Tarzan and the Lost Safari


Tarzan and the Lost Safari is a 1957 action adventure film featuring Edgar Rice Burroughs' famous jungle hero Tarzan and starring Gordon Scott, Robert Beatty, Yolande Donlan and Betta St. John. Directed by H. Bruce Humberstone, it was the first Tarzan film released in color, Eastman Color. It was also MGM's first Tarzan film since 1942 and filmed in Nairobi, British East Africa. The character of Jane does not appear in this motion picture.

Plot

An airplane crashes in the jungle, stranding passengers Gamage Dean, Diana Penrod, "Doodles" Fletcher, Carl Kraski, and Dick Penrod. Before the plane slides into a gorge the group is rescued by Tarzan, who undertakes to lead them back to civilization.
Diana is kidnapped by warriors from Opar under Chief Ogonooro. The Oparians desire the strangers as sacrifices for their lion god. She is recovered by Tarzan and hunter Tusker Hawkins, whose advances Diana rebuffs. Secretly, however, Hawkins is in league with the Oparians, and plans to sell the castaways to the natives for a fortune in ivory.
Tarzan, rightly suspecting Hawkins' untrustworthiness, exposes his treachery. Now openly in league with the natives, the hunter helps them take the white party captive in Tarzan's absence. The ape man returns to save them before the sacrifice can take place, aided by his chimpanzee ally Cheeta, who sets fire to the native village. He then leads them to the safety of a nearby settlement.
Hawkins meets his fate at the hands of the Oparians, to whom Tarzan has signaled the villain's double-dealing by a creative use of jungle drums.

Cast

According to MGM records the film earned $915,000 in the US and Canada and $1.4 million elsewhere, resulting in a profit of $432,000.