This early Tarzan film, produced without the backing of a major studio, is primitive and crudely made, and the story (written by Edgar Rice Burroughs himself!) is formulaic, but it has plenty of action, some impressive animal performances, and, in Buster Crabbe, a Tarzan who is both sturdy and nimble. Lots of beefcake here. It would be welcome news if the entire serial (this movie is only the first 4 chapters) was discovered some day. **1/2 out of 4.

Buster Crabbe was the Tarzan I most vividly remember from my childhood television viewing days and after getting a chance to re-view "Tarzan the Fearless" after almost 50 years, I can't understand why he wasn't MGM's first choice. He was given a screen test along with many others including Joel McCrea and Clark Gable but Johnny Weissmuller was Metro's final choice. Crabbe was very handsome and had a far better physique than Weissmuller which he did manage to maintain - apparently in 1970 Crabbe returned to swimming in a Senior Sports Swimming meet and managed to set a world record in the 400 metre freestyle event. Even though he didn't catch Metro's eye, Paramount was interested and he pleased them with "King of the Jungle" and later that year starred in a serial "Tarzan the Fearless" which was also re-edited into an 85 minute feature which opened at the Roxy in 1933. As Time magazine said "From the neck down Crabbe easily equals Weissmuller as an attraction to female audiences, from the neck up he is a vast improvement"!!!This is supposedly (according to the preface) Tarzan's "strangest and most romantic adventure" and being a pre-coder there is lots of double meaning dialogue and many chances for Mary to be scantily clad in the jungle. Tarzan is asked by Dr. Brooks (E. Alyn Warren) to take a letter to his daughter Mary (fetching Jacqueline Welles) who is searching for him in the jungle. It wouldn't be a Tarzan movie without crooked safari guides - in this case they want to ditch the pesky girl and get down to the real business which is claiming a 10,000 pounds reward if they can prove Tarzan is dead - oh, and they also plan to look for a lost Emerald mine!!! Tarzan has already made himself known to viewers with an establishing scene that shows off his glorious physique, swinging through the trees (he made it look very real and dangerous) and also shows he is a defender of the weak as he fights a lion to the death to save a defenceless deer. Camping by a river Mary indulges in a near nude swim that brings Tarzan to her rescue when the river turns out to be crocodile infested. He is able to deliver the letter and also guides them to her father's hut but the father has gone to the temple - but wait!! he leaves a map.Being edited from a 12 episode serial there is plenty of action and villains!! Suddenly Bedouins appear (Mischa Auer turns up as a High Priest and beautiful Carlotta Monti as the High Priestess) to kidnap Mary for a Sultan's harem but Tarzan is on hand to save her from a horse stampede and whisk Mary to the treetops at last!! By the end the bad villain is dead, the half hearted villain, who was forcing Mary into marriage with him in return for Tarzan's life has repented and has sent her after Tarzan for the fadeout. At least with this Tarzan, apart from a scene where he is taught to read, there are no scenes to make him feelinferior because of his jungle upbringing - no scoffing at his tablemanners etc. And this Mary (or Jane) looked at him with longing - dare I say lust, she did not try to show she was superior by laughing at him!!! In different books I've read the story goes that once Jacqueline Welles changed her name to Julie Bishop in the early 1940s her career really took off, but looking at her filmography at IMDb she had a pretty big career in the thirties - she was a 1934 Wampas Baby Star and was the female lead in the horror cult classic "The Black Cat" (1934).

Landing far towards the bottom in many folks' ranking of the Tarzan films, this one has far more charms than it's usually given credit for. Produced separately (and far more cheaply) than the famed Weissmuller/MGM films of the era, this one stars former Olympic champion Crabbe as the ape man. He has befriended a gentleman explorer and researcher (Warren) whose daughter (Wells), along with her suitor (Woods), is en route to find him in the dense jungle. When the safari guides spot Crabbe, they decide to kill him in order to collect a 10,000 pound reward on his head from his enemies in England. Wells, however, is rescued from an alligator by Crabbe and she falls for him, determined to do whatever it takes to save him from slaughter. Meanwhile, a fanatic religious cult, a riled up band of natives and assorted lions add to all the troubles in the jungle. If it sounds like a crowded plot line, it's because the storyline was part of a 12 episode serial and this film is cobbled together from parts of the larger whole. As a result, the story is choppy, the editing is awkward at times and it lacks the coherence of a work intended to be a self-contained feature film and not a prolonged saga. However, especially for Tarzan enthusiasts, there are some pluses. Crabbe is stunning to look at. His adorable face and thick, curly hair compliment his impressive physique. His rather startling loincloth is brief, to say the least (except, oddly, in the swimming sequences when it is inexplicably replaced by a pair of leopard-print trunks!) He approaches the role with complete physical abandon, thrashing animal-like when excited, barely speaking at all and doing a significant amount of his own stunts. When Wells annoys him, he gives her a thump in the shoulder and when Tarzan says it's bedtime, it's BEDTIME! The rope swinging (and there is PLENTY of it!) is among the most realistic of all the films and there are some striking tussles with lions that certainly beat the one Victor Mature did in "Samson and Delilah". Some of the aspects of the film are laughably bad, such as the Eqyptianesque fanatics and crude editing which features people looking at things in the wrong direction or running the wrong way or not being able to see something that is in full view. Stay tuned for the scene near the end when a man in a gorilla suit enters the fracas when trying to get an elephant to rescue Crabbe from a pit!! There is also a lot of pausing before and after lines of dialogue, a symptom of the early days of sound film-making. Still, it's certainly worth a look and Crabbe will not be easy to forget, not only for his looks, but for his charm. The kooky finale has a chimp and an elephant dancing (!) along to music from a phonograph!!

Buster Crabbe plays Tarzan in this short movie that was the first 4 episodes of a serial. He's GOT to be the first blonde Tarzan ever! I heard this was just awful. I admit the plot jumps around and the print I saw was in terrible condition--but I liked it. Mostly it was because of Crabbe--he had a beautiful, muscular body and was much better-looking than Johnny Weismuller. He also acted better--Weismuller always had a blank look on his face--Crabbe changes expression often. Also he wore the skimpiest lion cloth I've ever seen. His acting wasn't bad either--I was pretty surprised! He hated making this though--he said the "damned" monkey who played Cheetah was always biting him! I realize it's a matter of taste but I think Crabbe was easily the best-looking and sexist Tarzan ever.Worth taking a look at.