Tarzan and the Lost Safari


Tarzan and the Lost Safari is a 1957 action adventure film featuring Edgar Rice Burroughs' famous jungle hero Tarzan and starring Gordon Scott, Robert Beatty, Yolande Donlan and Betta St. John. Directed by H. Bruce Humberstone, it was the first Tarzan film released in color, Eastman Color. The nineteenth film of the Tarzan film series that began with 1932's Tarzan the Ape Man and the first produced by MGM since 1942, it was filmed in Nairobi, British East Africa. The character of Jane does not appear in this motion picture. Released April 12, 1957, it was followed by Tarzan and the Trappers in 1958.

Plot

An airplane crashes in the jungle of the Kenya Colony of British East Africa in 1956, stranding passengers Gamage Dean, Diana Penrod, "Doodles" Fletcher, Carl Kraski, and Dick Penrod. Before the plane slides into a gorge the group is rescued by Tarzan, who undertakes to lead them back to civilization.
Diana is kidnapped by warriors from Opar under Chief Ogonooro. The Oparians desire the strangers as sacrifices for their lion god. She is recovered by Tarzan and hunter Tusker Hawkins, whose advances Diana rebuffs. Secretly, however, Hawkins is in league with the Oparians, and plans to sell the castaways to the natives for a fortune in ivory.
Tarzan, rightly suspecting Hawkins' untrustworthiness, exposes his treachery. Now openly in league with the natives, the hunter helps them take the white party captive in Tarzan's absence. The ape man returns to save them before the sacrifice can take place, aided by his chimpanzee ally Cheeta, who sets fire to the native village. He then leads them to the safety of a nearby settlement.
Hawkins meets his fate at the hands of the Oparians, to whom Tarzan has signaled the villain's double-dealing by a creative use of jungle drums.

Cast

Critical reception

A review of the film in Variety reported that "Tarzan takes to authentic jungle backgrounds, and the antics come off entertainingly," that the "combination of African footage lensed in Technicolour and the matching studio-staged sequences adds excellent sight values to go with the standard adventuring," and "Gordon Scott has the physique for the title role and does acceptably by it." The film's review in The New York Times noted Scott's "awesome physique the two women in this story about the survivors of a plane crash in the jungle remain frankly wide-eyed throughout," but that "Tarzan's present keepers have taken the flamboyance out of his character. He takes to the trees only reluctantly and whoops it up with that yodel of his only once or twice."

Novelization

In conjunction with the film, Whitman Publishing Company released a hardbound novelization of the screenplay intended for younger readers. While issued without credit, its authorship is generally attributed to Frank Castle.