TARZAN’S NEW YORK ADVENTURE (1942)
Article 1877 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 5-5-2006
Posting Date: 10-2-2006
Directed by Richard Thorpe
Featuring Johnny Weissmuller, Maureen O’Sullivan, Johnny Sheffield

Boy is taken to New York by a circus trainer when it appears that Tarzan and Jane have died in a fatal accident. However, thanks to the quick thinking of Cheeta, Tarzan and Jane survive, and make their way to New York in the hope of getting Boy back.

It was a real treat to go back to one of the earlier movies in the Tarzan series after spending a couple of movies towards the end of the Weissmuller era. This one, despite spending a good half of its running time in an urban environment, has more animal action and savage natives than the other two movies combined. In particular, I couldn’t help but notice how the later movies were somewhat short of elephants; this movie has plenty of them, and they play a massive role in the exciting climax of the movie as well as providing some of the cuter animal moments that don’t involve Cheeta. There is, of course, the great novelty value of seeing Tarzan in a place where he doesn’t belong, and the movie makes good use of the concept. In particular, I liked the sequence where Tarzan is trapped by police on the Brooklyn Bridge. A good supporting cast helps as well, and it features Charles Bickford as the villain, Chill Wills, and Mantan Moreland (in a cameo in which he has a phone conversation with Cheeta). According to IMDB, an uncredited Elmo Lincoln is one of the circus people.