What happens to a film series that loses its way? Even Classic Hollywood could provide some answers to that question, at least judging by Tarzan and the Mermaids, the 1948 adventure film directed by Robert Florey and the last of twelve Tarzan films starring Johnny Weissmuller. Film producer Sol Lesser had all but given up pretending that the plot is set in Africa, so the audience has to be reminded of it through opening narration that gives an outline of the fictional Niagey River, which flows into the sea near the island of Acquatania, where natives worship the ancient god Balu. Varga (played by Fernando Wagner) is a Western trader who exploits those beliefs by impersonating the deity with the help of the corrupt high priest Palanth (played by George Zucco). He collects precious pearls given as sacrifices, but when he demands the beautiful girl Mara (played by Linda Christian) as tribute, she, being in love with the young man Tiko (played by Gustavo Rojo), refuses and escapes to the mainland. There she is spotted by Tarzan (played by Weissmuller) who, together with Jane (played by Brenda Joyce) and the singing postman Benji (played by John Laurenz), volunteers to help her. Palanth, however, sends his followers to snatch Mara back, so Tarzan must go to the island in order to rescue her.
Producer Sol Lesser obviously tried to do something different with Tarzan and the Mermaids, and that included making the entire film in Mexico. This allowed him and director Florey to use the Churubusco studios in Mexico City, local talent and some of the country’s impressive scenery, like the ancient Teotihuacan pyramids that stand for Balu’s temple or the famous La Quebrada cliffs in Acapulco featured in the scene where the “Acqutanians” dive into the sea. Lesser relied mostly on Mexicans for the supporting cast, including the glamorous and exotic Linda Christian (known as the first Bond Girl in the 1954 television version of Casino Royale) in the role of Mara. But the most unusual element is the introduction of Benji, a singing postman who serves as a sort of minor comic relief (replacing the mostly underutilised chimpanzee Cheeta) and acts as a kind of Greek chorus, with musical numbers that comment on the plot. To some viewers his character might be annoying, while others can appreciate what is one of the most surreal moments in the Tarzan series.
Tarzan, the main protagonist, is given a very poor script with a plot that simply goes through the motions; the only continuity with the previous film is a segment that explains the absence of Tarzan’s adopted son, Boy, with his education in England (in reality, the character was written out because the child actor Johnny Sheffield had grown up and later became the star of the Bomba, the Jungle Boy film serial). Weissmuller, despite being in his early 40s, still had an adequate physique, but here, with not a single specimen of dangerous African fauna to be seen, there is little opportunity for action. The fight with an octopus near the end looks like an afterthought.
Tarzan and the Mermaids is barely an hour long and is among the shortest films of the series, clearly showing that Lesser was beginning to run out of ideas. Unlike Weissmuller, who fell in love with Acapulco and later bought a hotel there and was buried there, the relatively expensive and complicated production (which also had the famous composer Dimitri Tiomkin as the author of the music score) was a nightmare for Lesser, who suffered a heart attack. After the premiere, using Weissmuller’s alleged lack of fitness as a pretext, he did not renew his contract and had him replaced with Lex Barker, who would star as Tarzan in five more films. Weissmuller, on the other hand, quickly found a job as the star of the popular Jungle Jim series of films, which would continue for the next decade, but for today’s audience he is still associated with the iconic character whom he played for the last time in Tarzan and the Mermaids.
RATING: 5/10 (++)
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