IVERSON MOVIE RANCH

Many of the movies and serials inspired by Edgar Rice Burroughs' writings have been lensed at the Iverson Movie Ranch. Based on the versions readily available on video tape, the first extensive use of the ranch for an Edgar Rice Burroughs inspired story was probably "Tarzan the Fearless". However, it appears that the 1932 Johnny Weissmuller "Tarzan the Ape Man" was the first to shoot some scenes there and "Tarzan and the She-Devil" was the last to utilize the location (Note 1).

In "Tarzan the Ape Man", the ranch does not appear until the final scenes of the movie, right after the death of Jane's father. The section of the film where Holt says goodbye to Tarzan and Jane was filmed at the ranch in a canyon to the west of the Garden of the Gods (Note 2).       Photo to left: Garden of the Gods aerial view.

For "Tarzan the Fearless", based on stills of the serial, the major use of Iverson in this film did not appear in the feature version (which is the only version available today). However, the ranch does appear in the following scenes (in the following order in the feature): near the beginning of the film with Tarzan and Dr. Brooks on the elephant; after the rescue of Mary Brooks by Tarzan from the alligator in the lake, you will see an elephant arising from the ground at the ranch (Note 3); the entrance to the temple of Zar; Tarzan to the rescue of Dr. Brooks, Bob, and Jeff after their capture at Zar; the gorilla (or is it a great ape?) and the elephant scene; the capture of Mary at Zar; and finally the dancing elephant scene near the end of the feature.

The next use of the ranch for an ERB story (in name only) was "Jungle Girl" in 1941. Republic Pictures Studio purchased the film rights to ERB's name and the title of the book only (Note 4). They created an entirely new storyline and character, Nyoka Meredith, and put together a topnotch 15 chapter serial, which, a year later, led to one of the studios best serials, "Perils of Nyoka" which we will look at later.

Scenes at the ranch for this Frances Gifford serial include: chapter one, the cave exterior on the Lower Iverson and the plane landing scene on the Upper Iverson; chapter two, Tom Neal climbing down from a cliff on the Lower Iverson, but only the shots filmed from the top side; chapter four, the cliff top (now referred to as the Cliffs of Nyoka) and the stagecoach road that leads from the Lone Ranger Rock down and around Nyoka's cliff, all on the Lower Iverson; chapter seven, the crossing of the fallen tree closeups, but not the long shots; chapter nine, from the cliffhanger ending to the Lake Sherwood scenes; chapter ten, the jungle fight scene prior to the cliffhanger; and chapter eleven, one of the gorges on the Lower Iverson for the basket crossing scene.

For "Tarzan's Secret Treasure", also filmed in 1941, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer used the Lower Iverson for the farewell scenes at the end of the picture as Tarzan, Jane, and Boy say goodbye to O'Doul.

In 1942, the sequel to "Jungle Girl" entitled "Perils of Nyoka" came to the theaters in the form of a fifteen chapter serial, now known as "Nyoka and the Tiger-Men" from its re-released name. I'm including this Nyoka Gordon film in this article only because of its distant ancestry to "Jungle Girl" and because it shows the Iverson ranch off better than any of the other ERB based films in this article. In fact, by viewing only chapter one of the serial, you will see all the prominent features of the Lower Iverson: the exterior of Vultura's palace, which is in a gorge east of the Cliffs of Nyoka; the caves of Nyoka shows the Cliffs of Nyoka in the background, which is the gorge that has the Lone Ranger rock; and the most famous rock formations at Iverson ranch, the Garden of the Gods, where the signal scene and ambush scene were filmed.

It was eight years before Tarzan returned to Iverson in "Tarzan and the Slave Girl" in 1950, now starring Lex Barker in the title role. The ranch appears in the sequence that begins with the gorge crossing as Tarzan and company escape from the Wadis and head to Lyolia and ends at Lyolia.

The following year, 1951, the ranch is seen near the beginning of "Tarzan's Peril" where Radijeck, Trask, Andrews and company decide to travel by foot after one of their trucks breaks down.

1952's "Tarzan's Savage Fury" contains more varied location work than any of the previous Lex Barker Tarzan's. The Lower Iverson is first seen at the Waziri village. Later, when Rokov pushes Edwards off a cliff and the scenes leading up to and including Tarzan climbing partway down the cliff are all at the ranch. And the elevated viewpoint of the Waziri village later in the movie shows that set to full advantage (Note 5).

Although this was the final time that new material was filmed at the ranch, two later entries in the series used stock footage from "Tarzan the Fearless" that included the ranch (Note 1).

