Bowl of Serials: Tarzan the Tiger Episode 9

Bowl of Serials delves into the world of movie serials in cinematic history, one episode at a time.  First up, Tarzan the Tiger, a 15 episode serial that ran in theaters weekly between 1929 and 1930.  The episodes starred Frank Merrill (Tarzan), Natalie Kingston (Jane), Al Ferguson (Werper), and Kithnou (La) and were directed by Henry MacRae.

When last we saw Tarzan, he and Jane had gone back to the apeman's childhood hut to retrieve jewels Jane had hidden there. Unbeknownst to them, their former friend Werper and an associate are lying in wait. They rope Tarzan and hit him over the head knocking him unconscious.

Or did they? Werper raises his knife to deliver the killing blow, but Tarzan grabs his arm, beats him and throws him out the door. His partner fairs no better and is soon lying unconscious outside the hut. Werper sees the writing on the wall and escapes.

Tarzan (still suffering from amnesia) says he has vague memories of Werper. Jane tries to use the connection to help her husband remember more, but his mind remains clouded.

Back at the temple of Apor, the high priestess La, who has swore to only mate with Tarzan, has a vision that... she should only mate with Tarzan.

Tarzan and Jane decide to head to the temple to find more jewels, while Werper goes there to enlist La's help with the apeman.

Now, the four are on a collision course. But is that a lion stalking our heroes? Will they live long enough to see the temple?


This may have been the most annoying episode yet.

First, we get exactly what I thought after the last chapter: incapacitated Tarzan is not so incapacitated and quickly dispatches Werper. At least he got thrown out of a door this time instead of a window.

Then, Jane tries to jog Tarzan's memory. He gets a thoughtful look and seemingly remembers the first five minutes of episode 1. I assume this because the director replays these minutes in their entirety.

Except when we cut back to Tarzan, he still doesn't remember. Well, someone remembered. That, or the filmmaker doesnt understand that if a character is trying to remember something, then you cut to that memory, we as an audience assume the character remembered.

Then we cut to La and a title card explaining she will only mate with Tarzan. She takes a couple of minutes to perform a ceremony to tell her what to do. And the vision tells her to pursue Tarzan which a) we knew, and b) leads me to question La's visions. There's a difference between a real supernatural talent and pushing the piece on the ouija board towards the answer you want.

As the final minutes approached, I actually thought to myself that we had not had a random animal attack in a while and... here comes the lion.

This installment was pointless. Nothing happened. Old information was repeated. The same beats get hit again. And I just don't buy that there is any danger at the end.