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Rating: 
Summary: 3 Pilots for Theatrical Release
Review: "Tarzan and the Trappers" was a film re-edited from three 1958 pilot television shows for NBC produced by Sol Lesser. The pilots never sold NBC on the profitability for such a series. They starred Tarzan, Gordon Scott. The re-edited episodes followed conventional jungle drama concerning the whereabouts of "lost treasure." It is just average.
Rating:
Summary: Compression workaround
Review: I have to agree with the comments on video quality of these two features.
I was able to display the image without the compression by setting my DVD player for a 16 x 9 aspect ratio on my standard 3 x 4 TV. Of course you will have to return the settings to their correct value before watching any other DVD.
Rating: 
Summary: Tarzan and the Trappers/Tarzan the Fearless
Review: This disk contains two features, "Tarzan and the Trappers" (1958) with Gordon Scott and "Tarzan the Fearless" (1933) with Buster Crabbe. While both are reasonably entertaining films, there is absolutely nothing positive to say regarding the video quality. On the disk I viewed, the Gordon Scott feature (which is letterboxed) is noticeably compressed in such a way that the images are grossly out of proportion. Truck tires and the ends of sawed-off pieces of bamboo are both oval rather than round, and characters appear shorter and wider than should be the case. The Scott film is no cinematic masterpiece anyway, but seems to consist of two separated unrelated features thrown together. (Note the radical change in the "Boy"-type character's hair style from the first half of the film to the last.) The Buster Crabbe film is clearly a more ambitious project, and of historical note for Tarzan fans if only for the opportunity to hear Crabbe's ludicrous attempt at a Tarzan yell. The picture quality of the Crabbe feature is, however, mediocre at best - grainy, with no hint of the clarity one would expect from DVD. In fact, there are VHS copies of both the Crabbe film and the Gordon Scott feature with much better video quality.
Rating:
Summary: Tarzan and the Trappers/Tarzan the Fearless
Review: This disk contains two features, "Tarzan and the Trappers" (1958) with Gordon Scott and "Tarzan the Fearless" (1933) with Buster Crabbe. While both are reasonably entertaining films, there is absolutely nothing positive to say regarding the video quality. On the disk I viewed, the Gordon Scott feature (which is letterboxed) is noticeably compressed in such a way that the images are grossly out of proportion. Truck tires and the ends of sawed-off pieces of bamboo are both oval rather than round, and characters appear shorter and wider than should be the case. The Scott film is no cinematic masterpiece anyway, but seems to consist of two separated unrelated features thrown together. (Note the radical change in the "Boy"-type character's hair style from the first half of the film to the last.) The Buster Crabbe film is clearly a more ambitious project, and of historical note for Tarzan fans if only for the opportunity to hear Crabbe's ludicrous attempt at a Tarzan yell. The picture quality of the Crabbe feature is, however, mediocre at best - grainy, with no hint of the clarity one would expect from DVD. In fact, there are VHS copies of both the Crabbe film and the Gordon Scott feature with much better video quality.
Rating:
Summary: Tarzan and the Trappers/Tarzan the Fearless
Review: This disk contains two features, "Tarzan and the Trappers" (1958) with Gordon Scott and "Tarzan the Fearless" (1933) with Buster Crabbe. While both are reasonably entertaining films, there is absolutely nothing positive to say regarding the video quality. On the disk I viewed, the Gordon Scott feature (which is letterboxed) is noticeably compressed in such a way that the images are grossly out of proportion. Truck tires and the ends of sawed-off pieces of bamboo are both oval rather than round, and characters appear shorter and wider than should be the case. The Scott film is no cinematic masterpiece anyway, but seems to consist of two separated unrelated features thrown together. (Note the radical change in the "Boy"-type character's hair style from the first half of the film to the last.) The Buster Crabbe film is clearly a more ambitious project, and of historical note for Tarzan fans if only for the opportunity to hear Crabbe's ludicrous attempt at a Tarzan yell. The picture quality of the Crabbe feature is, however, mediocre at best - grainy, with no hint of the clarity one would expect from DVD. In fact, there are VHS copies of both the Crabbe film and the Gordon Scott feature with much better video quality.
