screenshots / Tarzan, the Ape Man / 1959 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

This was the first of two remakes from MGM of 1932's Tarzan the Ape Man starring Johnny Weissmuller (the second being 1981's Tarzan the Apem Man starring Miles O'Keeffe).

Actor Denny Miller became the screen's first blond Tarzan after being recommended by actor William Smith (Daniel Boone: A Matter of Blood) who was orginally considered for the role.

Co-star Joanna Barnes became the 13th actress to play Jane in a Tarzan movie.

Made at the same time as the Sy Weintraub produced Tarzan's Greatest Adventure starring Gordon Scott, the film still managed to find an audience and returned a profit for the studio.

The production filmed at the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Culver City, California.

Previous credits for the film's director Joseph M. Newman include Pony Soldier (1952), This Island Earth (1955) and Fort Massacre (1958).

The film was later edited to under 60 minutes and premired on American television on Feb 23, 1968 as an episode (S1.E25) of the Off to See the Wizard anthology series which ran on ABC-TV from 1967-1968 opposite NBC's Tarzan.

Though Denny Miller would not return to theater screens as Tarzan he did appear in a season 3 episode of TV's Gilligan's Island (Our Vines Have Tender Apes) in 1967, cast as a method actor rehearsing for the movie role of Tongo, the Ape Man.

The film's music was composed by jazz musican Shorty Rogers and a soundtrack album was released on the MGM label in 1960 as "Shorty Roger's Meets Tarzan". (He later composed music for The Paul Lynde Show in 1972-1973).

Denny Miller passed in 2014 at the age of 80.

Joanna Barnes passed in 2022 at the age of 87.