Tarzan Triumphs (1943)

As WWII rages on, a group of Nazi paratroopers land on the secret city of Palandria to exploit its wealth, and they start taking hostages. Can the powerful King of the Jungle and his trusted companions--Cheeta, and Buli--save them?

Director:

Wilhelm Thiele (as William Thiele)

Writers:

Roy Chanslor (screenplay), Carroll Young (screenplay)

Stars:

Johnny Weissmuller, Frances Gifford, Johnny Sheffield

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Johnny Weissmuller	...	Tarzan
Frances Gifford	...	Zandra
Johnny Sheffield	...	Boy
Stanley Ridges	...	Col. von Reichart
Sig Ruman	...	German Sergeant (as Sig Rumann)
Philip Van Zandt	...	Capt. Bausch
Rex Williams	...	Lt. Reinhardt Schmidt
Pedro de Cordoba	...	Patriarch

Storyline

Zandra, white princess of a lost civilization, comes to Tarzan for help when Nazis invade the jungle with plans to conquer her people and take their wealth. Tarzan, the isolationist, becomes involved after the Nazis shoot at him and capture Boy: "Now Tarzan make war!"

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Plot Keywords:

1940s | tarzan character | man wearing a loincloth | psychotronic film | nazi | 

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Taglines:

Trapped by brutal Beast-Men! Tarzan's courage and cunning face their most desperate test against the ruthless treachery of killers from the sky!

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | War

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Certificate:

Passed

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

19 February 1943 (USA)

Also Known As:

Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan Triumphs

Filming Locations:

Malibu Creek State Park - 1925 Las Virgenes Road, Calabasas, California, USA

Box Office

Gross USA:

$3,270,000

Company Credits

Production Co:

Sol Lesser Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

76 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Sig Ruman (this film's bumbling German Sergeant) experienced a career resurgence during World War II, frequently cast as a "comic relief Nazi" like the one he plays here.

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Goofs

When Tarzan is fighting the Nazis, he rips the magazine off a machine gun and tosses it to the ground. A moment later, one of the Nazis starts climbing to the top of the building to use the gun, and you can see the magazine still there. Yet when the Nazi arrives at the gun, the magazine is missing again.

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Quotes

Lt. Reinhardt Schmidt: The perfect isolationist.
Tarzan: Iso- what that?
Lt. Reinhardt Schmidt: Isolationist people are very superficial. They think they don't need the rest of the world.
Tarzan: [Agrees wholeheartedly] Tarzan!

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Connections

Followed by Tarzan's Greatest Adventure (1959)

User Reviews

Cheetah wins WW2...and loves it!

Tarzan Triumphs is one of the best of the series. Part of the credit goes to its cast.

Boris Karloff to put part of a gangster's brain into Stanley Ridges head in Black Friday in 1940, three years before he starred in this killer Tarzan entry as a classically dastardly Nazi.

Francis Gifford (as Zandra) is a genuine babe. Wow!

And of course, Johnny Weissmuller is your perfect Tarzan.

However, in a brilliant bit of casting, it must be noted that the real star of this epic is ... Cheetah as Cheetah. Thank God, they didn't use Ray Corrigan and his fabled gorilla suit!

Heretofore unbeknown to most of us, it's quite apparent from seeing Tarzan Triumphs that Cheetah really has an axe to grind against the evil Nazi's, who invade central Africa and take over Zandra-ville.

When Cheetah gets word of this, he goes ... ape!

Tarzan unwisely gets himself captured. Brilliant! Ungowa, indeed! This leaves one one man, er, monkey for the job of saving not only Tarzan, but Zandra, her entire town and, for that matter, the whole of central Africa: you got it...Cheetah.

In reality, this film gives us all sorts of talents we didn't know Cheetah possessed prior to this film. For instance, who know that Cheetah was deadly with a Browning water-cooled machine gun? I didn't.

Deciding to take matters into his own little hands, Cheetah blows up a Nazi machine gun next or two atop a tower in town. Then he goes to work. Geez, in a matter of a couple minutes, he kills thousands of Nazis. Who knows, maybe tens of thousands?

That darned monkey killed millions of Nazi's and what was his reward? The Congressional Medal of Honor? No. The Silver Star? Uh-uh. Zandra? Sorry, even though he was dumb enough to get captured, Tarzan got her. No, Cheetah didn't get diddley squat. Not even a ding-dang banana. Where were the Oscar voters back then?

To show his frustration (probably at not getting babacious Zandra), he did a couple back flips, everyone laughed - and the movie ended.

By all means, don't miss Cheetah, star of Tarzan Triumphs...oh yeah, and Johnny Weissmuller and Francis Gifford (yee ha!).