Tarzan and the Green Goddess

 

Upon finishing Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez, I immediately began reading one of his earlier novels, In Evil Hour. We're told very early in the book that the story begins on October 4th - the feast day of St. Frances of Assisi - although we're not told the year, or the location of the events, for that matter. However, it's apparent that the story takes place in a small town somewhere in Latin America.

It begins with a character called "The Pastor" being murdered by one César Montero. After the arrest of Montero and the funeral of "The Pastor", the local priest, Father Ángel informs the owner of the movie house that it would not be appropriate to show a movie on the night of a funeral taking place in the town. Márquez tells us that the movie was Tarzan and the Green Goddess.

Naturally, I had to look online to find a copy of the movie. According to imdb.com, the movie was initially released in 1935 as a serial, The New Adventures of Tarzan, later to be edited in 1938 into a feature film. Fortunately for me, the movie is only slightly longer than an hour. Although the plot is standard for a serial of that era, the film is a bit strange, even for 1935.

In the film, Tarzan spends part of the time in his Lord Greystoke persona. For reasons that are never quite clear, Tarzan is in Guatemala, rather than Africa. He is part of an expedition that has set out to retrieve a lost Mayan idol called the Green Goddess. Just as we aren’t told how Tarzan came to Guatemala, we’re also not told how there came to be lions, giraffes, elephants, rhinos, and chimpanzees in the Central American country either.

The bizarre scenes continue to the end when Tarzan and his companions, George, Ula Vale, and Maj. Martling arrive at Greystoke Mansion. According to the Tarzan stories, Greystoke Mansion is located in Britain, but the costumes worn by Tarzan and his friends, as well as the locals living around Greystoke appear to be Germanic.......leading us to believe the mansion is in Germany, Austria or somewhere thereabouts.

I have to wonder why Márquez made the point of giving us the name of this film. It’s certainly not a classic movie.