Tarzan and the Mermaids (1948)

Tarzan takes a Mexican vacation, 20 September 2019

Tarzan sets out to rescue a woman named Mara who has been promised in marriage to her people’s god, Balu. 

Watching Tarzan and the Mermaids is kind of sad.  This would be Weissmuller’s last Tarzan adventure and it was probably a good thing.  Weissmuller was long past the age and physical condition required to pull of the Tarzan role with any sense of realism.  He still looks okay in some of the swimming scenes, but it’s difficult to watch him run and climb. You can see him struggle.  Time catches up with everyone – including Tarzan.

What a dud to go out on!  It’s been a while since I last watched all of the other Weissmuller Tarzan films, but from what I recollect, Tarzan and the Mermaids is the worst.  The plot is paper thin and realistically takes up no more than a third of the 68 minute runtime. Tarzan (or anyone for that matter) could have put a stop to the bad guys’ plan in about 10 minutes.  The rest of the film is filled with some of the most ridiculous padding imaginable – much of it featuring an uber-annoying singing jungle mailman. There’s really not much of a movie here.

One of the funnier aspects of Tarzan and the Mermaids is the filming location.  I almost laughed out loud when Tarzan and Co enter a river cave in “Africa” and come out in Acapulco!

4/10