Johnny Weissmuller made a name for himself as Tarzan at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studio. However, and I am not sure why, Weissmuller and 'Boy' (Johnny Sheffield) jumped from this prestige studio to the less than stellar RKO--where the budgets shrank considerably as did the quality. The scripts got a lot more weird and the films became chock full of poorly integrated stock footage and animals that often weren't even African. Additionally, 'Jane' (Maureen O'Sullivan) remained at MGM and a new leading lady needed to be found. After having the character be 'off on vacation in England' or 'helping with the war effort' in a couple films, RKO decided to re-cast this character with Brenda Joyce--who bore little similarity to O'Sullivan.
Early in the film Tarzan happens upon an Amazon lady who is being chased by leopards. She's injured her leg and Tarzan insists on carrying her back to her Amazon city. However, apparently it's taboo to either leave the town or enter it if you are an outsider. Fortunately, the Amazon Priestess knows that Tarzan can be trusted and apparently he's the only outsider they ever let leave the city alive.
A bit later, Jane arrives from one of her many trips and brings with her some friends. Unfortunately, these hunters turn out to be headed for disaster when they see a bracelet left by the Amazon who Tarzan rescued--and they decide to try to find this Amazon kingdom themselves! But, Tarzan wisely refuses to help them--especially since some of them (Ballister in particular) are real jerks! Oddly, Ballister is played by Barton MacLane--the same actor who re-appears in "Tarzan and the Huntress" but he plays a different character--even though he dies in "Tarzan and the Amazons"! Considering that these two films were only made a couple years apart, you do wonder why they chose him for both films. And, now that I think of it, Henry Stephenson (a wonderful character actor) was also in "Tarzan Finds a Son!"--and was killed in that film--yet appears in this one a few years later! Despite these odd casting problems, this film actually turns out to be a pretty good one--though they never explain how a group of very white women happened to be living in the heart of Africa! The film lacks the bad stock footage of some of the other RKO Tarzan films and at least the black natives are black--and not Mexicans like in the studio's last film in the series (well after it had 'jumped the shark'). In addition, the film is well written and quite entertaining--one of the last ones like this in the series.
Early in the film Tarzan happens upon an Amazon lady who is being chased by leopards. She's injured her leg and Tarzan insists on carrying her back to her Amazon city. However, apparently it's taboo to either leave the town or enter it if you are an outsider. Fortunately, the Amazon Priestess knows that Tarzan can be trusted and apparently he's the only outsider they ever let leave the city alive.
A bit later, Jane arrives from one of her many trips and brings with her some friends. Unfortunately, these hunters turn out to be headed for disaster when they see a bracelet left by the Amazon who Tarzan rescued--and they decide to try to find this Amazon kingdom themselves! But, Tarzan wisely refuses to help them--especially since some of them (Ballister in particular) are real jerks! Oddly, Ballister is played by Barton MacLane--the same actor who re-appears in "Tarzan and the Huntress" but he plays a different character--even though he dies in "Tarzan and the Amazons"! Considering that these two films were only made a couple years apart, you do wonder why they chose him for both films. And, now that I think of it, Henry Stephenson (a wonderful character actor) was also in "Tarzan Finds a Son!"--and was killed in that film--yet appears in this one a few years later! Despite these odd casting problems, this film actually turns out to be a pretty good one--though they never explain how a group of very white women happened to be living in the heart of Africa! The film lacks the bad stock footage of some of the other RKO Tarzan films and at least the black natives are black--and not Mexicans like in the studio's last film in the series (well after it had 'jumped the shark'). In addition, the film is well written and quite entertaining--one of the last ones like this in the series.