''Tarzan and the Lost City'' is a 1998 American

adventure film An adventure film is a form of adventure fiction, and is a genre of film. Subgenres of adventure films include swashbuckler films, pirate films, and survival films. Adventure films may also be combined with other film genres such as action, ani ...

directed by

Carl Schenkel Carl Schenkel (pseudonym: Carlo Ombra; 8 May 1948 – 1 December 2003) was a Swiss film director. His 1984 film ''Abwärts'' won the Bavarian Film Award for Best Direction in 1985. :de:Carl Schenkel Filmography * ''Graf Dracula beißt jetzt in Ob ...

, and starring

Casper Van Dien Casper Robert Van Dien Jr. (born December 18, 1968) is an American actor. He is best known for his lead role as Johnny Rico in the 1997 science-fiction action film ''Starship Troopers''. He has also appeared in a large number of television and ...

and Jane March with

Steven Waddington Steven Waddington (born 30 December 1967) is an English film and television actor. He is best known for his supporting role in Michael Mann's ''The Last of the Mohicans''. Early life Waddington was born in Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire, the ...

. The screenplay by Bayard Johnson and J. Anderson Black is loosely based on the

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 ...

stories 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, ...

. The film received largely negative reviews and was a

box office bomb A box-office bomb, or box-office disaster, is a film that is unprofitable or considered highly unsuccessful during its theatrical run. Although any film for which the production, marketing, and distribution costs combined exceed the revenue after ...

. One of the film's producers, Stanley S. Canter, had previously produced another Tarzan film for Warner Bros., '' Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes'' (1984).

Plot Synopsis

In 1913, on the night before

Jane Porter Jane Porter (3 December 1775 – 24 May 1850) was an English historical novelist, dramatist and literary figure. Her bestselling novels, ''Thaddeus of Warsaw'' (1803) and ''The Scottish Chiefs'' (1810) are seen as among the earliest historical ...

's wedding to John Clayton II (also known as

, who is something of a celebrity) her bridegroom receives a disturbing vision of his childhood homeland in peril; The educated explorer and treasure seeker Nigel Ravens is seeking the legendary city of Opar, to plunder its ancient treasures and uncover dangerous powers. Much to Jane's distress and confusion, Clayton leaves for Africa to help, meeting up with the shaman Mugambe, whose village was plundered by Ravens to find a key to Opar. Just as Tarzan's efforts to negotiate with Ravens to turn back fail, Jane decides to follow her fiancé. While glad to see her, he must now protect her while trying to stop Ravens and his men from continuing their expedition.

Cast

as John Clayton/Tarzan * Jane March as

as Nigel Ravens *

Winston Ntshona Winston Ntshona (6 October 1941 – 2 August 2018) was a South African playwright and actor. He won a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play in 1975. Biography Born in Port Elizabeth, Zola Winston Ntshona worked alongside fellow South African At ...

as Mugambe * Rapulana Seiphemo as Kaya * Ian Roberts as Captain Dooley *

Sean Taylor Sean Michael Maurice Taylor (April 1, 1983 – November 27, 2007) was an American football safety for the Washington Redskins of the National Football League (NFL). He was selected fifth overall in the 2004 NFL Draft by the Redskins, where he ...

as Wilkes * Gys De Villiers as Schiller

Production

The film was shot in

Bethlehem, Free State Bethlehem is a town in the eastern Free State province of South Africa that is situated on the Liebenbergs river (also called Liebenbergs Vlei) along a fertile valley just north of the Rooiberg Mountains on the N5 road. It is the fastest growin ...

and

Port Edward, KwaZulu-Natal Port Edward is a small resort town situated on the south coast of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. It lies north of the Mtamvuna Gorge which includes the Mtamvuna River and is the border between KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape. It is situated o ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

. German composer

Christopher Franke Christopher Franke (born 6 April 1953) is a German musician and composer. From 1971 to 1987, he was a member of the electronic group Tangerine Dream. Initially a drummer with The Agitation, later renamed Agitation Free, his primary focus eventu ...

composed the original musical score.

Reception

The film received mainly negative reviews, criticizing the low budget production values, effects and writing. On review aggregator

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

it has an approval rating of 6% based on reviews from 18 critics. A rare positive review came from ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', where critic Lawrence Van Gelder declared the film "A throwback to the days of Saturday afternoon adventures in exotic locales that were usually

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywoo ...

back lots" and that it "zips along, past the ritual lions, elephants and cobras to the city of Opar and its temple of illusions, tunnels and traps, and right to the inevitable satisfying showdown."

Box Office

The film opened in the same weekend as ''

The Big Hit ''The Big Hit'' is a 1998 American action comedy film directed by Hong Kong filmmaker Che-Kirk Wong, and stars Mark Wahlberg, Lou Diamond Phillips, Christina Applegate, Bokeem Woodbine, Antonio Sabàto Jr., China Chow, Avery Brooks, Lainie Kazan, ...

'' and grossed $1 million in 12th place. It only took $2 million at the box office, making it a commercial failure.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tarzan And The Lost City (Film) 1998 films 1990s action adventure films 1998 fantasy films American action adventure films American fantasy films German action adventure films Films set in 1913 Films set in Africa Films shot in KwaZulu-Natal Films shot in South Africa Tarzan films Village Roadshow Pictures films Films directed by Carl Schenkel Warner Bros. films Films scored by Christopher Franke English-language German films 1990s English-language films German fantasy films 1990s American films 1990s German films