Tarzan Finds a Son!
Encyclopedia
Tarzan Finds a Son! is a 1939 Tarzan
film based on the character created by Edgar Rice Burroughs
. It was the fourth in the MGM Tarzan series to feature Johnny Weissmuller
as the "King of the Apes".
carrying a young couple and their baby, crashes in the jungle. Everyone on the plane dies, except for the baby who is rescued by Cheeta
, Tarzan's chimpanzee
. Tarzan and Jane adopt the child and name him "Boy". Five years later, a search party comes looking for Boy, because he is the heir to a fortune worth millions. Jane tries to help the search party to get Boy back to civilization, against Tarzan's wishes, but in the end Boy stays with Tarzan and Jane in the jungle.
feeling there was little more mileage in the series. Independent producer Sol Lesser obtained the rights to make five Tarzan movies, but the first of these, Tarzan's Revenge
, proved to be a flop. The blame was placed on audiences unwilling to accept Glenn Morris
in the role made famous by Johnny Weissmuller. (Lesser had been unable to obtain Weissmuller's services as he remained under contract at MGM.) Ironically, this opened MGM's eyes to the continuing power of Weissmuller as Tarzan and they bought out Lesser's interest in the next three films, and restarted their series.
The film was originally to be called Tarzan in Exile. As it featured the jungle couple acquiring an infant, it was changed to Tarzan Finds a Son to appease morality groups, as Tarzan and Jane were not actually married in the films. This was intended to be Maureen O'Sullivan
's last appearance as Jane in the series, with her character being killed off by a spear wound. Maureen O'Sullivan was sick and fed up with the whole Jane role, and Boy was brought in originally to be a Jane substitute. The preview reaction to her death scene proved too negative and it was changed at the last minute. Johnny Sheffield
who played Boy, claims that Weissmuller handpicked him himself and taught him to swim as well.
Since Tarzan and Jane had no son in 1936 (the date of their previous film) and since the bulk of this plot occurs five years after Boy is found, the date for this film is either 1941 or 1944. Both of these dates conflict with incidents in subsequent films that occurred during World War II
. Boy in this film was the heir to the Greystoke fortune. In the original Burroughs books Tarzan himself was Lord Greystoke
.
Tarzan
Tarzan is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungles by the Mangani "great apes"; he later experiences civilization only to largely reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adventurer...
film based on the character created by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Edgar Rice Burroughs
Edgar Rice Burroughs was an American author, best known for his creation of the jungle hero Tarzan and the heroic Mars adventurer John Carter, although he produced works in many genres.-Biography:...
. It was the fourth in the MGM Tarzan series to feature Johnny Weissmuller
Johnny Weissmuller
Johnny Weissmuller was an Austro-Hungarian-born American swimmer and actor best known for playing Tarzan in movies. Weissmuller was one of the world's best swimmers in the 1920s, winning five Olympic gold medals and one bronze medal. He won fifty-two US National Championships and set sixty-seven...
as the "King of the Apes".
Plot
A plane flying to Cape TownCape Town
Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
carrying a young couple and their baby, crashes in the jungle. Everyone on the plane dies, except for the baby who is rescued by Cheeta
Cheeta
Cheeta is a chimpanzee character appearing in numerous Hollywood Tarzan movies of the 1930s–1960s as well as the 1966–1968 television series, as the ape sidekick of the title character, Tarzan...
, Tarzan's chimpanzee
Chimpanzee
Chimpanzee, sometimes colloquially chimp, is the common name for the two extant species of ape in the genus Pan. The Congo River forms the boundary between the native habitat of the two species:...
. Tarzan and Jane adopt the child and name him "Boy". Five years later, a search party comes looking for Boy, because he is the heir to a fortune worth millions. Jane tries to help the search party to get Boy back to civilization, against Tarzan's wishes, but in the end Boy stays with Tarzan and Jane in the jungle.
Cast
- Johnny WeissmullerJohnny WeissmullerJohnny Weissmuller was an Austro-Hungarian-born American swimmer and actor best known for playing Tarzan in movies. Weissmuller was one of the world's best swimmers in the 1920s, winning five Olympic gold medals and one bronze medal. He won fifty-two US National Championships and set sixty-seven...
as Tarzan - Maureen O'SullivanMaureen O'SullivanMaureen Paula O’Sullivan was an Irish actress.-Early life:O'Sullivan was born in Boyle, County Roscommon, Ireland, the daughter of Roman Catholic parents Mary Lovatt and Charles Joseph O'Sullivan, an officer in The Connaught Rangers who served in The Great War...
