5/5 "Paramount Pictures ... Swamp Fire (1946) ... VCI Home Video"
  by J. Lovins (Missouri-USA)
VCI Entertainment and Paramount Pictures present "SWAMP FIRE" (1946) (69 mins/B&W) (Dolby digitally remastered) --- relive those thrilling adventures when Johnny Weissmuller and Buster Crabbe took us down the Mighty Mississippi River with suspenseful excitement at every turn... many of these films were a staple of Saturday matinees in the 1930s and 1940s ... don't miss any of the Paramount features loaded with action that will leave you wanting more of this duos screen time in Hollywood USA,

Under William Pine (Director / Producer), William C. Thomas (Producer), Daniel Mainwaring (Screenwriter), Fred Jackman, Jr. (Cinematographer), Rudy Schrager (Composer (Music Score), Howard A. Smith (Editor), Paul F. Sylos (Art Director), Harold E. Knox (First Assistant Director) ------ the cast includes Johnny Weissmuller (Johnny Duval), Buster Crabbe (Mike Kalavich), Virginia Grey (Janet Hilton), Carol Thurston (Toni Rousseau), Pedro de Cordoba (Tim Rousseau), Marcelle Corday (Grandmere Roussea), William Edmunds (Emile Ledoux), Edwin Maxwell (Capt. Pierre Moise), Pierre Watkin (P.T. Hilton), Charles Gordon (Capt. Hal Peyton), Frank Fenton (Capt. Pete Dailey), David Janssen (Emile's eldest son), I. Stanford Jolley (Coast Guard Skipper) . . . . . . . our film and story brings together for the first time on the big screen two former Tarzans, Johnny Weissmuller and Buster Crabbe ... each in love with the same girl and on the opposite sides of the Louisiana Bayou when it came to obeying the laws of the land ... Weissmuller is the Captain of a River Boat and Crabbe is a trapper picking up his catches on taboo land of the government ... watch the two stars exhibit their talent of wrestling in an alligator hole, did I say for their lives ... keep your eyes peeled for a young David Janssen ("Richard Diamond" and "The Fugitive" Television Series) and a wonderful B-Western and Serial character actor I. Stanford Jolley who was a pioneer also in film noir films.------ another great river adventure under the Paramount banner, proves to be one of director William Pine and screenwriter Daniel Mainwaring best outing.

Special foonote, actor Johnny Weissmuller was one of the world's best swimmers in the 1920s, winning five Olympic gold medals and one bronze medal ... won fifty-two US National Championships and set sixty-seven world records ... following his swimming career, he became the sixth actor to portray Tarzan in films, a role he played in twelve motion pictures ... Weissmuller left that role and immediately traded his loincloth costume for jungle fatigues and appeared fully clothed in the role of Jungle Jim (1948) for Columbia, where he made thirteen Jungle Jim movies between (1948) and (1954), the next year he appeared in three more jungle movies playing himself ... many actors also played Tarzan such as Buster Crabbe, but Weissmuller was the best-known, with a distinctive, ululating Tarzan yell is still often used in films ... during an appearance on television's Mike Douglas Show in the 1970's, Weissmuller explained how the famous yell was created ... recordings of three vocalists were spliced together to get the effect--a soprano, an alto, and a hog caller.

Second special footnote, actor Buster Crabbe graduated from the University of Southern California and won the 400 meter freestyle in which he medaled in the 1932 Olympics, went to work for Paramount in "King of the Jungle" (1933), next role was "Tarzan the Fearless (1933), Crabbe returned to Paramount Pictures was featured in Zane Grey Westerns which were well received, then came the roles that made him a household word "Flash Gordon" and "Buck Rogers" at Universal Picture Serials (1936-1940), meanwhile PRC Studios was looking for a leading hero "Billy the Kid" and "Billy Carson" in the 1940's B-Western series and ran its course for six years, later made several televison appearances and appeared in a series "Captain Gallant and the Foreign Legion" (1955-1957).....

SPECIAL FEATURES:
BIOS:

1. Johnny Weissmuller (aka: Janos Weissmuller)
Date of birth: 2 June 1904 - Freidorf, Banat, Austria-Hungary (now Romania)
Date of death: 20 January 1984 - Acapulco, Mexico
2. Buster Crabbe (aka: Clarence Linden Crabbe II)
Birth Date: 2/17/1907 - Oakland California
Died: 4/23/1983 - Scottsdale, Arizona

Great job by VCI Entertainment for releasing "Swamp Fire" (1946) -
Johnny Weissmuller & Buster Crabbe, the digital transfere with a clean,
clear and crisp print...looking forward to more high quality releases from
the vintage serial era of the '20s, '30s & '40s and B-Westerns...order your
copy now from Amazon or VCI Entertainment where there are plenty of
copies available on DVD and VHS, stay tuned once again for top notch
action mixed with deadly adventure from the "King of Serials" VCI...just
the way we like 'em

Total Time: 69 min on DVD/VHS ~ VCI Home Video ~ (10/24/2000)

2/5 For the devoted fan
  by M. E. Field (Memphis, Tn)
This film is for fans of the genre and the Tarzan star, Johnny Weismuller. He gets to wrestle and kill a crocidle in this one too!

I watched it because I'm a big David Janssen fan and he had a small uncredited part near the beginning of the film. He was probably 13 or 14 years old at the time.