The third film in our Ape-Man mini-marathon is Tarzan's Revenge, featuring Glenn Morris as Tarzan and Eleanor Holm as, well, Eleanor Reed (continuing the trend we saw in Tarzan and the Green Goddess of the female lead's first name being the same as that of the actress).
For a movie titled Tarzan's Revenge there seems to be precious little revenging, avenging, or vengeance going on. What is Tarzan's motivation for revenge? The capture of two lion cubs? The kidnap of Eleanor by an evil sheikh? The treacherous gunshot by Eleanor's jealous and cowardly fiancé very late in the film?
Tarzan returns the cubs to their mother early on, the sheikh is never punished, and the craven fiancé returns to civilization after Tarzan decks him. Overall this is a pretty bloodless picture, in terms of both excitement and actual violence. Where exactly is the revenge taking place?
There are some nice set pieces, such as the suspension bridge and sheikh Ben Alleu Bey's palace. Really, the confrontation at Bey's palace is the biggest missed opportunity of the film. Played by C. Henry Gordon, the sheikh is suitably cruel and lecherous. Eleanor is threatened with a beating from Bey's cane, but it never manifests and Tarzan arrives shortly after.
Instead of saving her from the rack or some such, Tarzan saves Eleanor from a comfy seat and glittery robe. He races off with her propped on his hip as seen in the above image. Gone too soon, I say. The set was lavish and would have made a great backdrop for Tarzan running wild. We could have seen him battling hordes of the sheikh's warriors, panicked dancing girls fleeing this way and that as some great apes back him up or even possibly the grateful mother lioness lending a hand/claw.
There is the usual smattering of comedic moments and traditional story beats: a safari searching for rare animals (an albino crocodile this time), a treacherous guide, the bluff old father figure, the spurned fiancé, Tarzan and the (fully-clothed this time) leading lady swimming together, Tarzan and the leading lady playfully squabbling on a tree branch, and so on.
Favorite moment: the callow fiancé patronizing the sheikh's messenger with over-loud, simplistic instructions, and the messenger responding in very cultured tones, "I understand perfectly, sir."
Tarzan's Revenge isn't awful. Worse, it is forgettable. There were moments where it could have done something different, but it stuck to a tried and true formula that other Tarzan flicks did better. For devoted fans only.
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