Review of Tarzan's Hidden Jungle

Gordon Scott made his motion picture debut as the Lord of the Jungle in "Dinner at the Ritz" director Harold D. Schuster's "Tarzan's Hidden Jungle" co-starring Peter Van Eyck, Jack Elam, Don Beddoe, Rex Ingram, and Vera Miles. Basically, this RKO release qualifies as just another Tarzan movie. Scott maintains the tradition of the choppy delivery perpetuated by Johnny Weismuller and carried on my Lex Barker. Tarzan tangles with big game hunters who have a quota in the number of barrels of animal fat, animal skins, and pounds of ivory they can harvest from the senseless slaughter of jungle wildlife. Of course, Tarzan supports the wildlife and meets a beautiful nurse and a dedicated doctor while he clashes with despicable poachers. When the hunters decimate the numbers of animals on one side of the river, they decide to cross the river into the Sukulu country. The obstacle that they face across the river is that the Sukulu tribe protects the animals and treats them with respect. The evil hunters fool the nurse into helping them convince the doctor that they are legitimate photographers who want to make a documentary about his efforts. Vera Miles learns about how dangerous that the jungle can be when she is caught between either sinking into a quicksand pit or being eaten by a python. Predictably, Tarzan saves the day. Not only does he rescue the comely young nurse, but he also saves the good doctor and her from death at the hands of the Sukulu. Scott makes an okay Tarzan and Elam is a dastard. Richard Reeves is around long enough to become a prisoner of the Sukulus. They hurl him into a den of lions and we are treated to a glimpse of a dummy dressed as him fall into the pit. Schuster doesn't wear out his welcome at a trim 72 minutes. "Perils of Nyoka" scenarist William Lively penned the screenplay in this clash of culture epics. Producer Sol Lesser had this adventure lensed in black & white with many obvious studio interiors. Tarzan doesn't live in a tree house. He neither has Jane as his mate or a son as his companion.