En route to meet the returning Jane, Tarzan saves a woman from wild animals. He recognizes she's from Palmyria, a city ruled by Amazon women, which, clearly, he has been to before. Their law forbids anyone to leave, or any outsiders to enter, on penalty of death. But Tarzan is the exception, considered a friend as he has kept the location of their city a secret. (It might have been very interesting to see whatever his earlier adventure there had been.)
Trouble rears its head when Cheetah, who's developed a bad habit of stealing things, makes off with a gold bracelet belonging to Athena, the young woman Tarzan saved. Jane returns accompanied by an archeological expedition, but on seeing the bracelet (which Cheetah gave to Jane!), suddenly their plans change and they become obsessed with finding this "lost city", which Tarzan adamantly refuses to help them with. The real problem, however, is that he refuses to EXPLAIN to Jane & Boy WHY he refuses to help, and in an adolescent fit, Boy decides to lead the expedition there... not realizing it's either death, or life in slavery once they get there. And then of course there's the fact that most of the expedition wind up hungry for gold more than scientific knowledge...
Anyone who's watched the MGM/Sol Lesser/Sy Weintraub TARZAN film series knows that there's certain points where continuity is simply rebooted to a degree, as we find ourselves slipping from one version of the character to another. Usually, this takes place each time the lead actor is recast. Gordon Scott actually played 3 different versions all by himself! But here, it's clear to me continuity has altered between the 8th & 9th Johnny Weismuller films! It's not that Jane has been recast (blonde Brenda Joyce is actually more "authentic" than Maureen O'Sullivan ever was). It's that, Tarzan's treehouse (rebuilt!) is NO LONGER on "The Escarpment", that high plateau that was introduced in TARZAN THE APE MAN (1932) and was a part of each film in the "official" series right up until TARZAN'S DESERT MYSTERY (1943), when Boy looked over a map he'd drawn and mentioned it.
In this film, Tarzan, Boy & Cheetah go by river on a raft to a settlement to meet Jane-- and return home the same way, as does the expedition. The near-impassable mountain range, in this film, is the one beyond which the forbidden Amazon city lies! It surprises me that no one ever seems to bring this up. Between the notable lack of the Mutia Escarpment plateau, and the existence of the mountain range with the Amazon women city beyond, this film feels much more authentic to Edgar Rice Burroughs' version of Tarzan than any of the previous Weismuller films ever were. It's only a pity (perhaps) that we still have the "uneducated" Tarzan, and a "Boy" with no other name than "Boy"!
I've found myself a huge fan of Johnny Sheffield's character in these films ever since TARZAN FINDS A SON!, and in ...AMAZONS, you can see and hear he's really starting to grow up! Unfortunately, that came with the usual conflict between child and parents that was natural at that age, but in the jungle, one learns quickly. He was 14 here; a few more years and he'd start to qualify as a sex symbol (heh). In fact, I'm very much looking forward to getting ahold of the BOMBA THE JUNGLE BOY series on DVD as soon as I get to the end of the Weismuller TARZANs.
I have to agree with the reviewer who pointed out the irony that the Amazons use their men for slave labor, yet Tarzan considers them friends. Perhaps, like in TARZAN TRIUMPHS! 2 films before, he figures it's none of his business, as long as they allowed him to leave without killing or enslaving HIM. (Again, makes me want to know what his previous visit there was like.)
There sure were a lot of stunning matte paintings of mountain ranges in this one! It gave it more of a "fantasy" feeling than the MGMs. Then again, Sol Lesser was already leaning toward "lost cities" back when he did TARZAN THE FEARLESS (1933) and TARZAN'S REVENGE (1938)!
Trouble rears its head when Cheetah, who's developed a bad habit of stealing things, makes off with a gold bracelet belonging to Athena, the young woman Tarzan saved. Jane returns accompanied by an archeological expedition, but on seeing the bracelet (which Cheetah gave to Jane!), suddenly their plans change and they become obsessed with finding this "lost city", which Tarzan adamantly refuses to help them with. The real problem, however, is that he refuses to EXPLAIN to Jane & Boy WHY he refuses to help, and in an adolescent fit, Boy decides to lead the expedition there... not realizing it's either death, or life in slavery once they get there. And then of course there's the fact that most of the expedition wind up hungry for gold more than scientific knowledge...
Anyone who's watched the MGM/Sol Lesser/Sy Weintraub TARZAN film series knows that there's certain points where continuity is simply rebooted to a degree, as we find ourselves slipping from one version of the character to another. Usually, this takes place each time the lead actor is recast. Gordon Scott actually played 3 different versions all by himself! But here, it's clear to me continuity has altered between the 8th & 9th Johnny Weismuller films! It's not that Jane has been recast (blonde Brenda Joyce is actually more "authentic" than Maureen O'Sullivan ever was). It's that, Tarzan's treehouse (rebuilt!) is NO LONGER on "The Escarpment", that high plateau that was introduced in TARZAN THE APE MAN (1932) and was a part of each film in the "official" series right up until TARZAN'S DESERT MYSTERY (1943), when Boy looked over a map he'd drawn and mentioned it.
In this film, Tarzan, Boy & Cheetah go by river on a raft to a settlement to meet Jane-- and return home the same way, as does the expedition. The near-impassable mountain range, in this film, is the one beyond which the forbidden Amazon city lies! It surprises me that no one ever seems to bring this up. Between the notable lack of the Mutia Escarpment plateau, and the existence of the mountain range with the Amazon women city beyond, this film feels much more authentic to Edgar Rice Burroughs' version of Tarzan than any of the previous Weismuller films ever were. It's only a pity (perhaps) that we still have the "uneducated" Tarzan, and a "Boy" with no other name than "Boy"!
I've found myself a huge fan of Johnny Sheffield's character in these films ever since TARZAN FINDS A SON!, and in ...AMAZONS, you can see and hear he's really starting to grow up! Unfortunately, that came with the usual conflict between child and parents that was natural at that age, but in the jungle, one learns quickly. He was 14 here; a few more years and he'd start to qualify as a sex symbol (heh). In fact, I'm very much looking forward to getting ahold of the BOMBA THE JUNGLE BOY series on DVD as soon as I get to the end of the Weismuller TARZANs.
I have to agree with the reviewer who pointed out the irony that the Amazons use their men for slave labor, yet Tarzan considers them friends. Perhaps, like in TARZAN TRIUMPHS! 2 films before, he figures it's none of his business, as long as they allowed him to leave without killing or enslaving HIM. (Again, makes me want to know what his previous visit there was like.)
There sure were a lot of stunning matte paintings of mountain ranges in this one! It gave it more of a "fantasy" feeling than the MGMs. Then again, Sol Lesser was already leaning toward "lost cities" back when he did TARZAN THE FEARLESS (1933) and TARZAN'S REVENGE (1938)!