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Rating: 
Summary: Tarzan does his big for the war effort during WW II
Review: During World War II the American bomber the "Lovely Lady" crashes in the jungles of Sumatra, which is being held by the Japanese. Captain Jerry Lucas and his crew are stunned when the Royal Air Force Colonel who had been flying with them on the mission strips down to a loin cloth and goes off into the jungle with just a knife. Of course, Colonel John Clayton, Lord Greystoke, is better known to the world as Tarzan of the Apes, which causes confusion with the Americans who do not think he looks anything like Johnny Weismueller in a nice wry little comment from author Edgar Rice Burroughs. Basically, "Tarzan and the Foreign Legion" finds Tarzan going after the Japanese the same way he dealt with the Germans in World War I in "Tarzan the Untamed" (actually he is a lot tamer this time around because in that 1919 novel he thought the invaders had killed Jane and so he was out for mondo blood). The title refers to the motley crew of allies from many lands that Tarzan leads to the coast for a rendevous with an Allied submarine. Along the way they have to take on not only the Japanese, but Sumatran collaborationists, Dutch outlaws, and the tribe of Ourangatan's led by Uglo. Corrie van der Meer is the young daughter of a the family on a rubber plantation who serves as the requisite damsel in distress and Keta is the little monkey that befriends Tarzan. "Tarzan and the Foreign Legion" is a standard Tarzan potboiler from ERB and fits the standard formula that the author pretty much could do in his sleep by this point at the end of his storied career. So this is an old story dressed up with new allies, new villains, and even new apes given it takes place in Asia rather than Africa. But you had to know that Tarzan was going to take part in the war effort, even if it was his second world war. "Tarzan and the Foreign Legion" was published in 1944 and the novel is interesting more for how it reflects Burroughs' adventures during World War II. ERB was playing tennis in Hawaii on the morning of December 7th when Pearl Harbor was bombed. At the age of 66 he served as the oldest war correspondent in the Pacific theater (his son Hulbert became a war photographer). At one point he went on bombing runs with the 7th Air Force, an experience which clearly served as the basis for the opening sequence of this novel. Burroughs came up with a more dangerous mission for Tarzan in this novel and besides from the great Weismueller joke, it is the characters of the American bomber crew that stand out. Knowing what ERB did during the war explains why this would be the case.
Rating:
Summary: Tarzan does his big for the war effort during WW II
Review: During World War II the American bomber the "Lovely Lady" crashes in the jungles of Sumatra, which is being held by the Japanese. Captain Jerry Lucas and his crew are stunned when the Royal Air Force Colonel who had been flying with them on the mission strips down to a loin cloth and goes off into the jungle with just a knife. Of course, Colonel John Clayton, Lord Greystoke, is better known to the world as Tarzan of the Apes, which causes confusion with the Americans who do not think he looks anything like Johnny Weismueller in a nice wry little comment from author Edgar Rice Burroughs. Basically, "Tarzan and the Foreign Legion" finds Tarzan going after the Japanese the same way he dealt with the Germans in World War I in "Tarzan the Untamed" (actually he is a lot tamer this time around because in that 1919 novel he thought the invaders had killed Jane and so he was out for mondo blood). The title refers to the motley crew of allies from many lands that Tarzan leads to the coast for a rendevous with an Allied submarine. Along the way they have to take on not only the Japanese, but Sumatran collaborationists, Dutch outlaws, and the tribe of Ourangatan's led by Uglo. Corrie van der Meer is the young daughter of a the family on a rubber plantation who serves as the requisite damsel in distress and Keta is the little monkey that befriends Tarzan. "Tarzan and the Foreign Legion" is a standard Tarzan potboiler from ERB and fits the standard formula that the author pretty much could do in his sleep by this point at the end of his storied career. So this is an old story dressed up with new allies, new villains, and even new apes given it takes place in Asia rather than Africa. But you had to know that Tarzan was going to take part in the war effort, even if it was his second world war. "Tarzan and the Foreign Legion" was published in 1944 and the novel is interesting more for how it reflects Burroughs' adventures during World War II. ERB was playing tennis in Hawaii on the morning of December 7th when Pearl Harbor was bombed. At the age of 66 he served as the oldest war correspondent in the Pacific theater (his son Hulbert became a war photographer). At one point he went on bombing runs with the 7th Air Force, an experience which clearly served as the basis for the opening sequence of this novel. Burroughs came up with a more dangerous mission for Tarzan in this novel and besides from the great Weismueller joke, it is the characters of the American bomber crew that stand out. Knowing what ERB did during the war explains why this would be the case.
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