as Jane Parker - Johnny SheffieldJohnny SheffieldJohnny Sheffield was an American child actor.-Early life:He was born as John Matthew Sheffield Cassan in Pasadena, California, the second child of actor Reginald Sheffield and Louise Van Loon...
as Boy - Ian HunterIan Hunter (actor)Ian Hunter was a British character actor.Among dozens of film roles, his best-remembered appearances include That Certain Woman with Bette Davis, The Adventures of Robin Hood , The Little Princess and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde...
as Mr. Austin Lancing - Henry StephensonHenry StephensonHenry Stephenson , sometimes credited as Harry Stephenson, was a British character actor....
as Sir Thomas Lancing - Frieda InescortFrieda InescortFrieda Inescort was a Scottish-born actress best known for creating the role of Sorel Bliss in Noel Coward's play Hay Fever....
as Mrs. Lancing - Henry WilcoxonHenry WilcoxonHenry Wilcoxon was an actor born in Roseau, Dominica, British West Indies, and best known as a leading man in many of Cecil B. DeMille's films, also serving as DeMille's associate producer on his later films....
as Mr. 'Sandee' Sande - Laraine DayLaraine DayLaraine Day was an American actress and a former MGM contract star.-Career:Born La Raine Johnson in Roosevelt, Utah, to an affluent Mormon family, she later moved to California where she began her acting career with the Long Beach Players...
as Mrs. Richard Lancing - Morton Lowry as Mr. Richard Lancing
- Gavin MuirGavin MuirGavin Muir , was a British actor and musician probably best known for his role in the 1983 Television version of Accidental Death of an Anarchist. Muir had small parts in various television programmes including The Bill, Thieftakers, Cracker, Jo Brand and Our Friends in the North...
as Pilot
Production background
The three year gap between this and the previous Tarzan film was because MGM had originally let the film rights elapse after Tarzan EscapesTarzan Escapes
Tarzan Escapes is a 1936 Tarzan film based on the character created by Edgar Rice Burroughs. It was the third in the MGM Tarzan series to feature Johnny Weissmuller as the "King of the Apes".-Plot:...
feeling there was little more mileage in the series. Independent producer Sol Lesser obtained the rights to make five Tarzan movies, but the first of these, Tarzan's Revenge
Tarzan's Revenge
Tarzan's Revenge is an adventure film starring Glenn Morris in his only outing as Tarzan. Eleanor Holm, a popular swimming star, co-starred as Eleanor Reed. The movie was produced by Sol Lesser, written by R. Lee Johnson and Jay Vann and directed by D. Ross Lederman...
, proved to be a flop. The blame was placed on audiences unwilling to accept Glenn Morris
Glenn Morris
Glenn Edgar Morris was a U.S. track and field athlete. He won a gold medal in the Olympic decathlon in 1936, setting new world and Olympic records....
in the role made famous by Johnny Weissmuller. (Lesser had been unable to obtain Weissmuller's services as he remained under contract at MGM.) Ironically, this opened MGM's eyes to the continuing power of Weissmuller as Tarzan and they bought out Lesser's interest in the next three films, and restarted their series.
The film was originally to be called Tarzan in Exile. As it featured the jungle couple acquiring an infant, it was changed to Tarzan Finds a Son to appease morality groups, as Tarzan and Jane were not actually married in the films. This was intended to be Maureen O'Sullivan
Maureen O'Sullivan
Maureen Paula O’Sullivan was an Irish actress.-Early life:O'Sullivan was born in Boyle, County Roscommon, Ireland, the daughter of Roman Catholic parents Mary Lovatt and Charles Joseph O'Sullivan, an officer in The Connaught Rangers who served in The Great War...
's last appearance as Jane in the series, with her character being killed off by a spear wound. Maureen O'Sullivan was sick and fed up with the whole Jane role, and Boy was brought in originally to be a Jane substitute. The preview reaction to her death scene proved too negative and it was changed at the last minute. Johnny Sheffield
Johnny Sheffield
Johnny Sheffield was an American child actor.-Early life:He was born as John Matthew Sheffield Cassan in Pasadena, California, the second child of actor Reginald Sheffield and Louise Van Loon...
who played Boy, claims that Weissmuller handpicked him himself and taught him to swim as well.
Since Tarzan and Jane had no son in 1936 (the date of their previous film) and since the bulk of this plot occurs five years after Boy is found, the date for this film is either 1941 or 1944. Both of these dates conflict with incidents in subsequent films that occurred during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Boy in this film was the heir to the Greystoke fortune. In the original Burroughs books Tarzan himself was Lord Greystoke
Tarzan
Tarzan is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungles by the Mangani "great apes"; he later experiences civilization only to largely reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adventurer...
.