davjazzer Johnny Weissmuller's physique was incredible in this film. The 41 year old Weissmuller had trained and worked out his body to it's best since the MGM days. His pecs are huge and his abs nicely cut and defined. RKO obviously noticed as they cut his loincloth down to it's scimpiest in years. Johnny's newfound athletic prowess found him getting into more physical scenes such as wrestling Tongolo, fighting the leopard men and being heavily scarred by their claws and being tied to a post with his awesome body on display to the luscious Lea (Acquanetta). Equally lovely is Brenda Joyce as Jane. The scene where Lea confronts Tarzan with her claw is very erotic and chilling. Tarzan has never faced such evil torture before in a film. Johnny is up for the challenge,however with his spectacular torso. Easily the best of the RKO Tarzans.

Richard Burin Tarzan and the Leopard Woman (Kurt Neumann, 1946) - This is a touch better than Amazons, with plenty of action (quite well done) and a lively performance by Weissmuller, who'd looked a bit out of sorts in the previous entry. The plot, by now following a path through the jungle wilds so well-trodden it resembles a motorway, sees the Ape Man battling a weird cult with silly leopard costumes that's really into robbery and human sacrifice. Considering the movies were aimed at kids, their marketing is curiously sexualised, with the poster art invariably flagging up the boobs of whichever minor character was most well-endowed. Here it's Acquanetta, who gets shared billing. Her leopard bikini is at least a bit better thought-out than those ridiculous capes the other cult members are wearing.I rather enjoyed the film, particularly its adherence to near wall-to-wall action, but it provides quite a bit of unintentional hilarity. That comes partly from its incredibly low opinion of natives (who are all duplicitous, hateful savages) and partly from the barely-choreographed dance the leopard men do around the fire. They look like drunk clubbers wearing their wives' coats. One interesting element of the film is "half-native" Edgar Barrier, a Western-educated cultist who denounces the decadence of the imperialists and leads the fight against them. All the RKO series regulars return here: Brenda Joyce is still somewhat one-note as Jane, Boy is entering puberty (giving him an all-new voice and face) and Cheeta hogs the limelight once more. I'm going to be an old cynic and suggest that it's not really him playing that music on the trumpet, though.

MartinHafer Johnny Weissmuller made a name for himself as Tarzan at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studio. However, and I am not sure why, Weissmuller and 'Boy' (Johnny Sheffield) jumped from this prestige studio to the less than stellar RKO--where the budgets shrank considerably as did the quality. The scripts got a lot more weird and the films became chock full of poorly integrated stock footage and animals that often weren't even African. Additionally, 'Jane' (Maureen O'Sullivan) remained at MGM and a new leading lady needed to be found. After having the character be 'off on vacation in England' or 'helping with the war effort' in a couple films, RKO decided to re-cast this character with Brenda Joyce--who bore little similarity to O'Sullivan.This film about a silly cult of the Leopard. Its followers don't want civilization to encroach on their part of the jungle and so they kill people in caravans who cross nearby. But to hide that people are responsible, they make it look like leopards did this. Now here is the funny part--these guys dress up like these big cats--complete with metal claws and silly leopard costumes. It's even sillier when they dance about back at their lair--as if it was choreographed by a monkey! Early on Tarzan tells everyone that it is NOT leopards that have been doing the killing. Despite this King of the Jungle ALWAYS being right in the past, he is quickly ignored and the idiots in charge just go out and shoot a lot of poor old leopards. Eventually, this leads to more attacks--including one where four hot school teachers are kidnapped. When they kidnap Tarzan, who's to save him?! Tune in and see the surprising answer (hint: it is neither Jane nor Boy).This is fun to watch (Cheeta is in rare form) but ultimately a pretty dumb outing for the series. While not nearly as lame as "Tarzan and the Mermaid" (by far the worst of the Weissmuller films for RKO), its plot is so silly that it can never be taken very seriously. Worth seeing for fans of the series, but if you are a novice to them DON'T start with this one--you'll assume the others are all equally silly--which they aren't.By the way, in the summary I say that this film signals that the series had 'jumped the shark'. In other words, it arrives AFTER the series has gone into serious decline and the writers are trying desperately to find some way to convince viewers to watch (such as the Leopard angle). Likewise, by this film RKO completely gave up on having extras that looked African in any way. There are no black extras and the leopard cult look as if they are from Central America. In fact, in the final film of this series just a couple years later, the movie was filmed in Mexico--with lots of Mexicans and even Aztec sets!!

arthazzard This is my favorite Tarzan film.There is more action and exotica than most of the RKO films contained.Johnny Weissmuller looked super in the film,He had dieted and toned up.His pecs are huge and his chest cavity has great definition.He also works real hard in this adventure having a nasty fight with the leopard men and facing torture from Lea.Brenda Joyce as Jane was a beautiful girl with a gorgeous figure.She worked very well with the two Johnnys.Young Johnny had also acquired a nice athletic build and has a fight with Kimba,the leopard woman's brother.Acquanetta as Lea had to be one of the sexiest actresses of the time-not only is she voluptuous but has a very sensual walk.As gl 259 noted-the scene where Lea prepares to scar Tarzan's chest with her claw is exremely chilling and erotic.Never fear,however,Tarzan-with Cheta's help defeats Lea and her evil tribe.All in all a top-notch Tarzan with plenty of action.glamour and excitement.