Tarzan and the Mermaids was Johnny Weissmuller’s last Tarzan movie after 17 years of jumping from one vine to another. He would switch over to Jungle Jim with his next movie, where he could finally wear clothes and shoes and stay on the ground. He does manage to wear sandals in this one, though. The mermaids are actually pearl divers and Boy (Johnny Sheffield, who retired at the age of 24)), although briefly mentioned, is off doing his own swinging in the 12 Bomba movies, starting with Bomba, the Jungle Boy in 1949. George Zucco plays his sinister evil character (a natural for him) and Tarzan has to go up against a fake god. While purportedly the jungle, the movie was actually filmed in Acapulco. Weissmuller liked the scenery so much he eventually settled down there. In this last outing, at the age of 43, he fights villains, swims underwater, and locks arms with a giant octopus. Dimitri Tiomkin (High Noon) added to the milieu with his scoring, while scripter Carroll Young provides a different take from the usual Tarzan storyline. Tragically, Angel Garcia, who doubled for Weissmuller, was killed in the spectacular high dive when the tide swept him back into the jagged rocks.
