Gordon Scott's second outing as the eponymous Edgar Rice Burroughs hero shares a lot in common with a traditional Johnny Weissmuller "Tarzan" movie. First, the Lord of the Jungle speaks in choppy sentences. Second, Tarzan has no back story relating to how he came to Africa. Third, co-directors Charles Haas and Sandy Howard rely on the chimp Cheta for comic relief. Cheta discovers the consequences of messing around with bees. Fourth, Tarzan has an educated Jane at his side and provides life lessons for a teenage Boy who runs around in a loincloth, too. Unlike Tarzan, Boy does communicate in complete sentences and knows how to read. Meantime, "Tarzan and the Trappers" bears a slight resemblance to "Tarzan's New York Adventure," except these trappers do not succeed in kidnapping Boy, though they take him hostage for a while. Scott makes a terrific Tarzan, and he is clearly the most muscular Ape man to grace the silver screen. Eva Brent looks like she walked out of a designer fashion saloon in her Jane outfit with her coiffed hair and lipstick. Were it not for Tarzan and Cheta, she wouldn't survive long in the jungle. When we first see Jane, she is curled up and sleeping without a thought about her safety when a poisonous snake slithers over her legs. Cheta awakens Jane; Jane shrieks and kicks the snake off. Cheta attacks the snake with a stick and beats it to death. This man, woman, and child, none of whom appear to be related, live in the tree houses in the jungle.
Numerous sources, far too many to document, indicate that "Tarzan and the Trappers" was a pilot for a proposed television series that did not make the cut. The production values look solid enough and this cobbled together feature is unified by Tarzan's quest to thwart illegal trappers. He ruins one trapper and has the fellow sentenced to prison and that trapper's brother decides to hunt Tarzan like something out of "The Most Dangerous Game." Of course, the flaws are really obvious. Most of the time that Tarzan appears in a scene with other actors, it is clear that they are in an elaborate studio set. Tarzan spends his time belting out his signature call, probably more than any Tarzan. He swims in crocodile-infested rivers, swings on apparently real vines, and even rides a giraffe. In most of the scenes with Tarzan charging and swinging through the jungle, it does appear to be Scott performing his own stunts. Indeed, Scott would be a difficult man to double with his physique and hair. The scene where he questions two gun bears as to their native heritage by demanding that they dance is good. It is fun to see them try to make Tarzan when they get the drop on him with a high-powered, bolt-action rifle. Tarzan refuses to dance, even as they blast the earth near his toes. Eventually, the one with the gun jams it and Tarzan teaches them a lesson. Mind you, the biggest flaw in this good versus evil epic is that nobody is in trouble for long. A dastardly big game hunter shoots one animal—an elephant, but it is pretty clear that the falling elephant was probably lensed getting up. The filmmakers printed the footage backwards to make it appear as if the beast was just struck by a bullet and knocked down.
Altogether, "Tarzan and the Trappers" qualifies as a serviceable Tarzan, but it cannot compare with later Tarzan sagas like "Tarzan's Greatest Adventure" and "Tarzan the Magnificent." Clocking in at a mere 70 minutes, "Tarzan and the Trappers" is a modest adventure that never looks too cheesy.
Numerous sources, far too many to document, indicate that "Tarzan and the Trappers" was a pilot for a proposed television series that did not make the cut. The production values look solid enough and this cobbled together feature is unified by Tarzan's quest to thwart illegal trappers. He ruins one trapper and has the fellow sentenced to prison and that trapper's brother decides to hunt Tarzan like something out of "The Most Dangerous Game." Of course, the flaws are really obvious. Most of the time that Tarzan appears in a scene with other actors, it is clear that they are in an elaborate studio set. Tarzan spends his time belting out his signature call, probably more than any Tarzan. He swims in crocodile-infested rivers, swings on apparently real vines, and even rides a giraffe. In most of the scenes with Tarzan charging and swinging through the jungle, it does appear to be Scott performing his own stunts. Indeed, Scott would be a difficult man to double with his physique and hair. The scene where he questions two gun bears as to their native heritage by demanding that they dance is good. It is fun to see them try to make Tarzan when they get the drop on him with a high-powered, bolt-action rifle. Tarzan refuses to dance, even as they blast the earth near his toes. Eventually, the one with the gun jams it and Tarzan teaches them a lesson. Mind you, the biggest flaw in this good versus evil epic is that nobody is in trouble for long. A dastardly big game hunter shoots one animal—an elephant, but it is pretty clear that the falling elephant was probably lensed getting up. The filmmakers printed the footage backwards to make it appear as if the beast was just struck by a bullet and knocked down.
Altogether, "Tarzan and the Trappers" qualifies as a serviceable Tarzan, but it cannot compare with later Tarzan sagas like "Tarzan's Greatest Adventure" and "Tarzan the Magnificent." Clocking in at a mere 70 minutes, "Tarzan and the Trappers" is a modest adventure that never looks too cheesy.