Tarzan's New York Adventure (1942)

Tarzan and Jane go to New York to rescue Boy after he is kidnapped into a circus.

Director:

Richard Thorpe

Writers:

Myles Connolly (screenplay), William R. Lipman (screenplay)

Stars:

Johnny Weissmuller, Maureen O'Sullivan, Johnny Sheffield

1 nomination.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Johnny Weissmuller	...	Tarzan
Maureen O'Sullivan	...	Jane
Johnny Sheffield	...	Boy (as John Sheffield)
Virginia Grey	...	Connie Beach
Charles Bickford	...	Buck Rand
Paul Kelly	...	Jimmie Shields
Chill Wills	...	Manchester Montford
Cy Kendall	...	Colonel Ralph Sergeant
Russell Hicks	...	Judge Abbotson
Howard C. Hickman	...	Blake Norton (as Howard Hickman)
Charles Lane	...	Gould Beaton
Miles Mander	...	Portmaster
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Matthew Boulton	...	Portmaster (scenes deleted)

Storyline

Circus owner Buck Rand kidnaps Boy to perform in his show. He forces a pilot to fly him, Boy and his animal trainer out of the jungle. Tarzan and Jane follow them to New York. At a trial over custody of Boy, Tarzan becomes violent and is jailed. With the help of the pilot's girlfriend Tarzan (who has since escaped, diving off the Brooklyn Bridge) finds the circus. He and the circus elephants complete the classic rescue.

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Plot Keywords:

reference to shakespeare | reference to hamlet | pilot | elephant | airplane | 

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Taglines:

It's the most startling news you've ever had for Tarzan. EXPLOITATION!

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Genres:

Action | Adventure

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Certificate:

Passed

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

May 1942 (USA)

Also Known As:

Tarzan Against the World

Filming Locations:

Brooklyn Bridge, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Gross USA:

$3,060,720, 31 December 1942

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$5,927,420, 31 December 1942

Company Credits

Production Co:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

71 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Color:

Black and White (Sepiatone)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Appearing just before the 2 minute mark, "Tarzan's New York Adventure" contains earliest appearance of Tarzan in the 6 original MGM films.

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Goofs

Cheetah is shown drinking from 3 of four bottles in Jane's suitcase and then throwing each of those three bottles away. But after the alcohol bottle is discarded, a medium view of the suitcase reveals all four bottles still in their carrier in the suitcase.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Boy: Cheetah! What is it?
Jane: Cheetah must be seeing things. What is it, Tarzan? What is it?
Tarzan: Uguna. Strange sound in sky. Big. Far off.
Jane: I don't hear anything.
Tarzan: Tarzan hear. Cheetah hear. Elephant hear.
Boy: Now I hear it. Like a great wind coming.

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Connections

Followed by Tarzan's Desert Mystery (1943)

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Soundtracks

Cannibal Carnival
(uncredited)
Music by Sol Levy
Played during main titles

User Reviews

Metro bid "adieu" to the series with this one...

TNYA is a fun film to enjoy, especially if you are a fan of the series. Metro could make cheap films look expensive because of their wonderful production values. TNYA is no exception. It looks great, even though it's only a 71-minute "B" film. Metro relied heavily on the international market for the TARZAN series, and WW2 had cut most of that off, so Metro cut the budget and let the series go after this film.

Still, as I said earlier, TNYA is a fun movie and is loaded with terrific character performers.

With the change in scenery for Tarzan and family, we can only wonder of what all MGM could have done if things had been different at the time.

And, by the way, a weighted dummy took the dive. There's no way Metro would have permitted Johnny to do the stunt. I'm sure he didn't want to, and besides, none of the principal cast set foot in the Big Apple for the production of this film.