recommended

One of the worst movies I've ever seen

It is not only a funny movie, but it allows a great amount of joy for anyone who watches it.

Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

If it weren't for this little voice that keeps telling me that I am exaggerating, I would give 8 or 9 stars to Lex Barker's second Tarzan film. The truth is that I did not look at my watch in any occasion, and I watched the movie in delight from start to finish. Again RKO added more punch in production values, with top professionals in all key departments; Barker took off the slippers worn in his first incursion in Burroughs' territory, and all the women in the cast are beautiful -although Denise Darcel makes herself a bit ugly, playing her role of Lola as if she were in a vulgar sex comedy, looking out of place in a Tarzan movie. The story (as lineal and easy as usual) is a bit intriguing: when an Egyptian-looking kingdom in the African jungle (or so it seems...) is being affected by a strange disease, Tarzan guides a doctor with a serum to the capital, without knowing that the crown prince has ordered his henchmen to kidnap women from nearby tribes, among whom there is Tarzan's mate, Jane Parker. What Tarzan does is a lot of fun, leading to a satisfactory resolution. As in the first Barker entry, Cheetah steals every scene he is in.

Actually, the second Lex Barker outing as Edgar Rice Burroughs' Lord of the Apes should have been called "Tarzan and the Slave Girls" rather than "Tarzan and the Slave Girl." Of course, the action unfolds in darkest Africa and it has a largely incidental quality. Tarzan and Jane are riding an elephant through the jungle with Cheetah following close behind them on a smaller elephant. They enter the land of the Nagasi , natives that Tarzan is friendly with just as some intruders abduct one of the village girls out picking fruit. The villains are the Lionians and they are led by Sengo (Anthony Caruso) and capturing one village maiden is not enough for them so they try to snatch Jane as a prize. Predictably, Tarzan thwarts them. Along the way our heroes discover that the Lionians are afflicted with some deadly disease. Tarzan has to fetch a doctor to save the day. Barker makes a hard charging Tarzan and "Superman and the Mole People" director Lee Sholem likes to show Barker scrambling through the foliage like a linebacker on the prowl. Indeed, Sholem prefers to have Barker run toward the camera and leap over it and uses this set-up on several occasions. Fans of the NBC-TV show "The A-Team" may remember how all kinds of vehicles used to drive over the camera. Well, Sholem constantly has Tarzan jumping over the camera running toward it or leaping over it from a reverse angle. Clocking in at 79 minutes, "Tarzan and the Slave-Girl" follows the Ape man as he plunges into the jungle and follows the Lionians to their stomping grounds. Along the way, Tarzan and company encounter some creepy natives that used poisonous blow darts and disguise themselves like the bush around them. Anthony Caruso is the chief villain and all his efforts are aimed at usurping the High Priest so he can take over. This "Tarzan" outing has future sex-pot Denise Darcel as a native girl who wants to make out with Tarzan. At one point, Darcel tangles with Tarzan's mate Jane (Vanessa Brown in a two-piece outfit) over Tarzan. The feverish action, Barker's straightforward but muscular performance and a solid supporting cast bolsters this predictable fare. Yes, Tarzan belts out his signature yell at the end when he gets trapped in a tomb and he needs an elephant to knock the walls down. Cheetah has a couple of good scenes. One of them has the chimp guzzling liquor while in the second one he is knocking out Lionian guards during the finale.

