Despite what all the "history" books will tell you (namely that M-G-M's The Kiss was the final silent feature from a major American film studio), Universal was actually the last of the Hollywood majors to fully convert to sound. This serial, released in March 1930, was probably the last of the last. In fact by the end of 1929, Universal had already released ten all-talking pictures: College Love, Melody Lane, Broadway, The Shannons of Broadway, The Mississippi Gambler, Hold Your Man, The Drake Case, The Long Long Trail, Senor Americano, Shanghai Lady. So as not to be seen dragging the chain, the studio disguised its involvement in Tarzan the Tiger by marketing it as a production of "Adventure Pictures".
The serial is not even a part-talkie, but it does have sound effects (of a sort, including a muffled "Eee-yah, eee-yah!" Tarzan yell), an enjoyably vigorous music score for the first twelve episodes (a so-so score for the rest), andbest of all!tinted stock throughout its entire length (which gives the lie to that old excuse that tinting was discontinued because it tended to distort the sound track. The real reason, of course, was simply one of expense).
Despite its lack of sound, it's pleasing to report that this serial has actually been produced on an admirably lavish budget that not only does credit to Edgar Rice Burroughs' creativity, but even allows director Henry MacRae to satisfy his delightful penchant for fluid tracking shots through some really vast and well-peopled sets.
With one notable exception, the players, though well versed in melodramatic excesses, are capable enough. Miss Kingston is nice to look at too. The one exception, alas, is Frank Merrill whose "acting" varies from a self-preening, smirkingly over-pleased with himself approach to incredibly amateurish scenery chewing. And disappointingly, although Mr Merrill got his start in movies stunting for Elmo Lincoln in The Adventures of Tarzan (1921), here he very noticeably fails to perform many of his own stunts at the start! A few yards of rope climbing, and that's the lot, until suddenly in Chapter Six he starts prancing around on the back of an elephant!
Also disappointing are the very tame chapter endings, such as a very brief skirmish in long shot between a tame lion and Merrill's double; a fall of dust and obvious papier mache rocks on to Merrill's shoulder; Miss Kingston picked up by an "ape"; a spear (which has no chance of success) aimed at Merrill's heart; and a sudden fade-out just as a promising action scene is about to start.
All the same, the chapters themselves are full of incident and move fast enough. Chapter Five in which Al Ferguson does most of the stunting is especially action-packed. Chapter Six is also notable for a choice slave market scene in director MacRae tracks his camera backwards through an enormous outdoor seta shot which he obviously enjoyed making so much that he repeats it with different players at the beginning of Chapter Seven.
Of the quartet of villains, Kithnou is by far the most effective. She has great presence, and we love her abbreviated costume. It's a shame she disappears from the action for such a long stretch. In fact we have just about given up hope when she suddenly rejoins us (bare navel and all) in a brief flashback in Chapter Eight.
The least interesting of the heavies, Sheldon Lewis, is also the hammiest. He takes advantage of facial close-ups to provide a feast of really melodramatic grimacing, but fortunately he's written out of the action at an early stage. It's left to Al Ferguson to play the incorrigibly bad egg, which he does with a certain amount of flair and even style, until forced to play second fiddle to Clive Morgan.
Chapter Nine is the economy episode with a generous helping of Chapter One to refresh ailing memories of Merrill and Kingston divested of their Tarzan and Jane outfits and actually dressed to the nines. (Merrill's Tarzan get-up is distinctly odd and off-putting).
Chapter Eleven, would you believe, actually has a genuine cliff-hanger finale in which Lady Jane falls into a crocodile-infested river and of course is rescued by Tarzan in Chapter Twelve. Is this the first time Tarzan fights a croc, I wonder? Anyway, Merrill disposes of the rubber giant just as convincingly as Johnny Weismuller.
Twelve has a real cliff-hanger too, but neither that or the croc tussle are its main claim to fame. At this late stage, the fourth villain, played by Clive Morgan, finally makes a belated entrance.
