Tarzan Finds a Son!

1939 "Super Story of a Super Man ! The Titan of all Tarzans . . . Giant of all jungle thrills . . . worth the years it took to make !"
6.5| 1h22m| NR| en| More Info
Released: 16 June 1939 Released
Producted By: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
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Revenue: 0
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Synopsis

A young couple die in a plane crash in the jungle. Their son is found by Tarzan and Jane who name him Boy and raise him as their own. Five years later a search party comes to find the young heir to millions of dollars. Jane agrees, against Tarzan's will, to lead them to civilization.

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Benedito Dias Rodrigues During my early teenage years l used to watch on TV or even at theatre sometimes some Tarzan's movie it were funny but mostly of them silly,because of Johnny Weissmuller's dumb behavior,but put into practice revisiting movies,this one watch carefully surprise me deeply,it's was so well produced,in several places without repeat as usually has been and the restoration process was so great bring brightness in a black & white movie,so the l've changing my vote to a new level!! Resume: First watch: 1976 / How many: 2 / Source: TV-DVD / Rating: 7
Eric Stevenson Well unlike the previous movie, this one actually lived up to its title, which was actually quite unexpected. I thought it would be about Tarzan having a son, but instead it's just about him literally finding one and raising him. The plot's pretty basic, with a family having a plane crash into Tarzan's jungle and him finding their infant whom he and Jane raise. Five years later, people come to take the child back. I will admit that this wasn't as good as the other movies. I think it's because the Tarzan films are starting to become formulaic. This is still by no means a bad movie. There are some really good scenes in this.My favorite is probably when Tarzan and the kid are swimming. It's just a long scene that has no dialogue but is so wonderfully shot. It probably helps that I've lived near the ocean for more than a decade of my life. I just love this imagery and how quaint it is. I think the movie got a bit weak when it did the same thing where the natives were the villains. But honestly, it was still handled pretty well. I especially like the final fight with them. It's not very long, but what it does show is quite entertaining. I guess I was getting a "Swiss Family Robinson" vibe from it. ***
bkoganbing While watching Tarzan Finds A Son today it occurred to me that both this film and Tarzan's New York Adventure were about the same thing, custodial interference. The only difference is in the setting where the question is raised. In this film the issue is decided on Tarzan's home turf in the jungle. And as such he's got a definite home field advantage.The film begins with Morton Lowry, Laraine Day and pilot Gavin Muir going down in a light plane crash in the jungle. The chimpanzees find their infant son who survived and bring him to Tarzan where Johnny Weissmuller and Maureen O'Sullivan raise the boy and name him such.Five years later guide Henry Wilcoxon lead the Lancings, Henry Stephenson, Ian Hunter, and Frieda Inescourt into the jungle looking for a trace of their relatives. That leads O'Sullivan into a conflict with Weissmuller.Much as she loves life with the Lord of the Jungle, O'Sullivan does see certain advantages to civilization that their 'son' now played by young Johnny Sheffield might have. Of course all the relatives motives aren't pure which leads to the inevitable conflict.In the jungle Tarzan who's on a first name basis with every animal can call on both apes and elephants for assistance. That he does in a nice slam bang climax where both simian and pachyderm power are brought to bear.Louis B. Mayer must have always thanked God that the shooting of Trader Horn in Africa left him with so much background jungle footage to use and not too many times over. The footage is well integrated into this story.Tarzan Finds A Son has aged well and remains watchable.
MARIO GAUCI My second Tarzan double-feature slot and the cracks are beginning to show! That said, TARZAN ESCAPES (1936; ***) is much better than online reviews would have you believe: true, there is ample stock footage on display here but it also boasts a strong plot line and cast (featuring Benita Hume, future wife of Ronald Colman and later George Sanders, as well as MGM staple Herbert Mundin and James Whale favorite E.E. Clive, not to mention the villainous John Buckler who comes to a particularly sticky end in this one) to even things out. By now, Weissmuller and O' Sullivan have grown considerably in their respective parts but the influence of the Hays' Office (established while the film was in production, resulting in extensive re-shoots before it could be classified for exhibition!) is also very much in evidence: Tarzan and Jane's behavior (to say nothing of the latter's 'wardrobe') is rather chaste this time around, and even the violence is there mainly by virtue of recycled scenes from the two previous entries in the series!!TARZAN FINDS A SON! (1939; **1/2), though certainly briskly-paced and fairly enjoyable in itself, is where things really start to degenerate and a sense of deja'-vu hangs over the proceedings like a cloud; not that this factor is an isolated case in franchises of this period – consider, for instance, the noticeable leap in quality from the ornate SON OF FRANKENSTEIN (1939) to a strictly programmer-level THE GHOST OF FRANKENSTEIN (1942)… To make matters worse (though, I guess, this can be pinned down to personal opinion), we have here the addition of another jungle 'initiate' in the figure of Boy who emulates Tarzan in his every move, down to that grating yodel! Besides, his getting into endless predictable scrapes throughout, forcing Tarzan's nick-of-time intervention and queuing in further stock footage from the earlier films (now looking pretty rough-hewn alongside the lavish budgets MGM could afford by the end of the decade!), does the picture no favors at all in the story department!! Logic, too, is casually thrown out the window: the film opens with a plane crash-landing (i.e. before reaching its intended destination), yet when a search party is set in motion (5 years after the fact, conveniently allowing Boy to grow up and become attached to the Tarzans!), its members (invariably harboring an agenda of their own) go directly to the supposedly forbidden/secret part of the jungle where the Lord Of The Apes has set up residence…sheesh!! Once again, the familiar cast-list adds to the fun, though it has to be said that Ian Hunter (usually playing the reliable type) makes for an unconvincing villain in this one.