After reading a lot of bad reviews, I almost skipped this one. I'm glad I gave it a chance, because Tarzan and the Trappers is a very underrated Tarzan movie. It's fast-paced with good fight scenes, and Cheeta is funny as usual. It almost feels like a (cheaper) Weissmuller movie. I enjoyed every second of it.Best of all, it's a movie you can watch with your kids. The violence is mild (if that's even possible), there's no sexual innuendo or political agenda to be found here. The natives are treated pretty respectfully compared to the pre-code Tarzan movies, and Tarzan himself is a good role model who cares for his family and the jungle animals.Recommended.

TARZAN AND THE TRAPPERS (1958 B&W) features Gordon Scott as Tarzan. This is a mediocre jungle adventure edited together from two or three episodes of a TV series that never surfaced. Gordon Scott plays a great muscular Tarzan but, as another Amazon reviewer noted, the film is compressed in such a way that the images are out of proportion. For example, Gordon Scott appears almost short and stout, albeit muscular. I know this isn't true because I just saw another Scott Tarzan film ("Tarzan and the Lost Safari" from 1957) wherein Scott is tall (6'3") and his waist is incredibly lean. In any event, although this is far from the best Gordon Scott Tarzan picture (his "Tarzan's Greatest Adventure" from 1959 is one of the best films in the entire series), "Tarzan and the Trappers" is well worth watching if for no other reason than to feast your eyes on the awe-inspiring voluptuousness of Eve Brent, who plays "Jane." GRADE: C

"So this is the mighty Tarzan, King of the Jungle"! That's the reaction of Sikes (Saul Gorse) as Tarzan makes his way to the evil trapper's camp. Tarzan (Gordon Scott) had already put away Sikes' brother for foolishly encroaching on Tarzan's domain, and it would only be a matter of time before he would do the same with older brother. If you're following the story with a discerning eye, you might wonder why Sikes didn't capture Tarzan right then and there instead of going through the motions of a jungle man hunt. I guess he wanted to make it a sporting proposition.Gordon Scott makes for a rather well proportioned Tarzan who might have had a backyard jungle gym (can't believe I came up with that one), but he doesn't come across as believable as Weissmuller, or going even further back, someone like Herman Brix. Besides his well proportioned physique, (notice the lats), Scott's hair never once seemed out of place and perfectly groomed at all times. Hard to imagine how that could be while living in the jungle, traveling by vines and wrestling crocs for sport. I'm still waiting for a picture where the jungle lord might actually bleed following one of his encounters with a wild beast, it just never happens.There was one unique feature to the story, Tarzan actually makes a running mount on to a giraffe to gain some speed across the African veld; that's one I haven't seen before. But the real gem of this picture had to be the appearance of Chief Tyana, who I thought from time to time while watching bore a resemblance to a young Scatman Crothers. Holy cow!, the screen credits after the film listed him as Sherman Crothers! Goes to show, you have to get your start somewhere.Not too much else to say, as others on this board have commented on how the picture was spliced together from some pilot TV episodes, and it did actually have that kind of feel to it. For example, it looked like the movie was just about over very early when Tarzan captured the first two trappers. For a Tarzan flick, I guess I would put it about the middle of the pack and that's being generous. You have to hand it to that Cheetah though (Cheta in the credits). He was twenty six years old at the time the picture was made, and didn't look a day over six!

Gordon Scott made an excellent Tarzan, he brought an interesting flair to the role, that was almost a compromise between the smart Tarzan of the books and the ignorant Tarzan of most of the films. In this film, he actually picks up a book and tries to read, but still speaks in a broken manner, however he is still full of wisdom that comes from life in a dangerous jungle. This actually one of the better films, despite some negative publicity from "purists" (read Weissmuller fans). It is entertaining, the jungles all look real, and the double point of anti-poaching/anti-grave robbing is especially poignant. If Tarzan really did exist, that would be the kind of life that he would lead.Excellent ****/****