Tarzan's Greatest Adventure (1959)

Interesting facts

Tarzan's Greatest Adventure is a 1959 American Eastmancolor adventure film directed by John Guillermin, produced by Sy Weintraub and Harvey Hayutin, and written by Les Crutchfield, based on the character created by Edgar Rice Burroughs as the twenty-second film of the Tarzan film series that began with 1932's Tarzan the Ape Man. With a strong supporting cast that included Anthony Quayle and Sean Connery, and a focus on action and suspense, the film won critical praise as a Tarzan film that appealed to adults as well as children.

Production

The Tarzan films had been produced by Sol Lesser since Tarzan Triumphs (1943). In April 1958, Lesser sold his company, including the rights to the Tarzan films, to Sy Weintraub for a reported $3.5 million. Gordon Scott had played Tarzan for the four previous films in the series under Lesser: Tarzan's Hidden Jungle (1955), Tarzan and the Lost Safari (1957), Tarzan and the Trappers (1958), and Tarzan's Fight for Life (1958).

In September 1958, Weintraub announced he had signed a two-picture deal with Paramount Pictures to make two Tarzan films. The films would be shot on location and the first one would be called Tarzan's World Adventure. They were still looking for an actor to replace Scott. In October, the producers announced Theodore B. Sillis had signed to direct.

The producer decided to make a different style of film. Tarzan's Greatest Adventure would present a grittier, more realistic Tarzan. A loner who could be as savage as his opponents, but could also speak eloquently and politely to allies. Tarzan would also be made vulnerable and not as invincible as previous incarnations. "Tarzan has grown up," said Scott in 1959.

Filming started 9 February 1959. The film was shot on location in Kenya and at Shepperton Studios in London. Stock safari footage was used to portray wildlife, especially animal attacks. Paramount did a deal with Sol Lesser Productions with a guarantee of $600,000 in turn for the releasing rights; the deal also gave Paramount 50% of the ownership of the negative. The film cost $750,000. Paramount agreed to pay for prints and advertising.

John Guillermin later said "For a short schedule, fairly low-budget picture, the whole affair really got me quite excited." Scott said Sean Connery "was marvelous... He and I had some good giggles, when we got back to Shepperton. They wanted to use him in the next Tarzan, even though he gets killed in this one because he was very good. He said OK. but he had to do this thing for [producers Albert] Broccoli and [Harry] Saltzman — and that was Dr.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.