When she tried to save Boy (Johnny Sheffield), Zandra (Frances) instead
got herself into danger and the two find themselves marooned sitting on a
small rock just big enough for the two of them in the middle of some steep
cliffs - prompting Tarzan (Johnny Weissmuller) to rescue them. And
wouldn't you know it, Zandra turns out to be the daughter of the patriarch
(Pedro de Cordoba) of Pallandria, the famous hidden city in the immediate
neighbourhood of Tarzan's place. The patriarch even inivtes them over, but
Tarzan turns the offer down because he doesn't like to mingle with other
people too much, because people are only trouble in his view.
Later, Tarzan saves Schmidt (Rex Williams), the survivor of a
planecrash, and nurses him back to health, not knowing that Schmidt is a
Nazi and the Nazis are actually planning to take over Pallandria ...
Soon enough, the Nazis have done just that, while Schmidt shows his
true colours, fiercely wielding a gun and trying to join up with the rest
of his gang, led by Colonel Reichhardt (Stanley Ridges), while Zandra, who
managed to escape the Nazis, has made it through to Tarzan and pleads him
to help Pallandria against the Nazis - but Tarzan turns down her pleas
because he thinks this is not his war.
Upon the suggestion of Boy, Zandra tries to find her way into Tarzan's
heart since Tarzan is without Jane (she's in London caring for her mother)
by being him a good companion and even better housewife ... but once
Tarzan finds out she does this only to persuade him to help free
Pallandria, he throws her out. It is only when the Nazis capture both
Zandra and Boy that he reconsiders ... and "now Tarzan make war"
and soon enough, he first bumps off several Nazis one by one, then organizes a
revolt among the enslaved Pallandrians, who all of a sudden have no real
problems to overcome their German oppressors. Only Colonel Reichhardt is
able to escape the onslaught, but Tarzan is hot on his heels and soon
enough engages him in a deadly game of cat-and-mouse that eventually
causes Reichhardt to fall into a lion's pit ... ouch.
And in the end, Cheetah, Tarzan's pet chimp, radios a message - in ape
talk - to Germany ... which the Nazis mistake for a message from Hitler
...
The first Tarzan film Johnny Weissmuller did for producer
Sol Lesser and RKO was definitely a step down in scale from the
more lavish MGM-Tarzans
... but somehow it nevertheless manages to infuse some now blood into the
series that has grown a bit stale over at MGM.
That said, Tarzan Triumphs is not one of the better Tarzan
films, it is a silly little World War II propaganda effort set in the
jungle with all of the usual jungle/pulp mainstays, like the hidden city
inhabited by an all-white tribe, the incredibly evil Nazis (so ok, many of
them were incredibly evil in real life too), and of course the hero in
loincloth. If you are into cheesy jungle flicks, you might as well like
this one.
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