Tarzan's Three Challenges (1963)

Producer Sy Weintraub bought the rights to the Tarzan franchise in 1958 and he realised some changes were going to be needed to keep the franchise from becoming stale. Weintraub wanted to go back to Edgar Rice Burroughs’ original concept of Tarzan - a man raised in the jungle and at home in that environment but a man who was quite well-educated (in the original books self-educated from books) and quite articulate and even cultured, and by no means completely unsophisticated. He is not just a man of the jungle but a man of two worlds.

Weintraub also dispensed with Jane, and made Tarzan something of a world-traveller. These were bold moves but they worked.

Gordon Scott played Tarzan in the first two movies and was then replaced by Jock Mahoney. This was another bold movie. Mahoney was in his forties and he didn’t quite have the incredibly muscular physique you expect from Tarzan. This is a Tarzan who has to rely on his wits as well as on brawn. Tarzan's Three Challenges, released in 1963, was Mahoney’s second and final appearance in the rôle (his departure from the series was a result of a very serious illness contracted during the course of the production).

Tarzan's Three Challenges was shot in Thailand. The story takes place in an unnamed and obviously very remote Asian country. The spiritual leader of the country is dying. He has chosen his successor, a young boy named Kashi. The leader’s brother Gishi Khan, who is clearly going to be the villain of the movie, disputes his choice. Somehow the successor will have to be taken safely to the capital from the remote monastery where he has been raised and for some mysterious reason Tarzan has been chosen for the job. He arrives by parachute!

Almost immediately Tarzan is set upon by ruffians. That doesn’t delay him too long but when he arrives at the monastery he has no proof of his identity. The only way he can prove himself worthy of his task is by facing three challenges - tests of skill, strength and wisdom.

These three challenges are just the start of the adventure. The difficult dangerous part is still to come. Tarzan has to escort Kashi to the capital and Gishi Khan and his men will be lying in wait for them. Tarzan and Kashi are accompanied by a monk named Mang, Kashi’s nursemaid Cho San and a guide Tarzan has picked up, a man named Hani. They will have to survive a raging forest fire as well as attacks by Gishi Khan’s men. And there is another great challenge awaiting Kashi and another equally perilous challenge awaiting Tarzan.

Jock Mahoney probably was a little too old for the rôle. He just doesn’t look sufficiently physically imposing. There’s nothing wrong with his acting and it is interesting to see an older, wiser and more experienced Tarzan. Woody Strode (in one of several appearances in the Tarzan films) plays Gishi Khan with gusto.

It’s easy to see why Weintraub wanted to dump Jane - it frees Tarzan up to be a wandering adventurer without any real roots and without any responsibilities, able to pack his loincloth and set off anywhere he might be needed (and to take on insanely dangerous tasks). It adds flexibility to the franchise. Of course it also potentially allows Tarzan to have romantic adventures but that flexibility is not taken advantage of in this film. This is a Tarzan who is a bit of a loner.

The Thailand location shooting is a plus. Tarzan still gets to have jungle adventures but in different jungles and there are some impressive temple scenes. The temple in the cave is pretty cool.

Robert Day directed four of the Tarzan movies. He did a lot of television directing as well in both the US and Britain. He does a fine job here.

Weintraub also did want a cheap B-movie look for his Tarzan films and he did not want to make crude use of boring stock footage. This one is shot in the Cinemascope aspect ratio and in colour and when you add the location shooting it has the expensive expansive look the producer was aiming for. It’s a good-looking movie.

While the setting is presumably supposed to be contemporary there are no signs of the modern world - no telephones, no radios, no motor vehicles (not even any bicycles). It’s as if Tarzan has parachuted into not just an exotic place but into a different historical epoch. This works quite well, giving the adventure a kind of storybook feel. This is a tale that could easily have taken place in 1914, when Edgar Rice Burroughs created the Tarzan character. The movie has a kind of lost world feel to it which paradoxically makes it more plausible.

The final action scenes are extremely good.

And the baby elephant (which Kashi kind of adopts along the way) is cute.

I’ve also reviewed one of the earlier Sy Weintraub movies, Tarzan’s Greatest Adventure (1959). My review of the first of the Edgar Rice Burroughs Tarzan novels Tarzan of the Apes (published in 1914) might be of interest as well.

Tarzan's Three Challenges is fine entertainment. Highly recommended.