Weintraub had taken over the Tarzan franchise in 1958 and realised that a fresh approach was going to be needed. The old approach was well and truly played out. He dropped the idea of Tarzan speaking halting English. He wanted a Tarzan closer to Edgar Rice Burroughs’ original conception. Tarzan would be an educated man, equally at home in the jungle or the civilised world.
Jane was also dropped. Tarzan would now be more of a globetrotting adventurer, a man without ties. Weintraub also wanted to move away from African settings and put Tarzan into other exotic settings.
Most of all Weintraub wanted to avoid a B-movie look. These would be Tarzan movies made in colour and Cinemascope, shot on location with high production values. They would look like expensive A-pictures.
The first fruit of Weintraub’s approach was Tarzan's Greatest Adventure in 1959 and it’s a terrific Tarzan movie.
Tarzan Goes to India was shot entirely on location in India.
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An elderly Indian maharajah asks for Tarzan’s help. A new dam is going to flood a valley and a herd of 300 wild elephants lives in that valley. Tarzan’s task is to persuade the elephants to leave the valley before the flood waters arrive. The difficulty is that the herd is led by a bad-tempered mean rogue bull elephant and he’s not likely to be cooperative.
And Tarzan has only a few days in which to accomplish his task.
Tarzan has a couple of allies. There’s the maharajah’s beautiful daughter. There’s also a boy named Jai who has also refused to leave the valley. Jai and his elephant Gavendra will prove occasionally exasperating but also very useful.
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There are of course villains. The head engineer manager at the dam construction site, Bryce (Leo Gordon) is a nasty piece of work and he and Tarzan already have reason to hate each other. The man in overall charge of the dam project, O’Hara (Mark Dana), turns out to be equally villainous.
Tarzan doesn’t want to stop progress. He doesn’t want to stop the dam. He just wants to see progress done with humanity, with some concern being shown for the people and the animals who are likely to be affected. The people behind the dam project want progress no matter what the price. Fortunately the movie doesn’t get into heavy-handed messaging.
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Naturally Tarzan encounters plenty of dangers, having to deal with attacks by cobras and leopards as well as that mean rogue bull elephant.
Jock Mahoney makes an interesting Tarzan. He was in his early forties at the time but he gets away with it. This is a Tarzan who doesn’t rely purely on speed and brute strength. He has acquired a certain amount of wisdom, and cool judgment. He’s an older wiser Tarzan.
The location shooting is excellent. The movie looks exotic without looking too much like a travelogue.
Director John Guillerman (who also helmed Tarzan’s Greatest Adventure) handles the action scenes more than competently.
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Tarzan Goes to India is fine well-crafted entertainment. Highly recommended.
The Warner Archive DVD release looks very nice indeed.
I’ve reviewed several of the other Sy Weintraub Tarzan movies - Tarzan’s Greatest Adventure (1959), Tarzan's Three Challenges (1963) and Tarzan and the Valley of Gold (1966) which is Tarzan with a Bond movie flavour. I would highly recommend all of these titles.
I’ve also reviewed a couple of the very early MGM Tarzan movies, Tarzan the Ape Man (1932) and Tarzan and His Mate (1934), which make a fascinating contrast with the Sy Weintraub Tarzan pictures. And if you’re a hardcore Tarzan fan I’ve reviewed the original 1914 Edgar Rice Burroughs novel Tarzan of the Apes.
Most of all Weintraub wanted to avoid a B-movie look. These would be Tarzan movies made in colour and Cinemascope, shot on location with high production values. They would look like expensive A-pictures.
The first fruit of Weintraub’s approach was Tarzan's Greatest Adventure in 1959 and it’s a terrific Tarzan movie.
Tarzan Goes to India was shot entirely on location in India.
.jpg)
An elderly Indian maharajah asks for Tarzan’s help. A new dam is going to flood a valley and a herd of 300 wild elephants lives in that valley. Tarzan’s task is to persuade the elephants to leave the valley before the flood waters arrive. The difficulty is that the herd is led by a bad-tempered mean rogue bull elephant and he’s not likely to be cooperative.
And Tarzan has only a few days in which to accomplish his task.
Tarzan has a couple of allies. There’s the maharajah’s beautiful daughter. There’s also a boy named Jai who has also refused to leave the valley. Jai and his elephant Gavendra will prove occasionally exasperating but also very useful.
.jpg)
There are of course villains. The head engineer manager at the dam construction site, Bryce (Leo Gordon) is a nasty piece of work and he and Tarzan already have reason to hate each other. The man in overall charge of the dam project, O’Hara (Mark Dana), turns out to be equally villainous.
Tarzan doesn’t want to stop progress. He doesn’t want to stop the dam. He just wants to see progress done with humanity, with some concern being shown for the people and the animals who are likely to be affected. The people behind the dam project want progress no matter what the price. Fortunately the movie doesn’t get into heavy-handed messaging.
.jpg)
Naturally Tarzan encounters plenty of dangers, having to deal with attacks by cobras and leopards as well as that mean rogue bull elephant.
Jock Mahoney makes an interesting Tarzan. He was in his early forties at the time but he gets away with it. This is a Tarzan who doesn’t rely purely on speed and brute strength. He has acquired a certain amount of wisdom, and cool judgment. He’s an older wiser Tarzan.
The location shooting is excellent. The movie looks exotic without looking too much like a travelogue.
Director John Guillerman (who also helmed Tarzan’s Greatest Adventure) handles the action scenes more than competently.
.jpg)
Tarzan Goes to India is fine well-crafted entertainment. Highly recommended.
The Warner Archive DVD release looks very nice indeed.
I’ve reviewed several of the other Sy Weintraub Tarzan movies - Tarzan’s Greatest Adventure (1959), Tarzan's Three Challenges (1963) and Tarzan and the Valley of Gold (1966) which is Tarzan with a Bond movie flavour. I would highly recommend all of these titles.
I’ve also reviewed a couple of the very early MGM Tarzan movies, Tarzan the Ape Man (1932) and Tarzan and His Mate (1934), which make a fascinating contrast with the Sy Weintraub Tarzan pictures. And if you’re a hardcore Tarzan fan I’ve reviewed the original 1914 Edgar Rice Burroughs novel Tarzan of the Apes.
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