For whatever reason MGM got sick of the Tarzan franchise so Johnny Weismuller, Johnny Sheffield and Cheetah moved over to RKO, where they found a welcome home for a number of years. (Eventually the series would wind up back at MGM). Maureen O’Sullivan was sick of Jane and didn’t come with them – apparently she wanted better roles or something, which of course she didn’t end up getting. In this film Jane’s absence is explained by saying she’s away in London. Tarzan is being an isolationist about the war, even when Nazis arrive in Africa with the aim of extracting oil from the secret civilisation next door. One of the Nazis tries to shoot Cheetah after Cheetah pinches a part from his radio, but after said Nazi is chucked off a cliff Tarzan refuses to go after his mates. It’s not until they shoot at Tarzan and Boy that he gets aggro: “Tarzan make war”. (NB You can’t help feeling glad that some nasty British soldier didn’t shoot Boy while on patrol, and turn Tarzan into an Axis ally).
There’s a very attractive jungle princess called Zandra, though apparently there’s no nookie going on between her and Tarzan. I liked the scene where Zandra makes Tarzan a home cooked meal to try to persuade him to fight Nazis (it doesn’t work – maybe she should have offered sex.) Violent albeit cartoonish finale, where Cheetah shoots a Nazi with a machine gun and Boy shoots a Nazi with a gun! (But then this is more of the war-is-fun Hollywood school with the Nazis as a joke eg Desperate Journey – the final gag has the Germans think Cheetah talks to them in German.) Good, silly Nazi-bashing fun.
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