One thing that you can more readily see in hindsight is what I’ve been examining most consistently through the course of this series of posts is the shape of a franchise. With Tarzan’s Secret Treasure what RKO seemed to be trying to do was as closely emulate the MGM Tarzan films as they could. What occurred in Tarzan Triumphs is that they were much closer to making it an RKO film. Now, it has been widely reported and agreed upon that RKO, unlike, say MGM and Warners, did not have a signature style in the studio era; so I suppose what I really mean is that they came closer to making it a well-crafted B-Film that had as much if not more fun than MGM packed in and less shimmer.

One shrewd move that RKO made when assuming the mantle of the series was to put off re-introducing a re-cast Jane. Ultimately the new actress playing Jane was put behind the eight ball by the parts written for her. The fact that she was not Maureen O’Hara, or even a reasonable facsimile, also hurt greatly.

So the transition to a more RKO-friendly formulation was as of yet imperfect and would be bettered for the next installment. The quickening pace of production also became even more apparent here as this is one of two releases from 1943. Weissmuller assumed the role from 1932 to 1948 and this was the only year in the whole run when there were two releases in a calendar year.

So, yes, this is the (in)famous installment when Tarzan does do battle with the Nazis. As silly as that can be, as inconsistent as the German and/or English accents, as vaguely as said Nazis are clad; those aren’t the biggest issues. Some of the biggest troubles are the same as they ever are. 10 minutes in, and what has actually happened? They met a new character but no inciting incident really occurs. An “Iron Bird” makes its ominous appearance but they everything is OK for another minute or two.

To this film’s credit, it does accurately portray Tarzan. He more often than not in the series wants to just live and let live. He doesn’t want outsiders in his land and also doesn’t want to fight just because. “Why Tarzan kill Nazis?” In a propaganda era the temptation to have him forget these ideals may prove too large. However, they stood firm. Tarzan only fights when Boy is taken, “Now Tarzan make war.”

Yet, through that consistency there are some odd changes. Namely the instances in the two-film absence of Jane there are some awkward, uncomfortable sequences where Tarzan must ally himself with a woman from another tribe, which is handled fairly platonically, until for reasons unknown, Boy prods Tarzan to swim or engage in other activity that’s fairly flirtatious, especially during the Code. This being the same Boy who’s been raised believing Jane has been his mother. It’s quite odd to say the least.

The film ultimately falls into a sequel trap wherein the writing seems to try to shoehorn in things the audiences like and expect. What do we do now? What do they want it, and how do we give them more of it?

While it is good that here Tarzan does start to have friendly interactions with other tribes, and is not always keeping “unruly savages” in check. An odd habit does develop of casting other caucasian actors, not making any attempt to disguise their ethnicity in make-up and simultaneously giving them no backstory, or even making comment as to why they’re in the jungle. Particularly when Tarzan battles Nazis this is a missed opportunity and more than a bit unfortunate. It’s hard to believe that the next film would be RKO’s zenith but sure enough it was, even after all this.

Last year the character of Tarzan celebrated his 100th year in print. A serialized version of the story first appeared in 1912. A hardcover collection of Tarzan of the Apes first appeared in 1914. Being in the middle of the Tarzan centennial period it’s an opportune time to (re)visit many of the screen renditions of the character.

With this installment of the series there are a few things at play: Most naturally this is yet another incident wherein naiveté brings the outside world in. Now here Boy is fairly young and the mistake is more forgivable and understandable. As the series progresses they’d return to that theme with varying degrees of success. Now, while there is some progression with him (we see him learning to write) the evolution of the nuclear family trilogy is stunted here with the inclusion of Bomba, a young native boy, who doesn’t serve a lot of purpose and ends up disappearing. So the natural progression that occurs in the first three films doesn’t quite happen here either.

The introduction of gold to the landscape and what is says about civilization versus jungle life is a good touch and a natural choice. There were always only going to be so many stories you could tell surrounding the elephant’s graveyard anyway. What ends up plaguing the film is a lot of time divided and Bomba’s inclusion, and his tribe, is only a small part of it; there’s still the time-wasting animal play and a long stasis to start the film off wherein some strange advances in their living quarters are made such as makeshift refrigeration and caviar being eaten.

Perhaps some of the issue, as mentioned prior, was there was a greater rush to release new films now that there was a child included. There was more time between prior installments refining the respective tales.

With regards to the minute touches a few of them work out well. Finally, there is a matte painting of the escarpment introduced to give us a visual reference point, the hostile tribe is a new one. Boy is rescued by party of outsiders which bucks a tend, Tarzan’s call here changes from the one used in the beginning of the series, and Tarzan helps the outsiders out of a sense of gratefulness.

The ratio of decent outsiders is the same as ever and even the good one is quite the annoying caricature only good for the occasional punchline or set-up. There will be some later installments too threadbare to be that great, this one spilts its time to greatly with events of lesser consequence. Sadly, while the trio of Weismuller, O’Sullivan and Sheffield are together they don’t have that great closer and solidification of the family unit anew like the first three films did. And I say that in terms of quality. Tarzan’s New York Adventure plays the part of that capper but has its own failings which I will discuss. Here certain aspects and characters are up and others falter as is par for the course in the long run of these representations. Few ever run on all cylinders but one is coming down the line.