(1929) Complete 15 Chapter Serial, color tinted
Frank Merrill, Natalie Kingston
Filmed as a silent, a music track and synchronized sound effects were added to this serial, making this technically the first "sound" Tarzan film (unless you count the re-release of ADVENTURES OF TARZAN, which was also released the second time around with synch sound effects). Although no other spoken dialogue is present, the audio track contains the very first Tarzan yell, invented by star Frank Merrill, a 36-year-old gymnastics champion and stunt man (he had performed some difficult stunts for Elmo Lincoln earlier in ADVENTURES OF TARZAN). Merrill's outfit in this serial is a bit hokey, but he himself is undoubtedly the most physically fit actor to have played Tarzan in the silent era. The plot here is from Edgar Rice Burroughs' TARZAN AND THE JEWELS OF OPAR, and contains a love triangle arc similar to the one in FLASH GORDON, as Tarzan loses his memory for a while and can't decide whether he wants the good girl (Jane) or the bad one (Queen La of Opar). Natalie Kingston, 24, as 'Lady Jane', Tarzan's wife, would don a costume very similar to the one Maureen O'Sullivan wore starting with TARZAN ESCAPES through the remainder of her MGM films, and Kingston performs a breast-baring swim here. five years before the famous TARZAN AND HIS MATE nude underwater romp.
Two DVD set; List price $29.95; Squadron Member Price $19.95