TARZAN AND THE SLAVE GIRL (RKO Radio, 1950) directed by Lee Sholem, returns Lex Barker to the role made famous by Johnny Weissmuller in years past. After a promising start with TARZAN'S MAGIC FOUNTAIN (1949) that introduced Barker as Lord of the Jungle, along with acquiring Weissmuller's very own blonde Jane (Brenda Joyce) in the process, this second edition finds Barker as well as the series going through another period of adjustment, not so much for the stories or character development, but in selecting the right actress to play Tarzan's mate. Although another blonde in the physical resemblance to Brenda Joyce might have helped fit the bill, a darker red-headed type of Vanessa Brown, in two piece attire, in the physical manner of Maureen O'Sullivan's interpretation back in the MGM days (1932-1942). Regardless, Brown is no threat to either O'Sullivan or Joyce.Scripted by Hans Jacoby and Arnold Belgard, the writers keep the story going by inventing new tribes and situations for the jungle man to encounter. As Tarzan (Lex Barker) and Jane (Vanessa Brown), accompanied by Cheta and companion, riding down the path on their elephants, their peaceful venture is interrupted by the scream and abduction of one of the tribal Nagasi girls gathered together by the pond. The kidnappers are revealed to be warriors of the Lionian tribe who've been abducting girls throughout the surrounding area. With a deadly disease found among the Nagasi's that could spread and kill within a few hours, Tarzan comes to the village seeking help from Doctor Campbell (Arthur Shields), who happens to carry a special serum that can both vaccinate and cure those infected. Campbell is assisted by Lola (Denise Darcel), a temperamental half-breed nurse with flirtatious intentions on Neil (Robert Alda), a drunken big game hunter. She soon takes an interest in Tarzan, causing Jane to become jealous. As Tarzan, Campbell and others head for the Nagasi village with the serum, Jane and Lola remain behind in the tree house where they are soon taken by the Lionians as their latest slave girl victims. After Lola is whipped brutally for refusing the Prince's (Hurd Hatfield) advances, she and Jane soon break away from their captures. As Tarzan and the safari have their own troubles avoiding poisoned darts from attacking natives, and misplacing the bottled serum in the process, Jane and Lola, discovered hiding in the dead king's mausoleum, become trapped inside as the evil Sengo (Anthony Caruso) gives orders to have the tomb sealed, leaving the girls to be buried alive.As the Tarzan formula proved popular enough to resume a new film annually, the story used for TARZAN AND THE SLAVE GIRL, which plays like a chaptered serial or Saturday matinée, is satisfactory enough to hold interest for 74 minutes. What bogs it down is the bad acting by Vanessa Brown. After being accustomed by Brenda Joyce's interpretation, Brown's performance pales in comparison. It's even hard to interpret during the crowd scenes whether she's one of the slave girls or Jane. There's nothing about her Jane that stands out. The only redeeming quality is the blonde Denise Darcel, whose mannerism and voice comes as an instant reminder to Mexican actress Lupe Velez from the "Mexican Spitfire" film series (1939-1943) for RKO Radio. Sporting a revealing sarong, she gets her chance to shine with her hair pulling fighting match with Jane. Guess who wins? Robert Alda, who, a few short years ago played the lead as George Gershwin in RHAPSODY IN BLUE (Warner Brothers, 1945), is sadly wasted as the booze-drinking hunter. His scenes are as limited as Hurd Hatfield, best known for his title role in THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY (MGM, 1945). Anthony Caruso as the prince's wicked adviser comes off well, but not enough to rise the script to a different level. Amusements revolving around Cheta, one where she gets drunk, are thrown in for good measure. Robert Warwick as the High Priest and Tito Renaldo playing the chief's son also round up the supporting cast.As for its title, it's hard determining which slave girl is actually the key factor, considering how Tarzan spends much of his time with the safari and Jane rather than with any sole slave girl. Maybe this should have been retitled TARZAN AND THE SLAVE GIRLS, indicating they are the ones he's set out to rescue, but by using that could indicate Tarzan is now husband with harem girls.Formerly presented on Tarzan festivals on Cable TV's American Movie Classics (1998-2000), TARZAN AND THE SLAVE GIRL, available on DVD from Turner Home Entertainment, has turned up on Turner Classic Movies where it premiered as part of its weekly "Tarzan" lineup on July 9, 2011. Lex Barker returns for the next installment in TARZAN'S PERIL (1951), but without Vanessa Brown playing Jane. (**)

In Tarzan And The Slave Girl, Tarzan discovers yet another ancient civilization lost in the jungle, this one looks like some ancient Egyptians got lost in the jungle and took to worshiping lions. In one of the RKO Johnny Weissmuller Tarzan he was dealing with a group that worshiped leopards. The plots were getting sillier and sillier.In this one however a mysterious disease is killing off these Egyptian types and the answer for these folks who have no modern medicine is bring in women to replenish the population. But among the women they bring are Vanessa Brown playing Jane in this film and Denise Darcel who is nurse to jungle doctor Arthur Shields.Anthony Caruso here is the villain who wants to keep his crowd without knowledge of the outside world as he is planning a palace coup against Prince Hurd Hatfield. He's also got a score to settle with Tarzan who gave him a nasty scar while he was on his Pontipee mission.The Lex Barker films and the Weissmuller films for RKO were the worst of the Tarzan series. King Solomon's Mines and The African Queen would be coming out soon and these adventures done on a studio back lot weren't going to cut it with the movie-going public.Two things Tarzan And The Slave Girl does have going for it. The first is a dandy chick fight between Vanessa and Denise. The fight was a draw, but I'm surprised the two of them got in a face to face profile shot. Denise definitely won the rack contest, in fact I doubt those lost Egyptians saw anything built like her.The second was a neat running jungle fight between Tarzan and the group bringing medicine and looking for the captured women and a tribe that acted as a buffer between the Egyptians and the outside world. This tribe used poison blow gun darts and quite effectively. Very nicely staged.Still this was an Africa that never existed outside Hollywood sound stages.