I grew up with the novels of Tarzan and his adventures, which shouldn’t come as a surprise when you consider that I loved reading and Edgar Rice Burroughs’s hero is considered to be one of the best-known literary characters in the world. There are numerous films based on the novels (over 200 are listed on IMDb) and I chose one from among them motivated by a promotional poster promising a Coming-of-Age tale of the sorts. Its title: Tarzan and the Jungle Boy.
In the film, Tarzan helps the female journalist Myrna (Alizia Gur) in her search for a young boy who supposedly lives in the jungle after surviving a plane crash which killed his father seven years earlier. Unfortunately, my expectations were not met as the character development was a joke, the acting wasn’t convincing and the production design rather poor. The fact that the film was released back in 1968 does not excuse its imperfections, as there are films of considerable quality that were released in that same time frame.
On the positive side, the actors looked their parts – Tarzan (Mike Henry) athletic and heroic, the jungle boy (Steve Bond) appearing full of youthful bravado, stamina and an adventurous spirit (though, for the sake of appearances, he shouldn’t look as if he had just left the hair salon, considering that he is supposed to have lived several years in the jungle by himself). Unfortunately, the poor character development resulted in the fact that the Coming-of-Age themes don’t exist.
Overall I’m surprised that a movie produced by Paramount Pictures is on par, or even inferior in quality, with low budgeted Mexican productions such as Zindy, the Swamp Boy (1973). But their targeted audiences, preteen boys, may still find them enjoyable to watch.
Official Trailer
Little Boy’s runtime is a bit short of two hours, yet skillful editing ensures that the viewer is kept engaged at all times. One example of this is the utilization of parallel cuts to quickly alternate between two actions simultaneously taking place at separate locations (in reality and fantasy: from a room in the house, to a pirate ship, to a village street, to the jungles of the Philippines). Another technique effectively used by the director is Inside/Out editing (where the viewer is jolted suddenly from a familiar scene or line of action to a close up detail in a new and unfamiliar place) resulting in dynamic and exciting scenes.
Searching for another film to watch and review, I stumbled upon an actual (but, alas, somewhat forgotten) classic of the Coming-of-Age cinema: Ted Tetzlaff`s The Treasure of Lost Canyon. 
The original story in the film is told in both a dramatic and a human manner. It captures and holds the interest of the audience thanks to the skillful manner in which director Egon Schlegel amplifies the film’s reality. One learns a great deal about the daily life of German youth during the war years, from their exposure to propaganda and distinct ideologies, to witnessing the horrors of war.
Boychoir.
But this youngster has given some thought to his future as well. In addition to drumming, he likes maths and engineering and can picture himself in the field of science, like his role model Tom Scholz, who went to M.I.T. before starting the band Boston.
After watching a substantial number of films with somewhat similar plots, one can lose hope that an original narrative still exists out there. That is probably why I was pleasantly surprised by the abundance of plot twists and riddles offered by the Austrian directors Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz in their 2014 movie Goodnight Mommy (Original title: Ich seh, Ich seh).
If you thought that the time of magic has long gone by, the children’s movie Wiplala is more than capable to change your mind and amuse you while doing it. Based on a popular Dutch children’s book and directed by Tim Oliehoek the film features an engaging and humorous story which brings back reminiscences of Selma Lagerlöf`s novel The Wonderful Adventures of Nils (A Coming-of-Age masterpiece on its own) and the popular American family films Honey, I Shrunk the Kids and The Indian in the Cupboard (with the latter they even share similar poster artwork).
It is the dream life for many boys – living in the jungle, having a rifle, monkey, and tarantula for best friends. Daily adventures and no school — except when your grandfather makes you copy something from a book).
Portraying sexuality in cinema often results in controversial (in some people’s eyes) films due to the sensitive subject matter being treated. Yet a few brave directors have not hesitated to address the theme such as the Danish filmmaker Lasse Nielsen whose Coming-of-Age film You Are Not Alone (Danish: Du er ikke alene) has turned into a classic since its release in 1976.
