where did the jungle call go?


I have read time and again that the first Tarzan movie to not have Tarzan issue his famous jungle call (ape call, elephant call, Tarzan call, what-have-you) was Tarzan the Magnificent, starring Gordon Scott. However, I just acquired the 6 RKO Tarzan movies with Johnny Weissmuller and unless I had my fingers in my ears, I didn't hear it in Tarzan and the Amazons and definitly not in Tarzan and the Mermaids. These are about 10 or 12 years prior to Scott. Could all those other people be wrong or am I imagining it? I remember as a kid being thrilled by the call and going around the house imitating it much to my mother's displeasure. Lex Barker was my childhood Tarzan and to this day I am still pissed at him for his weak calls and infrequent use of them compared to the early Weissmuller movies by MGM. Did MGM have a copyright or something on them, because they sure changed when RKO took over? When I was five years old, my parents took me to Boston to see Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis live on stage and one of their guest stars was Lex Barker. Too bad he had such a troubled life with Lana Turner and her daughter that he had to leave America. But he became a big star in Europe, especially Germany. I hope they release his five Tarzan movies, but so far I haven't found any. **** As of March 1, 2007, I just acquired and watched all five of Lex Barker's Tarzan movies. I must admit that I was wrong about his calls being weak, they were just fine! Could have used a few more here and there, but they sounded great. Sorry Lex, I was wrong, but it was more than 40 years since I last saw your films and my memory played tricks on me.

reply

Just finished watching the movie, and nope, no Tarzan call. Definitely disappointing! The MGM Tarzan call was a mix of Weissmuller and MGM movie magic, but Weissmuller was still able to pull it off with the MGM magic. It's a shame they did not use it in this movie.

reply

The JW MGM Tarzan call is far better than the JW RKO Tarzan call.

reply



I've read, somewhere, that MGM had a copyright/patent on the JW 'Tarzan call' and would not let JW use it in the RKO pictures.

That means no Maureen O'Sullivan = no Tarzan call.




reply

No, Weissmuller modified the call for the RKO pictures, so films without Maureen O'Sullivan still used the modified call. However, Tarzan and the Amazons did not use any call for some reason.

reply