You've got to have some set on you when you look to tangle with Tarzan on his turf. But one of the best villains ever to appear in a Tarzan film, Anthony Quayle does just that it in Tarzan's Greatest Adventure.
Gordon Scott plays the eternal jungle man in this Tarzan epic, the rights of which were taken over by Paramount from MGM and the late RKO studio where most of the films were done. Tarzan's dealing with Anthony Quayle and three henchman and a moll in Niall McGinniss, Al Mulock, Sean Connery and Scilla Gabel. These people have it in their mind to rob a diamond mine and kill a bunch of native villagers who get in their way. That brings Tarzan to action.
Along the way with dealing with Quayle and company Tarzan rescues female pilot Sara Shane whose plane crashed in a jungle river. Shane spouts some relatively hip dialog for Tarzan who does not speak in Johnny Weissmuller grunts, but with a concise English that befits Lord Greystoke.
Quayle has to deal with plenty of dissension in his ranks, but he's the cause of it. His associates want to go in, do the job, and get out as soon as possible. But Quayle has a score to settle with Tarzan who caught him and put him in jail.
Anthony Quayle appeared in many classic films, including a turn at Falstaff on the BBC's Shakespeare play series. But this film is the one I remember him best for. He is positively obsessed with evening the score with Tarzan, he puts the whole operation and his companions in jeopardy. In fact he's fashioned a wire noose for Tarzan to use on him should they meet.
Of course they do and the fight scene between Scott and Quayle is one of the most thrilling done on the silver screen and not just in the Tarzan series.
Sean Connery has a role as one of the henchmen, he doesn't get to do a whole lot, but he's got star quality and it's very apparent when he's on screen as a really dumb thug of a crook.
Still it's Anthony Quayle and his white whale like obsession with Tarzan that makes Tarzan's Greatest Adventure one of the better ones from the series.
