Despite the title, there are no mermaids in this film. At least, not in the literal sense of mythical creatures, half girl and half fish. The action takes place on the fictitious island of Aquatania where swimming and diving for pearls is part of the local culture, hence the reference to the inhabitants as "mermaids". The islanders are ruled by a greedy European pearl trader, who is posing as the god Balu, aided and abetted by a corrupt high priest. Tarzan and Jane come to the assistance of Mara, a girl who has fled from the island to avoid being forced into marriage with Balu. (Balu? I thought he was the bear in "The Jungle Book"). The film was shot in Mexico, but the island is supposedly just off the coast of Africa. The inhabitants, however, look vaguely Polynesian, doubtless to make it easier to cast white actors in the roles. The culture of racism in forties Hollywood went so deep that African-American actors even found it difficult to get cast in films set in Africa.
This was the last of twelve Tarzan films to star Johnny Weissmuller; he was never the world's greatest actor, but in his earlier Tarzan films he certainly looked the part and brought a certain dignity to the role. By 1948, however, he was starting to look too middle aged to be convincing as the scantily dressed Tarzan, so it is probably as well that this was his last outing in the role. He was to return, however, in a series of adventure films based on the character of Jungle Jim, essentially Tarzan in a safari suit rather than a loincloth. This was also the first Tarzan film since 1939 not to feature Boy, the adopted son of Tarzan and Jane, who is said to be at school in England. (Because the films never make it clear whether Tarzan and Jane are legally married, the Hays Office insisted that Boy had to be their adopted rather than their natural son).
Tarzan has appeared on screen in nearly a hundred films, mostly made in the thirties, forties and fifties. Edgar Rice Burroughs' character was originally a British aristocrat abandoned in the jungle as a baby and raised by a tribe of apes, but these aspects of the story were often omitted from the later films; apart from Tarzan's pet chimpanzee Cheeta, no apes appear here. These films were often shown on television during my childhood and were a favourite of mine.
It is, however, not always a good idea to revisit one's childish enthusiasms in adult life. Some of the Tarzan films still hold up well today, but "Tarzan and the Mermaids" is one of the weirder episodes in the series. It defies belief that the Aquatanians (with the sole exception of Mara, the only religious sceptic in the whole tribe) managed to convince themselves that that feeble "Balu" was actually a god. The film also brings us one of the series' most annoying characters in the form of the singing mailman Benji. Weissmuller, probably knowing that his time in the role was limited, never seems to put much effort into his acting, and Brenda Joyce as Jane always seemed a poor substitute for the lovely Maureen O'Sullivan. Probably the best thing about the film, and one thing that saves it from a lower mark, is Dimitri Tiomkin's musical score, surprisingly complex and powerful for a B-movie. 4/10.
This was the last of twelve Tarzan films to star Johnny Weissmuller; he was never the world's greatest actor, but in his earlier Tarzan films he certainly looked the part and brought a certain dignity to the role. By 1948, however, he was starting to look too middle aged to be convincing as the scantily dressed Tarzan, so it is probably as well that this was his last outing in the role. He was to return, however, in a series of adventure films based on the character of Jungle Jim, essentially Tarzan in a safari suit rather than a loincloth. This was also the first Tarzan film since 1939 not to feature Boy, the adopted son of Tarzan and Jane, who is said to be at school in England. (Because the films never make it clear whether Tarzan and Jane are legally married, the Hays Office insisted that Boy had to be their adopted rather than their natural son).
Tarzan has appeared on screen in nearly a hundred films, mostly made in the thirties, forties and fifties. Edgar Rice Burroughs' character was originally a British aristocrat abandoned in the jungle as a baby and raised by a tribe of apes, but these aspects of the story were often omitted from the later films; apart from Tarzan's pet chimpanzee Cheeta, no apes appear here. These films were often shown on television during my childhood and were a favourite of mine.
It is, however, not always a good idea to revisit one's childish enthusiasms in adult life. Some of the Tarzan films still hold up well today, but "Tarzan and the Mermaids" is one of the weirder episodes in the series. It defies belief that the Aquatanians (with the sole exception of Mara, the only religious sceptic in the whole tribe) managed to convince themselves that that feeble "Balu" was actually a god. The film also brings us one of the series' most annoying characters in the form of the singing mailman Benji. Weissmuller, probably knowing that his time in the role was limited, never seems to put much effort into his acting, and Brenda Joyce as Jane always seemed a poor substitute for the lovely Maureen O'Sullivan. Probably the best thing about the film, and one thing that saves it from a lower mark, is Dimitri Tiomkin's musical score, surprisingly complex and powerful for a B-movie. 4/10.