Moviecut—Tarzan and the Trappers

source: Tarzan and the Trappers

Tarzan and the Trappers

After reading a lot of bad reviews, I almost skipped this one. I'm glad I gave it a chance, because Tarzan and the Trappers is a very underrated Tarzan movie. It's fast-paced with good fight scenes, and Cheeta is funny as usual. It almost feels like a (cheaper) Weissmuller movie. I enjoyed every second of it. Best of all, it's a movie you can watch with your kids. The violence is mild (if that's even possible), there's no sexual innuendo or political agenda to be found here. The natives are treated pretty respectfully compared to the pre-code Tarzan movies, and Tarzan himself is a good role model who cares for his family and the jungle animals. Recommended.

When I first heard the title of this movie, I thought it was going to be about Tarzan stopping some trappers, that is, people who were trapping animals. It turns out I got exactly what I expected...and not much else. I hate this if only because it was just so boring. There's relatively nothing of substance here at all. I haven't seen all the Tarzan movies so maybe this goes back to the classic days of the Weismuller era. You know, like how it takes place in that continuity. Tarzan was one of the few film series in Leonard Maltin's movie guide I was fully aware of when I first read it. It's vaguely like "The Most Dangerous Game" with one hunter talking about how he wants to take on Tarzan. At its very short length, it's mostly just a B-movie. There is very little going on at all. This would have been a great movie to feature on "Mystery Science Theater 3000". I'm used to films like this being shown there. I got bored without any riffing. *1/2

Gordon Scott made an excellent Tarzan, he brought an interesting flair to the role, that was almost a compromise between the smart Tarzan of the books and the ignorant Tarzan of most of the films. In this film, he actually picks up a book and tries to read, but still speaks in a broken manner, however he is still full of wisdom that comes from life in a dangerous jungle. This actually one of the better films, despite some negative publicity from "purists" (read Weissmuller fans). It is entertaining, the jungles all look real, and the double point of anti-poaching/anti-grave robbing is especially poignant. If Tarzan really did exist, that would be the kind of life that he would lead. Excellent ****/****

Of the countless actors who have portrayed Tarzan since Elmo Lincoln first appeared in 1918's `Tarzan of the Apes,' Gordon Scott remains the best to ever don a loincloth. So it's no surprise that `Tarzan and the Trappers' is one of the better Tarzan films of the past 80 years. The 1958 film was actually intended to comprise the first three episodes of a television series, but instead was made into a better-than-average Sol Lesser production that runs 74 minutes. The film's story remains contemporary, with Tarzan forced to fight for his own life while stopping greedy traders from illegally trapping and removing wildlife from the jungle. With the future of much of the world's wildlife in question, the story is as compelling now as it was 45 years ago...

Gordon Scott has a truly magnificent physique ("lucky Jane!" is all I can say), and is an excellent brawler, but his acrobatic ability is questionable at best: nearly all of his vine-swinging is filmed in long shots and appears to be stunt-doubled. Eve Brent is a stunning Jane, but she's barely in the film. The story itself is generic. ** out of 4.

Gordon Scott made some good Tarzan movies, but this is not one of them. As I watched it, wincing at the bad, obviously interior sets and the hollow wooden "clonking" sounds as they walked across supposedly dirt trails, and cringing at the bad dialog and worse acting among the supporting cast, I kept thinking, "Sheesh! This is TV show level!" Then I find out it was, indeed, three TV show pilot episodes woven seam-fully into one. It's nice to see Scott get outside (alone), away from the lame sets, in a few of the scenes; and the fights do have some pretty nice moves... but oh, ow, and ouch as to the dialog. And did I mention the acting? Heck, Cheetah (or "Cheta," in this version) was a better actor than most of the humans. And that's not saying much. It is kind of a stitch to see a younger Sherman (i.e. Scatman) Carothers acting as a native. But probably not worth the overall time-investment.

TARZAN AND THE TRAPPERS (1958 B&W) features Gordon Scott as Tarzan. This is a mediocre jungle adventure edited together from two or three episodes of a TV series that never surfaced. Gordon Scott plays a great muscular Tarzan but, as another Amazon reviewer noted, the film is compressed in such a way that the images are out of proportion. For example, Gordon Scott appears almost short and stout, albeit muscular. I know this isn't true because I just saw another Scott Tarzan film ("Tarzan and the Lost Safari" from 1957) wherein Scott is tall (6'3") and his waist is incredibly lean. In any event, although this is far from the best Gordon Scott Tarzan picture (his "Tarzan's Greatest Adventure" from 1959 is one of the best films in the entire series), "Tarzan and the Trappers" is well worth watching if for no other reason than to feast your eyes on the awe-inspiring voluptuousness of Eve Brent, who plays "Jane." GRADE: C