''Tarzan the Tiger'' (1929) is a

Universal Universal is the adjective for universe. Universal may also refer to: Companies * NBCUniversal, a media and entertainment company ** Universal Animation Studios, an American Animation studio, and a subsidiary of NBCUniversal ** Universal TV, a t ...

movie serial A serial film, film serial (or just serial), movie serial, or chapter play, is a motion picture form popular during the first half of the 20th century, consisting of a series of short subjects exhibited in consecutive order at one theater, gene ...

based on the novel ''

Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar ''Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar'' is a novel by American writer Edgar Rice Burroughs, the fifth in his series of twenty-four books about the title character Tarzan. It first appeared in the November and December issues of ''All-Story Cavalier W ...

'' by

Edgar Rice Burroughs Edgar Rice Burroughs (September 1, 1875 – March 19, 1950) was an American author, best known for his prolific output in the adventure, science fiction, and fantasy genres. Best-known for creating the characters Tarzan and John Carter, he ...

. It stars

Frank Merrill Frank Dow Merrill (December 4, 1903 – December 11, 1955) was a United States Army general and is best remembered for his command of Merrill's Marauders, officially the 5307th Composite Unit (provisional), in the Burma Campaign of World War II ...

Tarzan Tarzan (John Clayton II, Viscount Greystoke) is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungle by the Mangani great apes; he later experiences civilization, only to reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adv ...

Natalie Kingston Natalie Kingston (born Natalia Ringstrom; May 19, 1905 – February 2, 1991) was an American actress. Background Kingston was born as Natalia Ringstrom in Vallejo, California, and raised in San Francisco. She was of Spanish, Hungarian, an ...

Jane Jane may refer to: * Jane (given name), a feminine given name * Jane (surname), related to the given name Film and television * ''Jane'' (1915 film), a silent comedy film directed by Frank Lloyd * ''Jane'' (2016 film), a South Korean drama fil ...

, and

Al Ferguson Al Ferguson (19 April 1888 – 4 December 1971) was an Irish-born American film actor. Born in County Wexford, Ireland, he appeared in nearly 300 films between 1912 and 1956. Billed as Smoke Ferguson, by 1912 he was making Westerns for Selig ...

. It was directed by

Henry MacRae Henry Alexander MacRae (August 29, 1876 – October 2, 1944) was a Canadians, Canadian film director, film producer, producer, and screenwriter during the silent film, silent era, working on many film Serial (film), serials for Universal Studios. ...

. It was once considered a

lost film A lost film is a feature or short film that no longer exists in any studio archive, private collection, public archive or the U.S. Library of Congress. Conditions During most of the 20th century, U.S. copyright law required at least one copy o ...

, but a copy has since been found. Today the serial is available on DVD and, in the public domain, available for download on the internet.

Synopsis

Lord Greystoke (Tarzan) returns to

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

, with Lady Jane and friend Albert Werper, in order to return to Opar. He needs the treasure of Opar in order to secure his estates in England. Werper, however, is actually interested in the gold itself. He is in league with

Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

slave trader The history of slavery spans many cultures, nationalities, and Slavery and religion, religions from Ancient history, ancient times to the present day. Likewise, its victims have come from many different ethnicities and religious groups. The socia ...

Achmet Zek, who wishes revenge on Tarzan and Lady Jane for himself.

Cast

as "The Lord of the Manor—known to

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

as the Earl of Greystoke—and to the

Jungle A jungle is land covered with dense forest and tangled vegetation, usually in tropical climates. Application of the term has varied greatly during the past recent century. Etymology The word ''jungle'' originates from the Sanskrit word ''jaṅ ...

, the Tiger!" Frank Merrill reprised his role as Tarzan from ''

Tarzan the Mighty ''Tarzan the Mighty'' is a 1928 American action film serial directed by Jack Nelson and Ray Taylor. It was nominally based on the collection ''Jungle Tales of Tarzan'' by Edgar Rice Burroughs. The film is now considered to be lost. Cast * ...

''. His performances in these two serials make him the last silent Tarzan and the first sound Tarzan. Merrill did his own stunts and devised the original Tarzan yell. *

as " Lady Jane, his

wife A wife (plural, : wives) is a female in a marital relationship. A woman who has separated from her partner continues to be a wife until the marriage is legally Dissolution (law), dissolved with a divorce judgement. On the death of her partner, ...

, who has left the gaiety of

Society to share his life on the

plantation" Natalie Kingston was again cast as the love interest but this time played the traditional character of Lady Jane instead of Mary Trevor (from ''Tarzan the Mighty''). The change was not explained in the serial. *

as "Albert Werper, Soldier of Fortune—a guest at Greystoke Manor in the guise of a friendly

scientist A scientist is a person who conducts Scientific method, scientific research to advance knowledge in an Branches of science, area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, ...

