THE NEW ADVENTURES OF TARZAN (1935)
12 Chapter Serial
Newly Restored Archive Collection
Label: Film Masters
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: TV-PG
Duration: 255 Minutes 53 Seconds
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Dual-Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: B&W 1080p HD Fullscreen (1.33:1)
Director: Edward Kull
Cast: Herman Brix, Ula Holt, Ashton Dearholt, Frank Baker, Lewis Sargent
Newly restored and including all 12 chapters is 'The New Adventures of Tarzan' (1935). Herman Brix stars as Tarzan (Lord Greystoke), who travels from Africa to Guatemala in search of his friend. Along the way Tarzan meets up with Ula Vale and Major Martling who are searching for 'The Green Goddess' idol, hidden somewhere in the jungles of Guatemala. The team is up against the nefarious Raglan and the many perils of an untamed wilderness!
In 1935, the public was still ape-crazy for the vine-swinging nobleman, and in this 12-part serial 1928 Olympian shot-putter Herman Brix (aka Bruce Bennet, The Alligator People) slips into the loin cloth to portray Tarzan. This time out Tarzan travels from his adopted African home to the jungles of Guatemala to rescue his friend, Lt. d'Arnot, whose plane crashed there, and Tarzan ends up searching for a priceless Guatemalan priceless known as The Green Goddess. The first chapter of this serialized film series is a feature length self-contained (more or less) feature, with the subsequent eleven entries ranging from 15-20 minutes in length. We get some actual jungle locations instead of stage-sets that were used for previous Tarzan entries, Tarzan of the Apes (1918) and Adventures of Tarzan (1921). I'm no Tarzan serial expert and couldn't tell you if these are the complete serials uncut but what we get is over four hours of Brix doing his best ape-man stuff, he's quite an athletic looking guy and better suits the role than Elmo Lincoln in my opinion. There's no Jane this time around, but we do get Ula (Ula Holt), a adventurer/spy - her role can be slightly confusing, apparently there was a lot of rewriting during the filming, and she was the soon-to-be wife of producer Ashton Dearholt, and this is her only credited screen role from what I can tell. Another element I dig is the non-traditional Tarzan call at the start of each film, it's quite different from the earlier Weissmuller incarnation.
Audio/Video: The 12-chapters of The New Adventures of Tarzan serials spread across a single-disc, presented in 1080p HD in the original 1.37:1 fullscreen aspect ratio, most likely using the same masters as what we saw on Film Masters The Tarzan Vault Collection 3-disc Blu-ray set. The sources show quite a few limitations, there in rough shape with obvious wear and tear, scratches, blurring, warping, jutter, and general instability, but all things considered they're quite watchable. Audio comes by way of uncompressed English DTS-HD MA 2.0 dual mono with optional English subtitles. The DTS-HD doesn't give this track much of a bump over the Dolby option, it's a thin and shabby sounding on all three films, and while it's never a chore to discern but it's never quite a a treat, either. But just having these on disc is pretty cool, if you love 1930 adventure serials this is a pretty fun vine-swinging jungle action series.
The single-disc MOD Blu-ray release arrives in a standard keepcase with a single-sided sleeve of artwork featuring the original illustrate poster artwork.
Special Features:
- None
Screenshots from the Films Masters Blu-ray:
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