John T. Ryan
FOR THE SECOND film in a row, our Jungle Lord both leaves Africa to be a Globe Trotting troubleshooter and also enters the film in an aircraft. In the previous outing, TARZAN GOES TO India (Aflin A.G., MGM. 1962), he dives into a river from the small plane. With no flowing body of water handy, the Apeman goes it the common sense route; making use of a parachute.WE SOON LEARN that this unnamed land (somewhwhere in the region referred to as Indochina *)is in trouble due to political and religious treachery. The trouble from a jealous brother, who is a pretender to both the throne; as well as his coveting the position of religious leader (apparently being a Budist nation with a Dali Lama like Holy Man in charge(.TARZAN PROMISES THE dying King that he will protect the young heir to the throne from the evil brother, Khan, who will stop at nothing to ensure that the line of succession will pass to Kahn's son, who is the rightful heir's cousin. Understand? INCIDENTALLY, BOTH THE infirm King and this warrior guy, Khan, are capably portrayed by former Decathalon Champ and Football End from UCLA and the Los Aneles Rams, Mr. Woody Strode.BUT IN MUCH the same manner as the character of Darth Vader was brought to the screen in a sort of 'Tag Team' method; using two actors to cerate one character. In STAR WARS(Lucas Films Ltd., 20th Cetury-Fox, 1977), it was 6' 7" former Weightlifter/Bodybuilder, David Prowse, who gave Vader his imposing physical presence; while James Earl Jones gave us the benefit of his fine, deep and richly voiced tones.IN THIS OUTING,TARZAN'S THREE CHALLENGES (Banner Productions, MGM, 1963), most of the voices are dubbed over the words spoken by the multitude of mainly native Asian actors on location where the filming was done, in Malaysia and Thailand. The voices that appear in the final, on-screen product have an overall British tone and accent (not that we're suggesting that most residents of the U.K. wear overalls).ANOTHER DISTINCTIVE ATTRIBUTE of the movie is the very crisp and distinctive presence of the sound effects used in the sound track. The general expression of action for the ear seems to be at least somewhat exaggerated; often could be classified as highly or even extremely over stated. That is not to imply that this treatment of sound is too extreme; for it all adds up to being proper and even equal proportions, when all components are assembled.THE VISUALS ARE very good, even breathtaking at times. The great and expansive tropical outdoors are shown to fine advantage; all of which gives us a truly authentic jungle in which to send all of our suspension of disbelief. Cdertainly, no jungle picture has had better "sets" on which to film. Without having to consciously say or think it, we know that this movie wasn't done on a Hollywood Studio's back lot.ALL OF THESE previously mentioned elements add up to give us the thesis that appears in the Summary Box above these written paragraphs. The intensity of sound, the crisp editing of action sequences together with the dubbed speech, all add up to a movie which is very much like that which was coming out of Italy and Spain from such filmmakers such as Sergio Leone and Bruno Bozetto.WE BELIEVE THAT this was indeed no accident; for "Hollywood" is and has long been famous for doing one things. That is following trends and fads. Many would say that this is stealing, plagiarizing and not very honest or original.OF COURSE, ON the other hand, they** say that, "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery!" THIS WAS FOLLOWED-UP with TARZAN AND THE VALLEY OF GOLD*** (Banner Productions, American International Pictures, 1967); which brought us a nearly perfect Tarzan physical specimen in ex L.A. Rams Linebacker, Mike Henry. THREE CHALLENGES was Jock Mahoney's farewell to the loincloth.NOTE: * Indochina = Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, Burma (?).NOTE: ** That is, whoever "they" are.NOTE: *** Speaking of following trends, just watch the opening of the VALLEY OF GOLD to see how much the very popular JAMES BOND 007 Series had grown and shed its influence over the movies.
bkoganbing
Although this film was shot in Thailand, the small inaccessible kingdom where the action of the film takes place looks more like a Tibetian type culture. Jock Mahoney plays Tarzan for the second and last time in Tarzan's Three Challenges. And the title is a misnomer, the heir to the kingdom has three challenges, Tarzan is his champion in the fourth which is a kind of medieval wager of battle.Woody Strode is both the old and dying king and his younger ambitious brother. A young child played by Ricky Der is named the heir probably in a process similar to how the Dalai Lama is chosen. The brother who is a warrior and has trained his son to be the same thinks the time has come for a warrior to lead in this modern age and the hell with traditions of pacifism. Tarzan comes to this kingdom to aid young Master Der on his journey to claim his rights. And of course Strode the warrior tries to stop him as the king Strode dies. When Der completes his three challenges Strode does the wager of battle thing that involves barrels of hot oil. Quite a good challenge as Tarzan is the only guy around who would have chance against Strode.Actually Strode the warrior does make some rather valid points about moving into the 20th century. Even the Dalai Lama in exile has come to grips with modernity in some ways.Tarzan's Three Challenges holds up very well for today's audiences, these films shot on location are so much better than those shot on the back lot of RKO back in the day.
lemon_magic
I actually count this as a "7" as a genre movie (as opposed to the serious "A" list stuff that gets the Oscar nominations every year) because it has a lot of heart, some pretty good casting and performances (you gotta love Woody Strode when he plays a heavy), and a lot of nice touches in the screenplay. (I especially enjoyed the "test of wisdom" challenge, where Tarzan gives a very clever and witty answer to the monks' puzzler.) As a kid I was a bit taken back by how skinny the "new" Tarzan seemed to be compared to the beefcake idols who preceded him, but knowing that poor Jock Mahoney was dealing with dysentery and dengue fever during the shooting of the film explains a lot. Even so, "Tarzan" was still lithe and agile looking, and the character seemed to have a wisdom and wit that was missing from previous movies (Lex Barker was great, but his character was still somewhat pre-verbal.) This made for an interesting change in the movie. Normally Tarzan is the primal Alpha Male in a Tarzan movie, and the outcome is never really in doubt. However,it was obvious from the beginning that for all his sinew and courage and resourcefulness, Tarzan might be outmatched this time by the Woody Strode character. It made for a genuinely suspenseful climax when the two finally locked horns. Or swords, or whatever.In short, for what it was "Three Challenges" was a fine movie. I'd love to see it again some time soon.
Shiloh-3
This is Tarzan at its best. A man of nature dealing with the nature of man. Defending the spiritual from the corporeal. Terrific allegory. Jock Mahoney, although a bit old at the time of this film, is a terrific Tarzan. My favorite.
