Tarzan and the Lost Safari (1957)
** 1/2 (out of 4)
If you start from the first MGM/Johnny Weissmuller film and follow the series through its transformation to RKO and with new actors (Lex Barker, Gordon Scott) then this here would be the nineteenth film and it certainly got a face lift. Not only did the producer's send the cast and crew to Africa for real footage but they also shot the film in color and in widescreen (although most prints are the flat version). This time out Tarzan (Scott) comes across five people whose plane has crashed in the jungle. Along with the help from a hunter, Tarzan tries to get the people to safety but it turns out the hunter has a connection to a deadly tribe who scarifies white people to their Gods. TARZAN AND THE LOST SAFARI has a lot of good things in it like the before mentioned new items but in the end it's still a Tarzan movie with many of the same trappings that hurt previous movies. Once again Scott is very good in the film as he certainly didn't have any trouble fitting into the role. He certainly has the physical look but I thought he also handled the dialogue good enough and had a certain charm that really worked. Betta St. John plays a married woman who Tarzan befriends and she too is quite good. The actors have such good chemistry one wishes that they had written her as being single so that the film could have gone in a different direction. There's no doubt that the authentic shooting in Africa really helps the film because it really adds to the atmosphere. I'm all for back lots at studios but at the same time there's no denying that nothing can top the real thing. With really being in Africa we also get some terrific footage of the wildlife, which is a lot better than the stock footage that took up previous films. The print I watched was the flat version so I can't comment on how well the 2.35:1 was handled but what I saw was impressive. With that said, there's no question that the film goes on for way too long and by this time there's no doubt who will live, who will die and I'm pretty sure we all know what will happen to Tarzan. This predictable side certainly hampers the film but there's no question that this is the best the series has offered since the Weissmuller days.
