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:

dysfunctional marriage | unfaithful wife | taming of the shrew | tarzan | chief | 

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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:

Not Rated

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

Filmed in 1956 in the standard 4:3 "flat" ratio, theatrical showings in both USA & UK were usually more or less in the matted 16:9 version, but subsequent television showings have usually reverted back to the full screen "flat" version, as is the Warner Archive DVD-R release.

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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 Green Goddess (1938)

User Reviews

A lot of good cancelled out by eye-rolling, kiddie elements

Released in 1957, "Tarzan and the Lost Safari" stars Gordon Scott as the ape man who assists five survivors of a plane crash near the Opar tribe, savage Africans known for sacrificing white people. A "great white hunter" enters the picture and seems to want to help the survivors, but Tarzan smells something fishy. This incidentally was the first Tarzan film in color.

The plot's great and the movie features many positives. For one, Scott's one of the best actors to play Tarzan and went on to star in a couple of the best Tarzan films, 1959's "Tarzan's Greatest Adventure" and 1960's "Tarzan the Magnificent." The African locations are meshed well with the studio work and the studio sets look great, considering the time period. It's sometimes hard to distinguish between authentic Africa and studio "Africa." There's quite a bit of action, numerous shots of animals and I enjoy the scenes where Tarzan interacts with the wildlife, like the lion (which isn't faked).

Unfortunately, there are some bad elements. For instance, the eye-rolling way a vine is always conveniently nearby for Tarzan to easily swing/climb to where he needs to go. Why sure! Then there's this kiddie vibe that's hard to explain, like the producers were trying to appeal to five year-olds, which is strange because there are quite a few adult-oriented elements. What could've been a quality Tarzan flick is sunk for these two reasons.

While Scott's interpretation of the ape man is good the writers have him speaking limited English in the manner of Weissmuller, which is in contrast to Burroughs' book version where Tarzan can speak several languages fluently. I can live with this, however, as it's a movie interpretation of the character. This changed with Scott's two last films as the ape man, noted above, where his portrayal was more faithful to Burroughs.

The film runs 86 minutes and was shot in the Congo, Africa, as well as Iverson Ranch, CA, and studio sets in England; plus stock African footage.

GRADE: C+