"Under The Southern Cross" (1938)

[BogDog]

This is a truly great sinking scene. It would be great if it were to be digitally remastered. I do love it so much when the victim, preferably a woman manages to struggle there way step by step into the deep thickness of the mire and become Perilously trapped.
I believe there are quite a few Tarzan quicksand scenes that could be from around this era but I can't say I remember them all.

All of the Tarzan-related QS scenes I have witnessed all featured watery mud or floating sawdust-type medium. That rarely if ever works for me. Only Vera's awesome acting made the latter work for me in her famous scene, but just barely. If it had been mud like that in the discussed film here, then Miss Miles would have produced the best QS scenerio ever.


It sound a little weird, but I need good acting from the muck as well as from the starlett. If she's pretending to be stuck but the stuff she's in doesn't appear to be resisting her movements, then it become unbelievable for me and I have to move on. I guess that's why "Under The Southern Cross" attracted my eye so strongly, and possibly why it's drawing all these favorable comments from others as well.

[PM2K]

All of the Tarzan-related QS scenes I have witnessed all featured watery mud or floating sawdust-type medium. That never works for me. Only Vera's awesome acting made the latter work for me in her famous scene. If it had been mud like that in the discussed film here, then Miss Miles would have produced the best QS scenerio ever.

I always thought the best Tarzan scene in terms of the thickness and muddiness of the quicksand itself was in Tarzan of the Amazons. There was some pretty awesome slurping sounds added in to good effect. The Vera Miles scene is great, but in my opinion is seriously flawed at the half way point, where after sinking almost to her nose, she miraculously rises back up to her waist, which totally spoiled the illusion for me. If only Vera stayed nose deep until Tarzan tossed her the vine to haul her up... then the scene would have been stellar.

As for actresses acting to sell a scene, you are absolutely right on that score. I've seen a few productions which, while the muck is great, the actress's wooden delivery spoiled it. For me, a good qs performer could sink in water and make it a scene worth seeing... of course, it is so much better when the bog is thicker.

[kham]

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