Tarzan and the Amazons
Tarzan races to save Boy from the Amazons.
Tarzan and the Amazons is a 1945 American adventure film, the ninth in the series starring Johnny Weissmuller as the jungle lord. Brenda Joyce takes over the role of Jane for the first of five appearances, while Johnny Sheffield plays Boy for the sixth time. The supporting cast includes Henry Stephenson. Sol Lesser and Kurt Neumann produced the film, Neumann also directed, and the screenplay was written by John Jacoby and Marjorie L. Pfaelzer, based on Edgar Rice Burroughs’ characters. It hit theaters on April 29, 1945.
In the story, Tarzan and Boy are heading to meet Jane, who has been nursing in Britain during the war. They rescue an Amazon woman from a leopard, and during the struggle, she drops a golden bracelet that Cheeta picks up. With a twisted ankle, she can’t walk. Tarzan carries her through a mountain pass to her hidden city, Palmyria, telling Boy to wait. Boy disobeys, follows, finds the city, then returns. After reuniting with Jane, a group of explorers led by Sir Guy Henderson spots the bracelet and connects it to relics from a lost Amazon city. They ask Tarzan to guide them, but he refuses. Boy, thinking he’s helping science, is tricked into leading them there. The Amazons capture the party, and their queen sentences them to a lifetime of quarry labor instead of death. The woman Tarzan saved frees them, but Ballister, Henderson’s second-in-command, and his ally Anders loot the city’s treasure. When Henderson objects, Ballister kills him and stabs the woman, who sounds an alarm before dying. The invaders are killed except Ballister and Anders, who escape with two treasures. Boy is recaptured and condemned. Cheeta warns Tarzan, who races to Palmyria, corners Ballister and Anders in a mud bog, and watches them sink. He returns the treasure in exchange for Boy’s freedom.
Maureen O’Sullivan, who played Jane in the first six Weissmuller films, had left the role. Jane was absent from the next two films, explained by her war work in Britain. Producer Sol Lesser tried to bring O’Sullivan back for this film, and the studio announced her return, but she changed her mind, and Brenda Joyce got the part. Joyce played Jane in five Tarzan films—four with Weissmuller and one with Lex Barker. Henry Stephenson had previously played a different English aristocrat in *Tarzan Finds a Son!* (1939). Barton MacLane, who plays Ballister he
- Release date
- April 29, 1945
- Director
- Kurt Neumann
- Starring
- Johnny Weissmuller, Brenda Joyce, Johnny Sheffield
- Genre
- Adventure
- Production company
- Sol Lesser Productions
- Running time
- Not specified in source
Lore & Background
The film opens with Tarzan and Boy on their way to meet Jane, who is returning from nursing work in Britain during World War II. They rescue an Amazon woman from a leopard; she drops a golden bracelet, which Cheeta picks up. Tarzan carries the injured woman to the hidden city of Palmyria, while Boy disobeys and follows, learning the city's location. After reuniting with Jane, explorers led by Sir Guy Henderson discover the bracelet and try to enlist Tarzan to guide them to Palmyria. Tarzan refuses, but Boy, believing he is aiding science, leads them there.
Reader's Guide
Tarzan and the Amazons is significant as the first film in the series to feature Brenda Joyce as Jane, replacing Maureen O'Sullivan, who had played the role in the first six Weissmuller films. O'Sullivan had expressed interest in returning but changed her mind, leading to Joyce's casting. The film also marks a shift in the series' setting: from this film onward, Tarzan's home is no longer on the remote Mutia Escarpment but appears to be just upriver from a trading post, a change not explained in the story. Critical reception was mixed but generally positive, with DVD Talk critic Paul Mavis calling it a 'terrific, pulpy entry' while noting limited budget and lack of sexual chemistry between the leads. The Film Daily described it as a 'pleasing addition to the jungle series.'
Did You Know?
- Brenda Joyce played Jane in five Tarzan films, four opposite Johnny Weissmuller and one opposite Lex Barker.
- Henry Stephenson, who played Sir Guy Henderson, had previously played a different aristocratic Englishman in Tarzan Finds a Son! (1939).
- Barton MacLane, who played the villain Ballister, went on to play a different villain in the series' next entry, Tarzan and the Huntress.
- The film was shot in Baldwin Park, Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden, and Lone Pine, California.
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