" Al Ferguson was also again cast as the villain of the story, but not as the same character (or even a slightly renamed character, as with Jane. In ''Tarzan the Mighty'' he played the pirate Black John). *Kithnou as "The High Priestess of the Sun Worshipers— La, who has sworn that she will have no other mate than Tarzan" Mademoiselle Kithnou was a dancer and actress of mixed

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

n and European descent from

Puducherry Puducherry or Pondicherry may refer to: * Puducherry (union territory), a union territory of India ** Pondicherry, capital of the union territory of Puducherry ** Puducherry district, a district of the union territory of Puducherry ** Puducherry tal ...

, at that time in

French India French India, formally the ( en, French Settlements in India), was a French colony comprising five geographically separated enclaves on the Indian Subcontinent that had initially been factories of the French East India Company. They were ''de ...

, or possibly from

Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label=Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It incl ...

. *

Sheldon Lewis Sheldon Lewis (April 20, 1868 – May 7, 1958) was an American actor of the silent era best known for his antagonistic roles. He appeared in more than 90 films between 1914 and 1936. Lewis was married to actress Virginia Pearson, and they were ...

as "Achmet Zek, a

Nomad A nomad is a member of a community without fixed habitation who regularly moves to and from the same areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the popu ...

chief, against whose traffic in

slave Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

s Tarzan has waged relentless war" ''Quoted text from the opening credits for each character.'' Image:Tarzan_the-Tiger_Merrill1.JPG , Opening credit for

Image:Tarzan the Tiger Kingston1.JPG , Opening credit for

Image:Tarzan the Tiger Ferguson1.JPG , Opening credit for

Image:Tarzan the-Tiger Kithnou.JPG , Opening credit for Kithnou

Production

''Tarzan the Tiger'' was a sequel based on the success of ''

''. Advertising for the serial focused, in addition to the usual jungle serial perils (such as elephants, lions, tigers and gorillas), on the beautiful women (Lady Jane, La, and the women of the slave market scenes). Kingston, as Jane, appeared

topless Toplessness refers to the state in which a woman's breasts, including her areolas and nipples, are exposed, especially in a public place or in a visual medium. The male equivalent is barechestedness, also commonly called shirtlessness. Expose ...

in a swimming sequence in chapter 8. "It is said that fathers sometimes accompanied their sons to the showings." A further sequel, to create a trilogy of Frank Merrill Tarzan serials, was planned. The third entry would have been called ''Tarzan the Terrible''. However, Merrill's voice was deemed unsuitable for sound films, and the sequel was cancelled. Merrill made personal appearances in costume to promote the serial. During these, he realized how much influence he had on children. Combined with the issues over his voice, this led him to retire after this serial and devote his life to children. He became a Recreational Director for the Parks commission of the

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

city administration. ''Tarzan the Tiger'' was a transitional film with one version released as a silent and the other with a partial soundtrack. The soundtrack consists mostly of only music and sound effects, but does include the first

Tarzan yell The Tarzan yell or Tarzan's jungle call is the distinctive, ululating yell of the character Tarzan as portrayed by actor Johnny Weissmuller in the films based on the character created by Edgar Rice Burroughs starting with ''Tarzan the Ape Man'' ( ...

, although it does not sound like the now-traditional call that was first used in the

Johnny Weissmuller Johnny Weissmuller (born Johann Peter Weißmüller; June 2, 1904 – January 20, 1984) was an American Olympic swimmer, water polo player and actor. He was known for having one of the best competitive swimming records of the 20th century. H ...

Tarzan movie ''

Tarzan the Ape Man Tarzan, the Ape Man may refer to * Tarzan, a fictional character * ''Tarzan the Ape Man'' (1932 film), with Johnny Weissmuller * ''Tarzan, the Ape Man'' (1959 film) with Denny Miller * ''Tarzan, the Ape Man'' (1981 film) with Richard Harris and ...

''.

Chapter titles

#Call of the Jungle #The Road to Opar #The Altar of the Flaming God #The Vengeance of La #Condemned to Death #Tantor the Terror #The Deadly Peril #Loop of Death #Flight of Werper #Prisoner of the Apes #The Jaws of Death #The Jewels of Opar #A Human Sacrifice #Tarzan's Rage #Tarzan's Triumph

References

External links

* * *
ERBzine review of Tarzan the Tiger

Download or view online

* * {{Tarzan movies 1929 films 1929 adventure films American adventure films American black-and-white films American sequel films American silent serial films 1920s English-language films Films based on American novels Films directed by Henry MacRae Films set in Africa Tarzan films Transitional sound films Universal Pictures film serials 1920s rediscovered films Rediscovered American films 1920s American films Silent adventure films