Tarzan Goes to India (1962)

Best movie of this year hands down!

Dreadfully Boring

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Might as well been titled "Tarzan Goes To Indiana", and it would have been just as believable. A good example of what Hollywood producers can do to a good concept. By this time they had ridden this horse into the ground and kicked the crap out of it. Naked Tarzan in a biplane with aviator goggles and cap? The first scene turned me off completely.Take Tarzan out of darkest Africa and he's no longer Tarzan(with the exception of Weismuller's "Tarzan Goes To New York"- at least he put some clothes on for that one).Throw some khakis and a pith helmet on Jock Mahoney and call him Jungle Jim, for Pete's sake!The post- Weismuller Tarzans were just a little too sophisticated for me.They lost some of the charm and mystery of the "ape-man". Don't bother with this one if you're a traditional Tarzanist.

Former stunt man and "Range Rider" TV star Jock Mahoney makes a rather scrawny ape man in "Tarzan Goes to India." Apparently, producer Sy Weintraub felt like Tarzan should no longer be as brawny as Gordon Scott so he replaced Scott with Mahoney. Earlier, Mahoney had portrayed a villain opposite Scott in the 1960 production of "Tarzan the Magnificent." Actually, Weintraub flip-flopped on his attitude about the ideal Tarzan physique. After the lean mean Mahoney turned in his loincloth following "Tarzan's Three Challenges" in 1963, Weintraub hired muscular Mike Henry to replace him. A former Pittsburgh Steeler, Henry boasted a spectacular physique, too. Ron Ely took over the role for the NBC-TV series after Henry turned down the part and Ely resembled Mahoney more than either Scott or Henry. Happily, the one thing that neither Weintraub nor director John Guillerin changed was the way that Tarzan delivered his dialogue. In "Tarzan Goes to India," our barefoot protagonist speaks in English and usually in complete sentences.This time around the resourceful Lord of the Jungle flies into India where a huge hydro-electric dam is under construction to end a drought as well as provide jobs. The chief problem is 300 elephants are at stake. You see, once construction is completed on the dam, the jungle behind the dam will be inundated and those elephants will drown. The price of progress and economic prosperity is high. Bringing electricity to the backwaters has to have an impact on either somebody or someplace and the elephants are the victims. To exacerbate tensions, the elephants are being led by a wild rogue elephant, and Tarzan has to kill that troublemaker. Somehow, this part of the plot got left on the editing room floor. Meantime, the villagers behind the dam are fleeting, too. Tarzan encounters another elephant that attacks the work camp, but this elephant has been dispatched to attack the camp by a youth, Jia the Elephant Boy (Jia), who Tarzan later befriends. Guillerin stages an okay elephant stampede, but the drama is like the Mahoney Tarzan, it is a little on the lean side.Director John Guillermin has to monkey with the camera speed during the elephant attacks. As the dam construction foreman, veteran heavy Leo Gordon makes a solid villain for about 55 minutes before he meets his match. He abducts Jia, tries to ambush Tarzan in a three-way crossfire, and takes shots at a bull elephant. The elephant puts an end to him. Tarzan braves his share of dangers. He tangles with a cobra, a leopard, and the trigger-happy villains. Jock Mahoney has his moments, but not enough of them. He looks at home in the wilderness and he cuts a pretty impressive figure when he climbs aboard an elephant and rides the beast through the jungle. The shift in setting from Africa to India is a splendid change of pace and lenser Paul Beeson of "Mosquito Squadron" and "To Sir, With Love" captures the immense, rugged scenery.

I have a genuine fondness for TARZAN GOES TO India. If you remove the Air India 707 from the opening credits and the early sixties automobiles, it feels like something that Edgar Rice Burroughs would have written, possibly after the Second World War, if declining health hadn't caught with him.Jock Mahoney gives the legendary ape-man something that the other previous actors had not provided to this part -- a sense of maturity and gravity. Yes, Mahoney is almost too rangy, particularly when compared to his immediate predecessor, the hefty Gordon Scott. But Mahoney makes every scene seem real; with his Midwestern accent sounding neutral, almost international, in tone in keeping with Tarzan's unique origins. The additional kick is knowing that Mahoney does all of his stunts, including an eye-popping dive from an moving airplane into a lake. But his greatest stunt is being able to work with an inexperienced child actor and a four-ton elephant and not get loss in the shuffle. That's charisma!Yes, the storyline is somewhat juvenile, but there was a definite market in the early Sixties for movies pitched to a pre-teenage audience. Witness such films as CAPTAIN SINBAD, FLIPPER, ZEBRA IN THE KITCHEN, and Disney's output of movies during this time. Robert Harding Andrews does a credible job with the script while John Guillermin provides fast-paced direction although this film lacks the flourishes of his 1959 Tarzan outing, TARZAN'S GREATEST ADVENTURE.Overall, TARZAN GOES TO India is a pleasant diversion well worth checking out.

This is quite an enjoyable film with as an added bonus, 300(!!) elephants and spectacular Indian scenery. I don't think I've ever seen India look so beautiful in any movie. Jock Mahoney makes an articulate and athletic(if a bit lean) Tarzan. His easy-going performance is quite fun to watch, as is his interplay with the Maharaja's daughter. There seems to be a nice chemistry between these two. It is really too bad that their relationship isn't allowed to progress further but this being a G-rated film, the line has to be drawn somewhere. As this film is aimed at the very young, a lot of emphasis is put on Jai the elephant boy. This turns out to be the film's greatest weakness. The character is irritating and obnoxious. Not surprisingly, Mahoney looks a little uncomfortable in his scenes with the young boy and some of their moments together are downright corny. It's a good thing that the film's fast paced action sequences and beautiful scenery make up for these weaknesses(the final charge of the elephants is very exciting).Also of note, Leo Gordon is quite effective as the villain Bryce. On the whole, this is a good way to pass a rainy Sunday afternoon. You'll have to close your eyes and ears every time Jai appears, but the rest will go down easily enough, especially for the younger set. By the way, don't miss Tarzan's arrival into India. It's an eye opener!!