Tarzan Finds a Son! (1939)

Director:

Richard Thorpe

Writers:

Cyril Hume (screen play)
Edgar Rice Burroughs (based upon the characters created by)

Release Date:

16 June 1939 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Family | Romance

Tagline:

Super Story of a Super Man ! The Titan of all Tarzans . . . Giant of all jungle thrills . . . worth the years it took to make !

Plot:

Tarzan's jungle home, and his family, Jane and Boy, are threatened by men greedy for gold.

Plot Keywords:

Jungle | Heir | Baby | Greed | Savage

Cast

Johnny Weissmuller	...	Tarzan
Maureen O'Sullivan	...	Jane
Johnny Sheffield	...	Boy (as John Sheffield)
Ian Hunter	...	Mr. Lancing
Henry Stephenson	...	Sir Thomas Lancing
Frieda Inescort	...	Mrs. Lancing
Henry Wilcoxon	...	Mr. Sande
Laraine Day	...	Mrs. Richard Lancing
Morton Lowry	...	Mr. Richard Lancing
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Gavin Muir	...	Pilot (uncredited)

Directed by
Richard Thorpe

Writing credits
Cyril Hume		(screen play)
Edgar Rice Burroughs		(based upon the characters created by)

Produced by
Sam Zimbalist	....	producer

Cinematography by
Leonard Smith		(photographed by)

Film Editing by
Gene Ruggiero		(film editor)
Frank Sullivan		(film editor)

Art Direction by
Cedric Gibbons

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Dolph Zimmer	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
Urie McCleary	....	associate art director
Glen Barnes	....	set designer (uncredited)

Sound Department
Douglas Shearer	....	recording director

Stunts
Harry Monty	....	stunt double: Johnny Sheffield (uncredited)
Paul Stader	....	stunts (uncredited)

Other crew
Delos Jewkes	....	voice double: Tarzan's yell (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (presents) (produced by: Loew's Incorporated)

Distributors

• Loew's (1939) (USA) (theatrical) (as Loew's Incorporated)
• City Film (1939) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1950) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1939) (1959) (Finland) (theatrical)
• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1945) (France) (theatrical)
• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1939) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (1992) (USA) (VHS)
• Mainostelevisio (MTV3) (1979) (1987) (1997) (Finland) (TV)
• Nothing's New Video (2005) (USA) (VHS)
• Sandrew Metronome Distribution (2004) (Finland) (DVD)
• Warner Bros. Entertainment Finland Oy (2006) (Finland) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2004) (Germany) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (19??) (Netherlands) (VHS)
• Warner Home Video (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2006) (USA) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Silver Springs, Florida  underwater scenes photographed at
• The Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus  elephants for stampede provided by (uncredited)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

82 min | West Germany:88 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White (Sepiatone)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Australia:G | Finland:S | USA:Approved (PCA #5299) | Norway:7 (1959) | West Germany:6 | Portugal:M/6 | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | USA:TV-G (TV rating) | Netherlands:14 (original rating) (1939)

Filming Locations:

Backlot, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios - 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

Tarzan and Boy are filmed playing underwater hide-and-seek in Silver Springs, Florida. Halfway through the shenanigans, a medium-sized alligator can be seen quickly swimming past Tarzan and son and disappearing in the background, without anyone appearing to notice it.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: Tarzan is seen using trapezes when swinging through the jungle.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Mr. Richard Lancing:Wildebeest again.
Mrs. Richard Lancing:I think we've seen about a million today.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Tarzan: Silver Screen King of the Jungle (2004) (V)

Soundtrack:

Cannibal Carnival

Tarzan Escapes/Tarzan Finds A Son!

My second Tarzan double-feature slot and the cracks are beginning to show! That said, TARZAN ESCAPES (1936; ***) is much better than online reviews would have you believe: true, there is ample stock footage on display here but it also boasts a strong plot line and cast (featuring Benita Hume, future wife of Ronald Colman and later George Sanders, as well as MGM staple Herbert Mundin and James Whale favorite E.E. Clive, not to mention the villainous John Buckler who comes to a particularly sticky end in this one) to even things out. By now, Weissmuller and O' Sullivan have grown considerably in their respective parts but the influence of the Hays' Office (established while the film was in production, resulting in extensive re-shoots before it could be classified for exhibition!) is also very much in evidence: Tarzan and Jane's behavior (to say nothing of the latter's 'wardrobe') is rather chaste this time around, and even the violence is there mainly by virtue of recycled scenes from the two previous entries in the series!!

TARZAN FINDS A SON! (1939; **1/2), though certainly briskly-paced and fairly enjoyable in itself, is where things really start to degenerate and a sense of deja'-vu hangs over the proceedings like a cloud; not that this factor is an isolated case in franchises of this period – consider, for instance, the noticeable leap in quality from the ornate SON OF FRANKENSTEIN (1939) to a strictly programmer-level THE GHOST OF FRANKENSTEIN (1942)… To make matters worse (though, I guess, this can be pinned down to personal opinion), we have here the addition of another jungle 'initiate' in the figure of Boy who emulates Tarzan in his every move, down to that grating yodel! Besides, his getting into endless predictable scrapes throughout, forcing Tarzan's nick-of-time intervention and queuing in further stock footage from the earlier films (now looking pretty rough-hewn alongside the lavish budgets MGM could afford by the end of the decade!), does the picture no favors at all in the story department!! Logic, too, is casually thrown out the window: the film opens with a plane crash-landing (i.e. before reaching its intended destination), yet when a search party is set in motion (5 years after the fact, conveniently allowing Boy to grow up and become attached to the Tarzans!), its members (invariably harboring an agenda of their own) go directly to the supposedly forbidden/secret part of the jungle where the Lord Of The Apes has set up residence…sheesh!! Once again, the familiar cast-list adds to the fun, though it has to be said that Ian Hunter (usually playing the reliable type) makes for an unconvincing villain in this one.