I have a genuine fondness for TARZAN GOES TO India. If you remove the Air India 707 from the opening credits and the early sixties automobiles, it feels like something that Edgar Rice Burroughs would have written, possibly after the Second World War, if declining health hadn't caught with him.
Jock Mahoney gives the legendary ape-man something that the other previous actors had not provided to this part -- a sense of maturity and gravity. Yes, Mahoney is almost too rangy, particularly when compared to his immediate predecessor, the hefty Gordon Scott. But Mahoney makes every scene seem real; with his Midwestern accent sounding neutral, almost international, in tone in keeping with Tarzan's unique origins. The additional kick is knowing that Mahoney does all of his stunts, including an eye-popping dive from an moving airplane into a lake. But his greatest stunt is being able to work with an inexperienced child actor and a four-ton elephant and not get loss in the shuffle. That's charisma!
Yes, the storyline is somewhat juvenile, but there was a definite market in the early Sixties for movies pitched to a pre-teenage audience. Witness such films as CAPTAIN SINBAD, FLIPPER, ZEBRA IN THE KITCHEN, and Disney's output of movies during this time. Robert Harding Andrews does a credible job with the script while John Guillermin provides fast-paced direction although this film lacks the flourishes of his 1959 Tarzan outing, TARZAN'S GREATEST ADVENTURE.
Overall, TARZAN GOES TO India is a pleasant diversion well worth checking out.
Jock Mahoney gives the legendary ape-man something that the other previous actors had not provided to this part -- a sense of maturity and gravity. Yes, Mahoney is almost too rangy, particularly when compared to his immediate predecessor, the hefty Gordon Scott. But Mahoney makes every scene seem real; with his Midwestern accent sounding neutral, almost international, in tone in keeping with Tarzan's unique origins. The additional kick is knowing that Mahoney does all of his stunts, including an eye-popping dive from an moving airplane into a lake. But his greatest stunt is being able to work with an inexperienced child actor and a four-ton elephant and not get loss in the shuffle. That's charisma!
Yes, the storyline is somewhat juvenile, but there was a definite market in the early Sixties for movies pitched to a pre-teenage audience. Witness such films as CAPTAIN SINBAD, FLIPPER, ZEBRA IN THE KITCHEN, and Disney's output of movies during this time. Robert Harding Andrews does a credible job with the script while John Guillermin provides fast-paced direction although this film lacks the flourishes of his 1959 Tarzan outing, TARZAN'S GREATEST ADVENTURE.
Overall, TARZAN GOES TO India is a pleasant diversion well worth checking out.