Scarecrow-88 A plane carrying a wealthy couple and their baby crashlands in the African jungle; everyone except the baby dies. Monkeys take the child up in a tree; Tarzan and Jane will raise it as their own. Greedy relatives of the dead father come looking for survivors as to determine if they will receive the deceased's fortune (if there are no survivors, they get the fortune). Realizing that they could use the boy to line their pockets by claiming him as legal guardians, Mr. and Mrs. Lancing (Ian Hunter and Frieda Inescort) concoct a scheme with cousin Sande (Henry Wilcoxon) finding opposition with their uncle, Sir Thomas Lancing (a delightful Henry Stephenson). Thomas is held captive by his relatives as to keep his mouth shut, as the other Lancings work on the emotions of Jane (Maureen O'Sullivan; who was to leave the Tarzan series after this film) who does contemplate the safety (she thinks because Jane does not know that the Lancings are such monsters) of Boy (Johnny Sheffield), five years old and always evading crocodiles, rhinos, and lions (Boy even gets caught in a spider web with giant spiders crawling towards him). Will the Lancings force Jane to let go of her *son* and lead them down the path to home? After three amazing Tarzan movies, I knew that the momentum would eventually have to subside, if even a little. This movie repeated similar scenes from the previous films, which, to be honest, at this juncture was starting to tire me. The natives of "Tarzan and His Mate", the hunters that kill and eat lions, are given a name, the Zambeles, and they are the tribe that pose a threat to Jane and other whites who find themselves in the wrong neck of the woods. Yep, that elephant stampede, with Tarzan as the leader, is used as a rescue device yet again, this time losing a bit of its luster because there was this feeling of "been there, done that", although it was neat seeing Boy riding a small elephant, accompanying the rampaging herd. Boy gets to head after Tarzan instead of Cheetah, the orangutan, which was a change of pace and rather heroic considering the danger that awaits him such as a lion chasing after him up a tree. The more suspenseful scenes come from Boy getting himself into perilous situations like walking into the aforementioned spider web, nearly riding a large lily pad into a waterfall, and almost suffering the crush of a rumbling rhino. These scenes are important to establish the terror that is omnipresent regarding life in the jungle, and we know they play a major factor in Jane's decision to possibly hand the kid over to the Lancings. Like in previous Tarzan films, a secondary character, who develops a plan to ruin the greedy white villains' goal of securing wealth through nefarious means, is shot for attempting such heroism, and not long after this, those involved in such a crime run smack dab into a heathen tribe, their lives potentially suffering a karmic backlash. This film includes a nifty rescue for Tarzan who is left by Jane in a giant hole containing a small river, with Boy and Cheetah leading elephants to push over a tree that would help our hero climb out so he could, in turn, save Jane and company from the Zambele tribe. I do think the scene where Jane is speared seems "off", as if her intended fate seemed more realistic than what was eventually filmed when Tarzan reaches her, but I understand the logic of the studio in changing the result. I do want to see Maureen O'Sullivan again, even if this particular film doesn't quite give her as meatier a role as in past Tarzan films.

Neil Doyle When a young couple (MORTON LOWRY and LARAINE DAY) are killed in a plane crash over the jungle, only their infant son survives. Cheetah rescues the baby from the plane and brings it to the jungle hideout of Tarzan and Jane (JOHNNY WEISSMULLER and MAUREEN O'SULLIVAN). Sullivan decides the boy's name will be simply "Boy" because that's what Tarzan wants.So begins this formulaic fourth in the series from MGM, given a bigger budget than usual but still lacking Technicolor for all of the great location photography and underwater scenes. It's good looking in B&W thanks to the glossy MGM photography and Richard Thorpe manages to keep things moving busily enough despite his reputation for being a slow paced director.A search party looking for the boy is headed by HENRY STEPHENSON, HENRY WILCOXON, IAN HUNTER and FRIEDA INESCORT, their mission being to find the boy and profit from his having inherited quite a bit of wealth. It's up to Tarzan and Jane to decide whether to hand over the boy or not. Things get a bit complicated from that point on, but the predictable happy ending is never too far out of sight--even though it was changed to have Maureen O'Sullivan survive her wounds when the original ending met with a platoon of negative protests. And incidentally, she looks lovelier than ever.It's a well-produced jungle film with all the familiar ingredients tacked together neatly enough to please Tarzan's fans. The water sport playfulness between father and son is nicely filmed in a series of underwater segments.Only drawback: Boy's laughter seems artificial and forced every time he thinks a situation is hilariously funny.

MartinHafer This is the fourth MGM Tarzan film starring Johnny Weismuller and Maureen O'Sullivan. The film begins with a plane crashing in Africa. All but a boy die in the crash and the child is rescued--much like Tarzan was saved years ago. The boy is taken to Tarzan and Jane's jungle condo and they adopt the child.Five years have passed and the family is deliriously happy. However, their idyllic family life is disrupted when a search party arrives. They are relatives of the boy and indicate he is the heir to the Greystoke fortune*--and want to take him back to England to claim his inheritance. But what this jungle family does not know is that all but nice Henry Stephenson from this rescue party are jerks and they plan on using the child to claim the fortune and then dispose of him! Tarzan isn't sure of their plan--he just wants to keep Boy, as he loves him like his very own son. But Jane is tricked into believing that sending the boy with these people is in his best interest, so she tricks Tarzan and helps the group escape with Boy. Only then does she learn that they are a bunch of wicked jerks--and by then it appears too late. Can Tarzan somehow escape and rescue his family or are they fated to be killed? Tune in and see.This is another well-made Tarzan film from MGM--and not to be confused with the many, many badly made Tarzan films made by lesser production companies. While it's not nearly as good as the earlier Tarzan films, it still is quite entertaining and well-acted.By the way, unlike the early films in this series, the studio appeared to real African elephants in some scenes. Training this variety of pachyderm was much tougher than the Asian elephants used previously but it did make the film look more accurate. So how did they manage to do it? Well, they were Asian ones fitted with prosthetic ears! While they did this also in "Tarzan and His Mate", it looked really bad. Here, however, it's harder to recognize the clever deception. Too bad they still used a few guys in ape costumes here and there! Otherwise, a very good production. And, if it seems a bit familiar, the plot for this film was awfully similar to the earlier Weissmuller film "Tarzan Escapes".By the way, was it just me or did Boy seem a bit stupid?! It seemed like every five minutes the kid was nearly getting himself killed! In one scene he messes with a rhino and with another he nearly gets swept down a waterfall. But, like Kenny, the kid seems to somehow survive.*This is a weird plot element, as in the original Edgar Rice Burroughs story, it was Tarzan himself that was the heir to this Greystoke fortune. Why this was changed in this film is odd. Perhaps this would make Boy one of Tarzan's close biological relatives.

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.