Tashtago I thought I wouldn't like this because of the New York setting but half the movie still takes place in the jungle. Plus the New York scenes are sensational. Cheta has some hilarious moments in a hotel room and steals every scene she's in. The spectacular dive from the Brooklyn Bridge is masterfully filmed and the cast are great as always. One of my favourite supporting actors Charles Bickford (R.F. from Singin in the Rain) makes an excellent villain with a pronounced sense of menace I'd never seen in him before. Tarzan is still Tarzan and is given an excellent comic moment in the hotel shower. Maureen O'Sullivan remains the most beautiful,sexy, and intelligent Jane ever. A big winner in my books and possibly in the top 3 of the classic Tarzan movies.

MartinHafer This is yet another exceptional MGM Tarzan film. Their series with Johnny Weissmuller, Maureen O'Sullivan and Johnny Sheffield really stands above the many other Tarzan films made over the years--mostly because they were so well made and fun.In this installment, yet another group of greedy white folks make a mess of Tarzan and the family's idyllic life. When a plane lands nearby, the owner of a circus is impressed with Boy's natural talents with animals. So he does what anyone would do in this situation--kidnaps the boy and tries to murder his parents. When Tarzan and Jane are saved by Cheeta, they awaken and realize Boy is gone so they head to New York to find Boy and bring him back--a very odd case of a fish out of water sort of plot.I liked this, as so many Tarzan films are similar--here the change of locale breathes some nice life into the action. I also appreciated how MGM provided some very accomplished supporting actors--as Charles Bickford, Chill Wills and Paul Stewart really helped with their fine acting. Overall, a welcome addition to the series.

lugonian TARZAN'S NEW YORK ADVENTURE (MGM, 1942), directed by Richard Thorpe, the sixth installment in the popular series, includes more finals than firsts. For starters, it's the first since the series began to distribute the next installment less than a year following the previous film, instead of the standard two to three years; but most important, this is the first to provide Tarzan, Jane and Boy outside their native soil into new territory (not overlooking that Jane originated from England); and the first to present the jungle family full clothing attire. As for the finale, this was the last Tarzan adventure for MGM starring Johnny Weissmuller, the last with Maureen O'Sullivan playing Jane, the last with the traditional jungle underscoring played during the opening credits superimposed over the map of Africa, and the last produced on a higher budget scale. While MGM canceled the series, this didn't mark the end of Edgar Rice Burrough's jungle hero nor of Johnny Weissmuller. Even if this were the final Tarzan movie made, this would have been a fine conclusion. However, the series resumed over at the RKO Radio studios where Tarzan and Boy (Johnny Sheffield) continued to perform their usual tasks dealing with great tales of action and adventure with Brenda Joyce making her debut as Jane in TARZAN AND THE AMAZONS (1945).For its 71 minutes, the shortest in the MGM series, in spite of its hokeyness and trite dialog (some of it spoken by Paul Kelly), and evidence of severe cuts in order to quicken the pace, the movie does have enough ingredients to assure entertainment, especially for children. It starts off with the jungle family doing their morning swim, followed by an airplane (called "Iron Bird" by Tarzan), piloted by Jimmie Shields (Paul Kelly) along with hunters making a landing. After its leader, Buck Rand (Charles Bickford) shoots and kills one of the lions, Tarzan orders the men leave before morning. By the rise of the morning sun, Manchester Mountford (Chill Wills), one of the hunters, faces some danger with a lion, and it is Boy who comes to his rescue. Amazed by the way the youngster handles himself with animals, one of the men suggests the boy make a great circus attraction. Afterwards comes a native uprising with flying spears. Tarzan and Jane swing into action but as one of the natives cuts the vine, the couple fall to the ground, leaving them unconscious. They later awaken to find themselves surrounded by blazing fire started by the natives Believing Tarzan and Jane have perished, and finding the natives are heading towards them, the hunters make a hasty departure, taking Boy with them. Having survived the fire and guided to safety by Cheetah, Tarzan and Jane find that Boy was taken away. Upon learning the whereabouts of the hunters, Tarzan and Jane attempt to get their son back following them to New York City. While there it is Jane who take charge of Tarzan, who finds it difficult not only being in "Stone Jungle," but his adjustment in wearing clothes. They track down the hunters and Boy to a circus in Long Island, but have quite a time dealing with authorities and Rand's abductors to get him back.Supporting players include Virginia Grey as Jimmie's girl, Connie Beach, ; Russell Hicks as Judge Abbotson; Cyrus Kendall as Ralph Sargeant. Look for Willie Fung as a tailor trying to measure suits for Tarzan, and Charles Lane as the aggressive attorney who cross examines Jane to a point in having Tarzan grab hold and throw him across the courtroom.TARZAN'S NEW YORK ADVENTURE starts off in familiar territory of Africa, but once it shifts over to New York City does the story really get underway. After Boy's departure, he isn't seen until when the movie is more than half over. The focus here is solely on Tarzan and Jane (Cheetah, too). Aside from Tarzan riding in a taxi, taking a shower with his clothes on and doing his ape call, with Cheetah along for the ride providing comedy relief, the big topper includes the most memorable of all, Tarzan surrounded by police on the Brooklyn Bridge which leaves him no choice but to take a 200 foot dive to the East River as Jane calmly watches amongst the crowd. This scene pales in comparison to Tarzan's swinging on ropes of flagpoles from building to building and hanging on a ledge. In spite of being in foreign territory, Tarzan does keep the tradition going by getting help from the circus elephants leading to a stampede in order to rescue Boy from his abductors.TARZAN'S NEW YORK ADVENTURE, one of the very best in the series, did have frequent revivals on commercial television for many years prior to 1990, followed by more revivals when shown on the American Movie Classics cable channel (1997-2000) and Turner Classic Movies(TCM premiere: Saturday, May 7, 2011). This, along with others in the MGM series, are available either on video cassette or DVD. Next in the series: TARZAN TRIUMPHS (RKO, 1943) (***)

