Personal blog - and temporary home page until new website is finished - of writer, editor and graphic artist Christopher Mills


Saturday, August 08, 2009

New Tarzan DVDs!

As a follow-up to my recent post where I lamented that there weren't more Tarzan films available on DVD, well, today I discovered that the five jungle lord movies starring Lex BarkerTarzan And The She-Devil, Tarzan And The Slave Girl, Tarzan's Magic Fountain, Tarzan's Peril, and Tarzan's Savage Fury – have been released on DVD by Warner Brothers.

Sort of.

They are only available from the Warner Archive Collection online store, and burned to order. Apparently the studio decided that the audience wasn't large enough for a standard commercial release, and chosen to only make them available in this format. They're available for $14.95 each, or as a complete set for $49.95 (obviously the better deal).

There are some other interesting treasures in there, too, like George Pal's Doc Savage, Man of Bronze (starring TV Tarzan Ron Ely), and Captain Sindbad, starring Guy Williams (one Sinbad flick I don't yet have!). There's a bunch of obscure titles in various genres, including crime, romance and horror. They even have the bizarre 1979 TV movie, The Bermuda Depths, the memory of which has haunted me for years and which, until a year ago, I thought I had just imagined. I certainly never thought it would ever be released on home video.

I haven't bought anything from the Warner Archive yet, but, obviously, I'm going to have to eventually. I really like the Lex Barker Tarzans, and I simply have to see The Bermuda Depths again!

4 comments:

Martin Powell said...

I'll probably be passing on these. I never warmed up to Lex's Ape Man. Not sure why. He just never convinced me that he was Tarzan.

Hell, I still don't have any of the Weismuller movies, and I love those. Just a bit too pricey still, but I'm sure they'll become more affordable eventually.

But Barker...? Probably not.

Now if the Gordon Scott films are ever released on dvd--I'll dive right in.

Britt Reid said...

Martin:

If you, or someone you know, belongs to Costco, you can get the Weismuller Tarzans at almost 50% off!

I'm ordering Tarzan's Peril (with Dorothy Dandridge) & Doc Savage this week.

Shobo said...

While the price might be a bit excessive, it's pretty cool that Warner's is even offering this. Too often with niche stuff the studios decide to just ignore the market if isn't large enough for the bean counters.

Martin Powell said...

Thanks for the info, Brett!

I used to belong to Costco. I actually bought both MR. MOTO sets there for about ten bucks a piece.

Perhaps, I should rejoin.