Review of Tarzan's New York Adventure (1942) by Van R — 08 Mar 2010

Although it touts the adolescent antics of a typical Tarzan outing, â??Tarzan Escapesâ?? director Jerry Thorpe's "Tarzan's New York Adventure" amounts to more than the usual vine mess, with chimpanzee Cheetah stealing every scene in sight.

Indeed, "Tarzan's New York Adventure" qualifies as an amusing but exciting fish-out-of-water fable with the Lord of the Apes winging his way in â??an iron birdâ?? with Jane to the Big Apple to rescue Boy from the clutches of a villainous circus promoter.

The sixth installment in the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer franchise, with Olympic swimmer Johnny Weissmuller as the eponymous character with pretty Maureen O'Sullivan at his back (in her final "Tarzan" opus), is exhilarating stuff.

Clearly a notch above prior "Tarzan" fare, â??Tarzanâ??s New York Adventureâ?? confronts the Ape Man with interesting challenges, such as his spectacular dive off the Brooklyn Bridge. While it ranks as little more than a nimble black & white, B-picture lensed on the studio backlot, with some convincing rear-screen projection, but this "Tarzan" tale stacks up one surprise after the other in rapid succession, with Thorpe paring everything down to a trim 73 minutes.

Scenarists Miles Connolly of "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," Gordon Kahn of "A Yank on the Burma Road, and William R. Lipman of "Little Miss Marker" supplement this Edgar Rice Burroughs' inspired epic with an insightful commentary that compares the simple-minded morality of the African jungle, where Tarzan and his family reside in modest comfort, with the corruption of contemporary American society.

In a sense, "Tarzan's New York Adventure" emerges as a sort of science fiction saga with its ethnologic exploration of the rural world of remote African with urban world of New York City.

Of course, untamed Africa bristled with many dangerous four-legged beasts, but these animal predators cannot rival the predatory humans of New York City. Meantime, it is hilarious to watch Tarzan decked out in a double-breasted suit and tie.

Several decades would elapse before Tarzan would don such civilized apparel in director Robert Day's "Tarzan and the Valley of Gold" (1966) toplining former Pittsburgh Steelers player Mike Henry.