Tarzan and the Trappers (1958)
* 1/2 (out of 4)
The twentieth film in the original MGM-to-RKO series wasn't originally meant to be a movie. No, instead producer Sol Lesser decided to save some money and try to produce a TV series so he brought in Gordon Scott to make three pilots. He showed all three pilots to the television networks but they all turned it down so instead of eating his losses the producer instead edited the three episodes together and turn it into this film. WIth this in mind, there's a reason everything is so messy. In the film, Tarzan (Scott) must battle an evil man wanting to steal animals from the jungle. After Tarzan stops him the man's brother comes and decides to hunt the ape man THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME style. Then, after that business is taken care of, Tarzan must try and stop some men looking for a lost city. All three "stories" don't mix well together and especially when the first one ends and then minutes later the guy's brother is already on the scene looking for revenge! It's really hard to take any of this movie serious considering how it was made but even if you just view the stories as three separate TV shows it still feels rather cheap. The previous movie had the producer spending a pretty dime as he sent the company to Africa, shot it in color and obviously those high standards are missing here. We're back to B&W, poor stock footage and rather cheap stories. Scott doesn't look overly thrilled in any of the stories but I'm going to guess that he wasn't too happy about the TV stuff. He's always made for a good Tarzan but this here was certainly a weak spot. Eve Brent shows up as Jane and Rickie Sorensen appears as Boy but neither are too memorable and neither have their roles written too well. TARZAN AND THE TRAPPERS should have been left unreleased but you know a producer has to make his money back and that's the only reason this was released. That still doesn't mean people should waste their time watching it.
* 1/2 (out of 4)
The twentieth film in the original MGM-to-RKO series wasn't originally meant to be a movie. No, instead producer Sol Lesser decided to save some money and try to produce a TV series so he brought in Gordon Scott to make three pilots. He showed all three pilots to the television networks but they all turned it down so instead of eating his losses the producer instead edited the three episodes together and turn it into this film. WIth this in mind, there's a reason everything is so messy. In the film, Tarzan (Scott) must battle an evil man wanting to steal animals from the jungle. After Tarzan stops him the man's brother comes and decides to hunt the ape man THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME style. Then, after that business is taken care of, Tarzan must try and stop some men looking for a lost city. All three "stories" don't mix well together and especially when the first one ends and then minutes later the guy's brother is already on the scene looking for revenge! It's really hard to take any of this movie serious considering how it was made but even if you just view the stories as three separate TV shows it still feels rather cheap. The previous movie had the producer spending a pretty dime as he sent the company to Africa, shot it in color and obviously those high standards are missing here. We're back to B&W, poor stock footage and rather cheap stories. Scott doesn't look overly thrilled in any of the stories but I'm going to guess that he wasn't too happy about the TV stuff. He's always made for a good Tarzan but this here was certainly a weak spot. Eve Brent shows up as Jane and Rickie Sorensen appears as Boy but neither are too memorable and neither have their roles written too well. TARZAN AND THE TRAPPERS should have been left unreleased but you know a producer has to make his money back and that's the only reason this was released. That still doesn't mean people should waste their time watching it.