Ben Burgraff (cariart) As MGM knew Maureen O'Sullivan was departing the 'Tarzan' series, and budget and talent constraints were forcing the long-running series out of the studio (RKO would soon be Tarzan's new home), they decided to end things with a bang, clothing Johnny Weissmuller in a double-breasted suit, and setting him loose in New York's concrete jungle. The gamble worked, magnificently!The premise is simple; Boy, thinking Tarzan and Jane are dead, after falling into a raging fire during a tribal attack, is whisked away by an evil circus big game hunter (Charles Bickford) in a chartered plane. (How so many planes land safely in the middle of the jungle in these films is never explained...)Rescued by Cheetah, Tarzan and Jane hike across Africa, dress in more modern attire (a VERY funny scene!), and fly across the Atlantic to try and retrieve their son.The fun begins when the pair reach New York. Tarzan's bemused reaction to a black taxi driver, his takes on radio, indoor plumbing, and nightclubs, are priceless (and were recreated years later in Paul Hogan's wonderful 'Crocodile Dundee'). There are a few slightly offensive racial stereotypes displayed, but considering the period of the film, these are really quite tame.A few nagging questions about the series are addressed in this film...'What happens if Boy gets sick?' and 'How is he being educated?', although the biggest question is never addressed...How does a boy with a British 'mother' and an Ape Man 'father' end up with an American accent?When the courts fail to return Boy (the jungle couple can't prove legal custody), Tarzan takes matters into his own hands, breaking out of the courthouse, and performing an extraordinary series of rooftop swings, leaps and acrobatics to get to the New Jersey home of the circus, climaxing with a breathtaking 100-foot dive off the Brooklyn Bridge. The sequence is still fabulous, over 50 years after the film was released!The film concludes with the almost stereotyped rescue scene, as elephants rescue Tarzan and Boy, yet again! Evil is vanquished, the family is reunited by the court, and the judge is going to catch some really BIG fish when he comes to visit!If you're looking for gritty realism, you won't be popping a Tarzan flick into the VCR, anyway, but if you want thrills, laughs, and wonderful escapism, look no further!