Loss of memory has always been a standard ingredient in movie serials. Usually, however, it's a key subsidiary character who suffers this loss. It's most unusual for the main player to wander through the action for 12 episodes not knowing who he is, let alone revert to a simpleton status. To my mind, this constant display of idiocy, allied with Merrill's atrociously hammy performance, considerably dispels our interest in the hero. Fortunately, part of the slack is taken up by the lovely Natalie Kingston, but all the same
The serial is not even a part-talkie, but it does have sound effects (of a sort, including a muffled "Eee-yah, eee-yah!" Tarzan yell), an enjoyably vigorous music score for the first twelve episodes (a so-so score for the rest), andbest of all!tinted stock throughout its entire length (which gives the lie to that old excuse that tinting was discontinued because it tended to distort the sound track. The real reason, of course, was simply one of expense).
Despite its lack of sound, it's pleasing to report that this serial has actually been produced on an admirably lavish budget that not only does credit to Edgar Rice Burroughs' creativity, but even allows director Henry MacRae to satisfy his delightful penchant for fluid tracking shots through some really vast and well-peopled sets.
With one notable exception, the players, though well versed in melodramatic excesses, are capable enough. Miss Kingston is nice to look at too. The one exception, alas, is Frank Merrill whose "acting" varies from a self-preening, smirkingly over-pleased with himself approach to incredibly amateurish scenery chewing. And disappointingly, although Mr Merrill got his start in movies stunting for Elmo Lincoln in The Adventures of Tarzan (1921), here he very noticeably fails to perform many of his own stunts at the start! A few yards of rope climbing, and that's the lot, until suddenly in Chapter Six he starts prancing around on the back of an elephant!
Also disappointing are the very tame chapter endings, such as a very brief skirmish in long shot between a tame lion and Merrill's double; a fall of dust and obvious papier mache rocks on to Merrill's shoulder; Miss Kingston picked up by an "ape"; a spear (which has no chance of success) aimed at Merrill's heart; and a sudden fade-out just as a promising action scene is about to start.
All the same, the chapters themselves are full of incident and move fast enough. Chapter Five in which Al Ferguson does most of the stunting is especially action-packed. Chapter Six is also notable for a choice slave market scene in director MacRae tracks his camera backwards through an enormous outdoor seta shot which he obviously enjoyed making so much that he repeats it with different players at the beginning of Chapter Seven.
Of the quartet of villains, Kithnou is by far the most effective. She has great presence, and we love her abbreviated costume. It's a shame she disappears from the action for such a long stretch. In fact we have just about given up hope when she suddenly rejoins us (bare navel and all) in a brief flashback in Chapter Eight.
The least interesting of the heavies, Sheldon Lewis, is also the hammiest. He takes advantage of facial close-ups to provide a feast of really melodramatic grimacing, but fortunately he's written out of the action at an early stage. It's left to Al Ferguson to play the incorrigibly bad egg, which he does with a certain amount of flair and even style, until forced to play second fiddle to Clive Morgan.
Chapter Nine is the economy episode with a generous helping of Chapter One to refresh ailing memories of Merrill and Kingston divested of their Tarzan and Jane outfits and actually dressed to the nines. (Merrill's Tarzan get-up is distinctly odd and off-putting).
Chapter Eleven, would you believe, actually has a genuine cliff-hanger finale in which Lady Jane falls into a crocodile-infested river and of course is rescued by Tarzan in Chapter Twelve. Is this the first time Tarzan fights a croc, I wonder? Anyway, Merrill disposes of the rubber giant just as convincingly as Johnny Weismuller.
Twelve has a real cliff-hanger too, but neither that or the croc tussle are its main claim to fame. At this late stage, the fourth villain, played by Clive Morgan, finally makes a belated entrance.
Loss of memory has always been a standard ingredient in movie serials. Usually, however, it's a key subsidiary character who suffers this loss. It's most unusual for the main player to wander through the action for 12 episodes not knowing who he is, let alone revert to a simpleton status. To my mind, this constant display of idiocy, allied with Merrill's atrociously hammy performance, considerably dispels our interest in the hero. Fortunately, part of the slack is taken up by the lovely Natalie Kingston, but all the same