Tarzan and the Lost Safari (1957)

Tarzan leads five passengers from a downed airplane out of the jungle. En route white hunter Hawkins tries to sell them to the Oparian chief. Captured by the Oparians and nearly sacrificed ... See full summary »

Director:

H. Bruce Humberstone (as Bruce Humberstone)

Writers:

Montgomery Pittman, Lillie Hayward

Stars:

Gordon Scott, Robert Beatty, Yolande Donlan

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Gordon Scott	...	Tarzan
Robert Beatty	...	Tusker Hawkins
Yolande Donlan	...	Gamage Dean
Betta St. John	...	Diana Penrod
Wilfrid Hyde-White	...	'Doodles' Fletcher (as Wilfrid Hyde White)
George Coulouris	...	Carl Kraski
Peter Arne	...	Dick Penrod
Orlando Martins	...	Oparian Chieftain Ogonoore

Storyline

Tarzan leads five passengers from a downed airplane out of the jungle. En route white hunter Hawkins tries to sell them to the Oparian chief. Captured by the Oparians and nearly sacrificed to their lion god, the party is again save by Tarzan.

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Plot Keywords:

tarzan | chief | jungle | airplane | plane | 

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Taglines:

THE NEW TARZAN! GREATEST OF ALL! FIRST TIME IN COLOR! (original print ad - all caps)

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Genres:

Action | Adventure

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

September 1957 (Austria)

Also Known As:

Tarzan e a Expedição Perdida

Filming Locations:

ABPC Elstree Studios, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, England, UK

Box Office

Gross USA:

$1,994,700

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$5,046,700

Company Credits

Production Co:

Solar Film Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

86 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

A 500-pound lion with whom Gordon Scott had worked for over a month tore open his leg (32 stitches).

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Goofs

All the "native" dancers are wearing a shoe type covering on their feet during the dance for the sacrifice of the white captives.

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Quotes

Tarzan: [Holding up a mink pulled from the plane's wreckage] What kind of hide is this?
Gamage Dean: It's mink. And don't ask me what I had to do to get it.
'Doodles' Fletcher: The same thing the mink did.

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Connections

Follows Tarzan and the Leopard Woman (1946)

User Reviews

Tarzan Goes Color

Tarzan and the Lost Safari (1957)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

If you start from the first MGM/Johnny Weissmuller film and follow the series through its transformation to RKO and with new actors (Lex Barker, Gordon Scott) then this here would be the nineteenth film and it certainly got a face lift. Not only did the producer's send the cast and crew to Africa for real footage but they also shot the film in color and in widescreen (although most prints are the flat version). This time out Tarzan (Scott) comes across five people whose plane has crashed in the jungle. Along with the help from a hunter, Tarzan tries to get the people to safety but it turns out the hunter has a connection to a deadly tribe who scarifies white people to their Gods. TARZAN AND THE LOST SAFARI has a lot of good things in it like the before mentioned new items but in the end it's still a Tarzan movie with many of the same trappings that hurt previous movies. Once again Scott is very good in the film as he certainly didn't have any trouble fitting into the role. He certainly has the physical look but I thought he also handled the dialogue good enough and had a certain charm that really worked. Betta St. John plays a married woman who Tarzan befriends and she too is quite good. The actors have such good chemistry one wishes that they had written her as being single so that the film could have gone in a different direction. There's no doubt that the authentic shooting in Africa really helps the film because it really adds to the atmosphere. I'm all for back lots at studios but at the same time there's no denying that nothing can top the real thing. With really being in Africa we also get some terrific footage of the wildlife, which is a lot better than the stock footage that took up previous films. The print I watched was the flat version so I can't comment on how well the 2.35:1 was handled but what I saw was impressive. With that said, there's no question that the film goes on for way too long and by this time there's no doubt who will live, who will die and I'm pretty sure we all know what will happen to Tarzan. This predictable side certainly hampers the film but there's no question that this is the best the series has offered since the Weissmuller days.