Tarzan the Tiger

A 1929 talkie serial based on Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar
Despite what you might have been inclined to believe, the first time movie goers heard the sound of Tarzan's call was not in a Johnny Weismuller film, but in the 1929 production "Tarzan the Tiger," starring Frank Merrill as the Ape Man. This film was released in both a silent and a sound version, with the sound consisting of a musical score, sound effects, and a few lip-synched lines, all played on a record. Thus it was that for the first time Tarzan uttered his famous yell. Okay, this is not the famous yell, but it is the first one.

Despite the title and the oxymoronic idea of tigers in Africa, this serial is actually based on Edgar Rice Burroughs' novel "Tarzan and the Jewel of Opar" and is fairly faithful to both the plot and ERB's depiction of Tarzan as an educated man. The plot has Tarzan's estate being destroyed by the Arabs of Mohammed Bey (Paul Panzer) and Jane (Natalie Kingston) is sold into slavery by a bad guy (Al Ferguson) pretending to a scientist. Unfortunately...

Poor quality transfer hurts o/w excellent serial
The Alpha video release of this serial, Tarzan the Tiger, is a bad transfer from VHS. You can see the flutters, especially if the camera moves. In addition, Alph has put their logo up in the corners of the title cards which is distracting and annoying, especially since anyone wanting to dupe this film has multiple better choices for source material. They ripped it off from someone else, but don't want anyone ripping it off from them, I guess.

Tarzan the Tiger, true to ERB's concept and story
Tarzan the Tiger remains remarkably faithful to the original Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar. Extremely well done and obviously made for more adult tastes than modern tarzan epics.

One of the best tarzans on film.

Click to Editorial Reviews