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 Hickman	...	Blake Norton
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:

new york city | reference to shakespeare | reference to hamlet | 1940s | brooklyn | 

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Taglines:

You Never Saw Anything Like It!

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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

The vehicle in which Charles Bickford tries to escape a herd of angry circus elephants is a 1937 Cadillac Series 60 convertible coupe, which was all but demolished while filming the sequence.

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Goofs

In the jungle scenes, Tarzan is swinging on trapezes.

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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

Follows Tarzan Escapes (1936)

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Soundtracks

Waterloo Bridge
(1940) (uncredited)
Music by Herbert Stothart
Extract played during end credits

User Reviews

Tarzan in the concrete jungle.

A group of big game hunters land on Tarzan's escarpment in a 'metal bird', which piques Boy's curiosity about the wonders of modern civilisation. After the fearless lad approaches the hunters and foolishly displays his remarkable command of animals, Buck Rand (Charles Bickford), leader of the hunt, sees dollar signs and plans to take the lad to the US and sell him to a circus.

Rand's opportunity comes when a tribe of savage natives attack the group, and both Tarzan (Johnny Weissmuller) and Jane (Maureen O'Sullivan) are seemingly burnt alive as they try to swing to the rescue: with Boy's parents dead, he is free to abduct Boy. However, thanks to the quick thinking of their faithful chimp Cheetah, Tarzan and Jane prove to be still very much alive, and together they travel to the 'Big Apple' to try and find their son.

After the formulaic Tarzan's Secret Treasure, it's great to see the legendary ape-man finally get a change of scenery. Tarzan, a fish out of water in the city, takes a while to adjust to his new surroundings and much fun is to be had from his unfamiliarity with modern technology and his coming to terms with NY etiquette; but, after he and his wife fail to convince the authorities to return Boy in court, Tarzan soon forgets all about doing things the civilised way, and switches back to jungle-mode in order to settle matters.

This involves an exciting rooftop chase (the 1940s equivalent of freerunning/Parkour), a daring climb up the Brooklyn bridge, a high dive into the river, and a finale that features—surprise, surprise—an elephant stampede. It might not be the greatest of all Tarzan's adventures, but seeing the lord of the jungle stepping out on the town is still a lot of fun.