Tarzan and the Golden Lion

Tarzan and the Golden Lion (1927)

*** (out of 4)

Tarzan (James Pierce) and his lion must fight off strangers to the jungle who are searching for diamonds. The stakes are raised when they kidnap his sister(?!). This is a pretty good silent version that never takes itself too seriously. The film only runs 57 minutes and thankfully each minute is full of action and other things to that nature. Pierce is good in the title role and the supporting cast, including Boris Karloff, are good as well. It's interesting to note that Pierce was engaged to Edgar Rice Burrough's daughter at the time this was being made. Burrough's convinced Pierce to turn down the Gary Cooper role in Wings to do this film. You gotta wonder what the two men talked about after Wings went on to do everything it did.