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By
NICK ZEGARAC
Who can forget Johnny
Weissmuller's immortal yodel as the vine swinging
he-man, gleaned from the pages of Edgar Rice
Burroughs? All six of the films included in "The
Tarzan Collection" are variations on Burroughs'
intriguing novel about a human baby that is raised
by animals in the deep dark jungles after its
parents have been killed.
The baby grows up to be a man, but the man seems
void of all human instinct and intellect. Thus,
when Tarzan reaches adulthood and stumbles across
the shapely figure of Jane (Maureen O'Sullivan) he
is moved to visceral prowess by his own curiosity.
It's really quite an erotic concept that takes the
old premise of love with a stranger to even
"stranger" heights. Jane is at first attracted to
Tarzan as a fascinating specimen of study -– to
learn from and teach the ways of human interaction
and history. But as the series progresses, Jane
grows in her assessment of the "ape man" from
genuine infatuation to romantic love and develops
an affinity for the really simple things in life
-- loin cloths, wooden tree huts and chimpanzees.
The first four films ("Tarzan the Ape Man,"
"Tarzan and his Mate," "Tarzan Escapes" and
"Tarzan Finds A Son") are of a cinematic
perfection that deeply explores the exotic romance
and adventure between these two characters.
"Tarzan and His Mate" is especially noteworthy for
its incredibly frank nude swim scene, with more
than ample glimpses of O'Sullivan's bare bottom.
But the final two installments ("Tarzan's Secret
Treasure" and "Tarzan's New York Adventure") are
idiotic derivatives of the formula in which the
series not only shows its age but glaringly
misrepresents the original vision of Burroughs'
novel.
There's little to celebrate in this DVD
collector's edition. Most of the films in the
series suffer from a barrage of age-related
artifacts that create a very grainy, harsh visual
presentation. The diminished picture quality
improves moderately between each subsequent
installment in the series: The gray scale seems
poorly rendered and balanced on "Tarzan and his
Mate" -– much more so than on any of the other
films in the series. It suffers from lower
contrast levels and a decided loss of fine detail
in many of the scenes. There's also considerable
shimmering in the background information, as
though everything were shot on a matte process
screen. For the rest of the batch the balance and
contrast is considerably better off. Ditto for the
age-related artifacts.
In all cases there are digital anomalies, some
pixelization, but more glaringly, shimmering of
fine details and edge enhancement -– particularly
in "Tarzan Finds A Son." All these degradations in
picture quality make for a very disappointing set.
In all cases the audio is mono and nicely
balanced, though the critical ear will detect hiss
and popping present in "Tarzan the Ape Man" and
"Tarzan and his Mate." The movies are spread
across four discs.
There's a fantastic feature-length documentary on
the Tarzan phenomenon that is both comprehensive
and compelling, as well as some vintage short
subjects. It is indeed a pity that no one thought
to have an audio commentary track included for at
least the first film in the series.
Though the MGM films take certain artistic
liberties with Borough's original text, they
remain the preferred example of cinematic Tarzan
at his vine swinging best. Not all the subsequent
remakes and serials that flooded the market during
the '50s and '60s can compare. Recommended. |