NOTES:

1. Quiet on the Set! Motion Picture History at the Iverson Movie Location Ranch by Robert G. Sherman published in 1984 by Sherway Publishing Company, page 59: "The studios found the ranch very adaptable for the jungle scenes needed in the films. Thus, for 35 years, the ranch was the setting for a host of Tarzan movies, starting in 1919 with Elmo Lincoln ... and continuing through 1953 with ... Lex Barker." and "At least nine major Tarzan movies were made at the ranch from 1919 through 1953." Page 92: "One of the picturesque canyons at the ranch was skillfully transformed into the jungles of Africa for the filming of Tarzan and the Lost Safari." Unfortunately, Mr. Sherman's book is full of errors but does give a good overview of the history of the ranch and of the Iverson family.

2. Although condominiums now cover the landscape of that section of the ranch, the mountain range in the background identifies the location.

3. This same scene, shown in reverse with the elephant lying down instead of standing up, was used in three other entries in the Tarzan series: "Tarzan and the She-Devil", "Tarzan's Hidden Jungle", and "Tarzan and the Trappers".

4. Jungle Girl: The First 'Nyoka' Serial by Bill Feret, FILMFAX, The Magazine of Unusual Film and Television, Sept./Oct. 1988, issue No. 12.

5. Because of the varied locations in this picture, I am including this brief rundown of them: the Arboretum was used for the raft crossing the river, many of the jungle scenes (instead of using the RKO backlot), and the first native village in the picture; the Alabama Hills at Lone Pine, California, appear in the mountain climbing scenes; and the Olancha sand dunes south of Lone Pine were used for the desert scenes.

FILMOGRAPHY OF ERB-BASED FILMS:

"Tarzan the Ape Man" (MGM 1932). Directed by: W. S. Van Dyke. Cast: Johnny Weissmuller, Neil Hamilton, C. Aubrey Smith, Maureen O'Sullivan, Doris Lloyd, Forrester Harvey, Ivory Williams.

"Tarzan the Fearless" (Principal Productions 1933). Directed by: Robert F. Hill. Cast: Buster Crabbe, Jacqueline Wells, Eddie Woods, Philo McCullough, E. Alyn Warren, Mischa Auer, Matthew Betz, Frank Lackteen.

"Jungle Girl" (Republic 1941). Directed by: William Witney & John English. Cast: Frances Gifford, Tom Neal, Trevor Bardette, Gerald Mohr, Eddie Acuff, Frank Lackteen, Tommy Cook, Robert Barron, Al Kikume, Bud Gerry, Al Taylor, Joe McQuinn, Jerry Frank, Kenneth Terrell.

"Tarzan's Secret Treasure" (MGM 1941). Directed by: Richard Thorpe. Cast: Johnny Weissmuller, Maureen O'Sullivan, John Sheffield, Reginald Owen, Barry Fitzgerald, Tom Conway, Philip Dorn.

"Perils of Nyoka" (Republic 1942). Directed by: William Witney. Cast: Kay Aldridge, Clayton Moore, William Benedict, Lorna Gray, Charles Middleton, Tristram Coffin, Forbes Murray, Robert Strange, George Pembroke, George Renavent, John Davidson, George Lewis, Ken Terrell, John Bagni, Kenneth Duncan, Arvon Dale.

"Tarzan and the Slave Girl" (RKO 1950). Directed by: Lee Sholem. Cast: Lex Barker, Vanessa Brown, Robert Alda, Hurd Hatfield, Arthur Shields, Tony Caruso, Denise Darcel, Robert Warwick.

"Tarzan's Peril" (RKO 1951). Directed by: Byron Haskin. Cast: Lex Barker, Virginia Huston, George Macready, Douglas Fowley, Glenn Anders, Dorothy Dandridge, Alan Napier, Frederick O'Neal, Edward Ashley.

"Tarzan's Savage Fury" (RKO 1952). Directed by: Cyril Endfield. Cast: Lex Barker, Dorothy Hart, Patric Knowles, Charles Korvin, Tommy Carlton.

"Tarzan and the She-Devil" (RKO 1953). Directed by: Kurt Neumann. Cast: Lex Barker, Joyce Mackenzie, Raymond Burr, Monique Van Vooren, Tom Conway, Michael Grainger, Henry Brandon.

"Tarzan's Hidden Jungle" (RKO 1955). Directed by: Harold Schuster. Cast: Gordon Scott, Vera Miles, Peter Van Eyck, Jack Elam, Charles Fredericks, Richard Reeves.

"Tarzan and the Trappers" (Lesser 1958). Directed by: Charles Haas & Sandy Howard. Cast: Gordon Scott, Eve Brent, Rickie Sorensen, Cheta, Lesley Bradley, Maurice Marsac, Bruce Lester, Naaman Brown, Paul Thompson, Carl Christian, Saul Gorse, William Keene, Sherman Crothers, Madame Sul-Te-Wa, Paul Stader, Don Blackman.