Tarzan’s Fight for Life ** (1958, Gordon Scott, Eve Brent, Rickie Sorensen) – Classic Movie Review 8065

Director H Bruce Humberstone’s 1958 Tarzan’s Fight for Life is Tarzan movie number three from Gordon Scott as the Ape Man, who this time helps a jungle hospital run by medics Dr Sturdy (Carl Benton Reid) and his daughter Anne (Jil Jarmyn) and annoys the local witch doctor Futa (James Edwards).

Shot by cinematographer William Snyder, it looks pretty in colour (Metrocolor), but there are no big names to help it along. Eve Brent as Jane, Rickie Sorensen as Tarzan’s adopted son Tartu, Jil Jarmyn, Carl Benton Reid, Harry Lauter as Anne’s fiance Dr Ken Warwick, James Edwards and Woody Strode as henchman Ramo help, though. Also in the cast are Nick Stewart as Sturdy’s native assistant Moto and Roy Glenn as the young Nagasu chief.

It also features Cheeta the chimpanzee. It is the second Tarzan film in colour after Tarzan and the Lost Safari (1957) and the last to have the Ape Man talking in broken English till Tarzan, the Ape Man (1981). It was shot in Africa and Hollywood.

Tarzan’s Fight for Life is directed by H Bruce Humberstone, runs 86 minutes, is made by Sol Lesser Productions, is released by MGM, is written by Thomas Hal Phillips, is shot in Metrocolor by William Snyder, is produced by Sol Lesser and is scored by Ernest Gold.

It was released in July 1958 to mark the 40th anniversary of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ first Tarzan book and is the last Tarzan film made by producer Sol Lesser, who then retired and passed the franchise on to Sy Weintraub. The films were profitable, obviously, this one taking $720,000 in the US and Canada and $1,325,000 elsewhere, making a profit of $348,000.

It follows Tarzan’s Hidden Jungle (1955) and Tarzan and the Lost Safari (1957).

It is followed by Tarzan’s Greatest Adventure (1959) and Tarzan, the Ape Man (1959).

The stars reprised their roles in a 1960 failed attempt at a TV series. Three half-hour episodes were filmed but no TV network picked up the show, so MGM spliced the episodes together as the TV movie Tarzan and the Trappers, released to TV in 1966.

Eve Brent (1929–2011).

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8065

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