film. Boy is played by Johnny Sheffield and Otto Kruger  ] co-stars. There are some splendid aspects to this movie (such as the dinosaurs) but overall, it's not one of the better Tarzan entries.Tarzan and the Amazons (1945, 76 minutes, directed by Kurt Neumann) -- Tarzan rescues a native girl from Palmyria, a secret jungle city where women dominate the society and where the worship of a sun god predominates the culture. Jane (Brenda Joyce) returns to the jungle after an extended trip back to civilization -- she brings along some archaeologist friends who quickly pick up on the rumors of the immense Palmyrian treasures. Tarzan adamantly disapproves of the expedition's efforts to attempt to locate the secret enclave but Boy (Johnny Sheffield) helps them out in a period of dull-wittedness. Maria Ouspenskaya  ] stars as the Amazon Queen. This is an outstanding film.Tarzan and the Leopard Woman (1946, 72 minutes, directed by Kurt Neumann) -- The title is a little misleading -- it's chiefly the leopard MEN who do all the damage and their High Priestess (Acquanetta, who also starred in "Jungle Woman" in 1944) mostly just co-conspires with a male spy to achieve her end of keeping civilization from overwhelming her jungle realm. It's a good story and one which gives rise to a relevant question today: Should we go into remote regions of the planet and "civilize" the indigenous people? The answer was doubtless different in 1946 than it is now. Brenda Joyce plays Jane and Johnny Sheffield co-stars as Boy. We get a bonus of perfect casting with Dennis Hoey  ] appearing as the Regional Commissioner. I really like this one with all the terrific stereotypical sets including an Arab market (in the fictional city of Zambesi), snake charming, colonial soldiers, and so on.Tarzan and the Huntress (1947, 72 minutes, directed by Kurt Neumann) -- A benevolent King of a jungle city has an evil and corrupt nephew who lends a hand to animal trappers in exceeding the King's quota on the number of animals they're permitted to capture. Tarzan wants NO animals taken from his jungle paradise but he's willing to tolerate the King's ruling of only a pair of each species (perhaps a Biblical metaphor) until the expedition members begin to grab all the critters they can capture. This movie is your essential "Tarzan good, all explorers evil" scenario, (which is basically also true in real life!) The weakness of the film is its obvious predictability coupled with all the "Caucasian natives" one encounters in this one. Brenda Joyce stars as Jane, Johnny Sheffield as Boy, and Charles Trowbridge  ] as King Farrod. This is a middle-of-the-road movie in general terms, certainly ranking among the cream of all the classic Tarzan films.Tarzan and the Mermaids (1948, 68 minutes, directed by Robert Florey) -- This is the only stinker in the barrel, even though it co-stars one of my favorite actors of all time, the venerable George Zucco  ] as the evil High Priest. RKO Pictures brought out the big guns on this production including Dimitri Tiomkin who composed and conducted the original musical score; however, it was all to no avail. A weak feature of the movie hits us right off as a narrator rambles on to explain the set-up of the story. Essentially, two evil men dominate a peaceful commune of natives -- the residents have to constantly dive for pearls to satiate the treasure lust of their dark god, Balu (who is actually one of the nefarious twosome dressed up in a goofy costume.) Brenda Joyce appears as Jane but Boy (said to be away at school) does not appear in this one. A notable morsel of trivia, Johnny Weissmuller's stunt double, Ángel García, was killed while performing the famous cliff dive into the ocean at Acapulco, Mexico which was one of the filming locations. While there are many good elements to the movie, (such as the underwater "fish tank" shots), these positive features simply do not ultimately give rise to an endearing end-production. The singer-poet, Benji, (played by John Laurenz) makes it all the more grueling as he articulates his romantic jungle librettos.You might also wish to acquire the preceding set of Weissmuller Tarzan films:  The Tarzan Collection Starring Johnny Weissmuller (Tarzan the Ape Man / Escapes / and His Mate / Finds a Son / Secret Treasure / New York Adventure) ; however, I don't think that these films as a group can wholly compare in quality to the set under review.In any case, I do enjoy watching all these very pristinely presented black-and-white films over and over - the visual quality is excellent. Other Tarzan fans will surely do the same. Highly recommended.

Love this show . Hard to find.

I bought this set once AMAZON dropped its price to under $20.00. There are several differences between the first 6 Tarzans (in TARZAN COLLECTION 1) and these last 6 (in TARZAN COLLECTION 2):1. Set 1 were the 6 that were produced at MGM...Set 2 were produced at RKO.2. There was stock footage used in some of the films in both sets, but it's more noticeable in Set 2.3. While there was very little music in the earlier Tarzan Movies, set 2 has Paul Sawtell and Dimitri Tiompkin handling the composition and/or orchestrations. There's almost too much music in TARZAN & THE MERMAIDS...accounting for the weak story line. [This could've been the reason Weissmuller stopped making the Tarzan Movies and went on to become JUNGLE JIM].4. If you've followed Johnny Sheffield from TARZAN FINDS A SON (in set 1), you'll notice that he matures considerably throughout each film in set 2. Sheffield went on to portray BOMBA, THE JUNGLE BOY in several low budget 50s films.5. TARZAN & THE AMAZONS (in set #2) introduces us to the new actress who portrays Jane. Brenda Joyce recreated the role very well. She continues in the remaining 3 which include TARZAN & THE LEOPARD WOMAN, TARZAN & THE HUNTRESS and TARZAN & THE MERMAIDS. It's very difficult not to enjoy her interplay with Tarzan & Boy [Joyce went on to write children's books throughout the rest of the 20th century. Sadly, she passed away at the age of 92 in late 2009 due to dementia].6. Actor Barton Maclane mysteriously shows up in both LEOPARD WOMAN & HUNTRESS...which is a little bizarre since he was killed in the first one. My guess is that he was a contract player. If you look closely, there are several actors in the MGM Tarzans (Series 1) that suddenly show up in the RKO Tarzans (Series 2).If you enjoyed the series growing up...you'll enjoy rewatching them as an adult. The running time for most of the 6 features is roughly 70 minutes. And even though all the films are more than 60 years old, they're still entertaining. [Your welcome, CHETA!],

As a tail-end boomer this is the stuff that Sunday afternoons were made of! Everything that captivated me as a child still delivers. These films are just as fun and silly and animal filled as I remember! Keep in mind that in the 60s in central Maine I did not get to see animals like that. There was no zoo; just Wild Kingdom, Wonderful World of Disney, and Tarzan!I purchased this volume specifically because it included Tarzan and the Amazons. That was the film that captivated me the most. I just remember being wow-ed by the cliffs Tarzan had to climb to return the wayward Amazon to her people. Then you had lots of critters, Tarzan wrestling an alligator, bad guys with guns, Amazon women shooting bad guys with arrows, Boy helping the bad (he didn't know!) guys because he was mad at Tarzan.When I purchase old films I have an open mind as to what quality the video will have. I'm just excited to be able to get them! Well, these films look way better on my 46" than they did on our old B&W console, which had an antenna mounted on the roof and a control you could turn to make the antenna rotate to improve reception.My 19 and 16 year olds are enjoying them also- "Boy? Boy??! They just call him BOY??!!" ;-)Really, I am enjoying these as much as I hoped I will. If you think you would enjoy them, then you NEED to get them too!

I bought this for a friend , He had Volume One and I needed to add to his collection. He loved it.

Now Tarzan Make WAR what a line

Wonderful collection

Nasty old classic