Rating: 
Summary: A pair of lesser efforts in the history of Tarzan
Review: What you have here are a pair of less than distinguished versions of Edgar Rice Burroughs' immortal Tarzan cut and spliced together to make a couple of less than satisfactory theatrical films. "Tarzan and the Trappers" is edited together from three episodes of a potential television series that was rejected. Now, granted, at face value that bit of information should send animals running from through the jungle fleeing from this film, but Gordon Scott is one of the better Tarzans and this black & white film certainly exceeds low expectations, even with all the clips of jungle scenes re-edited from previous Tarzan films. The plot is an old Tarzan standard where the natives start banging their drums and the Lord of the Jungle learns he has to stop the evil Schroeder (Leslie Bradley) from illegally trapping animals for zoos for quick profit. Schroeder kills a mother elephant to get the baby, but Tarzan stops him. Unfortunately, Schroeder has a brother, Sikes (Sol Gorss), who is even worse and who wants to turn the tables on Tarzan by stalking the Ape Man (pretend for a second this is not a really stupid idea). Eve Brent is a blonde Jane and Rickie Sorensen plays Tartu (i.e., Boy), and while neither has much to do in this 70-minute effort, there is certainly the sense that even if they are living in the middle of the African jungle this is just a normal family. The biggest clue this was intended to be a 1950s television show is that Tarzan and Jane each have their own tree houses. The 1939 film "Tarzan and the Green Goddess" was edited together from the 1935 serial "The New Adventure of Tarzan." Tarzan is played by Bruce Bennett, under the name Herman Brix, and since one of the producers for the serial was Tarzan's creator Edgar Rice Burroughs, the Lord of the Jungle is played as an intelligent, literate English Lord, just as he was in the novels. Unfortunately the plot is hard to follow and even while the action has its moments, the sped-up fight sequences are getting really tiresome. The story begins with Lord Greystoke at his English manner telling of his adventures in Guatemala (Tarzan in South America...already you should find yourself being wary, especially when you see the rhinos and giraffes they have down there). Tarzan was down South American way helping Major Martling (Frank Baker) and Ula Vale (Ula Holt) search for the Green Goddess. This is not just a totem for a jungle tribe (that looks sort of Mayan); it also has a secret formula for a super-explosive hidden inside it. The problem is that Raglan (Ashton Dearholt), a thug sent by some crazy rich guy, gets to the Green Goddess first. Plus the natives are ticked that it has been stolen as well. This is an unsatisfying portrayal of Tarzan by yet another ex-athlete, but it does makes "Tarzan and the Trappers" look better.
Rating:
Summary: A pair of lesser efforts in the history of Tarzan
Review: What you have here are a pair of less than distinguished versions of Edgar Rice Burroughs' immortal Tarzan cut and spliced together to make a couple of less than satisfactory theatrical films. "Tarzan and the Trappers" is edited together from three episodes of a potential television series that was rejected. Now, granted, at face value that bit of information should send animals running from through the jungle fleeing from this film, but Gordon Scott is one of the better Tarzans and this black & white film certainly exceeds low expectations, even with all the clips of jungle scenes re-edited from previous Tarzan films. The plot is an old Tarzan standard where the natives start banging their drums and the Lord of the Jungle learns he has to stop the evil Schroeder (Leslie Bradley) from illegally trapping animals for zoos for quick profit. Schroeder kills a mother elephant to get the baby, but Tarzan stops him. Unfortunately, Schroeder has a brother, Sikes (Sol Gorss), who is even worse and who wants to turn the tables on Tarzan by stalking the Ape Man (pretend for a second this is not a really stupid idea). Eve Brent is a blonde Jane and Rickie Sorensen plays Tartu (i.e., Boy), and while neither has much to do in this 70-minute effort, there is certainly the sense that even if they are living in the middle of the African jungle this is just a normal family. The biggest clue this was intended to be a 1950s television show is that Tarzan and Jane each have their own tree houses. The 1939 film "Tarzan and the Green Goddess" was edited together from the 1935 serial "The New Adventure of Tarzan." Tarzan is played by Bruce Bennett, under the name Herman Brix, and since one of the producers for the serial was Tarzan's creator Edgar Rice Burroughs, the Lord of the Jungle is played as an intelligent, literate English Lord, just as he was in the novels. Unfortunately the plot is hard to follow and even while the action has its moments, the sped-up fight sequences are getting really tiresome. The story begins with Lord Greystoke at his English manner telling of his adventures in Guatemala (Tarzan in South America...already you should find yourself being wary, especially when you see the rhinos and giraffes they have down there). Tarzan was down South American way helping Major Martling (Frank Baker) and Ula Vale (Ula Holt) search for the Green Goddess. This is not just a totem for a jungle tribe (that looks sort of Mayan); it also has a secret formula for a super-explosive hidden inside it. The problem is that Raglan (Ashton Dearholt), a thug sent by some crazy rich guy, gets to the Green Goddess first. Plus the natives are ticked that it has been stolen as well. This is an unsatisfying portrayal of Tarzan by yet another ex-athlete, but it does makes "Tarzan and the Trappers" look better.
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