Tarzan's Magic Fountain

The "Lost Horizon" aspects of this plot may border on the silly -- the residents of the "Blue Valley" dress in Egyptian-Polynesian style! -- but they provide a serviceable framework for the first of Lex Barker's Tarzan movies. Barker, alas, is asked to play the title role as something of an overgrown bumpkin who can't quite seem to master the use of such basic articles of speech as "a" and "the," and there's little hint of the "killer instinct" which has allowed him to survive for so long in such hostile terrain. However, Barker's Tarzan is a likable sort who looks good in his loincloth which, for the sake of modesty, rides high enough on his midsection to cover his navel. Perhaps his beefcake-highpoint comes in the final reel when he's tethered with outstretched arms in a cave while some men from the Blue Valley prepare to blind him. (Yes, they actually have a tool designed for this purpose: a two-pronged fork that can poke out both eyes at the same time. Why this fork has to be heated white-hot before it can do its work remains a mystery.) Obviously aimed at a Saturday matinée crowd, this briskly-plotted movie devotes a lot of attention to the antics of Cheetah who, during the course of the proceedings, chews bubblegum, learns the peril of hot pepper, and gets to play with ants. Children may giggle, adults will groan. As an added bonus, there's Elmo Lincoln - the silent movies' Tarzan -- who here plays a burly villain with a black eyepatch. He and Barker get to engage in a couple of semi-comic fights.

For the record, the fountain doesn't belong to Tarzan nor does it fall under his jurisdiction so the title is something of a misnomer.