Tarzan and the Green Goddess (1938)

User Rating:

5.4/10   

Directors:

Edward A. Kull
Wilbur McGaugh

Writers:

Edwin Blum (writer)
Edgar Rice Burroughs (characters)

Release Date:

1938 (UK)

Genre:

Action | Adventure

Tagline:

THRILLS AND EXCITEMENT BEYOND YOUR WILDEST DREAMS! (original ad - all caps)

Plot:

This is an edited version of the 1935 serial "The New Adventures of Tarzan."

Plot Keywords:

Tarzan | Guatemala | Idol | Lion | Monkey

Cast

Bruce Bennett	...	Tarzan (as Herman Brix)
Ula Holt	...	Ula Vale
Frank Baker	...	Major Martling
Ashton Dearholt	...	Raglan (as Don Castello)
Lewis Sargent	...	George (as Lew Sargent)
Jack Mower	...	Capt. Blade

Runtime:

72 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:G | Finland:K-16 | Norway:7

Company:

Burroughs-Tarzan Enterprises Inc.

Trivia:

This film is part of the public domain.

Goofs:

Errors in geography: This film supposedly takes place in Guatemala, Central America, yet footage of African animals such as rhinos and giraffes is shown.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Narrator: [narration] Guatemala, a strange and beautiful country many thousands of miles away, a country with lofty, snow-crested mountains, mighty rivers and deep lakes, quaint little villages and picturesque natives. This is Guatemala on the surface, what a tourist might see if a tourist could ever get there...

Movie Connections:

Followed by Tarzan's Revenge (1938)

A Reasonable Condensed Version

"Tarzan and the Green Goddess" is a reasonable condensed version of a longer serial, providing watchable light entertainment. It has a number of rough edges as a result of this format, with a sometimes choppy pace, and other stretches where the action gets somewhat repetitive. But there is enough going on to hold your attention, and Herman Brix (as he was then billed) is solid enough in the lead role.

As Tarzan, Brix (whom a lot of us always think of as Bruce Bennett) cannot come up to Johnny Weismuller's performance in the role, but he does give the character some life. Both Brix's approach and the story also bring out the other side of the character's nature, beyond his rugged jungle life.

The story focuses on a Central American artifact and a secret code that goes with it, with the plot mostly a series of confrontations with the bad guys. As others have pointed out, there is some unintentional humor added through the footage of African animals in a story that is supposed to be set in Guatemala.

An interesting aspect of this feature is that here the heroine (played by Ula Holt) is presented as more of an equal to Tarzan than usual. Overall, things fit together well enough to make it work all right as light viewing.