Tarzan and His Mate (1934) Director: Cedric Gibbons
“There’s only one man that means anything to me… and that’s Tarzan.”
The second in the classic Tarzan movie series (a total of six films were made between 1932-1942) and based on Edgar Rice Burroughs’s original books, Tarzan and His Mate is a considerably racier film than its predecessor. This amusing little risqué adventure sees its exotic protagonists hopping around echoey MGM backlots, barely clothed, dropping various innuendos, and it even features an extensive scene of Tarzan and Jane swimming nude in a river (Maureen O’Sullivan later said this was not actually her in the scene, but rather a double named Josephine McKim instead –O’Sullivan had never learned how to swim). Needless to say, MGM later cut many of these scenes from the final film, especially as a more conservative, censorious culture took hold (naturally, it was banned by the national socialist party in Germany). Tarzan and His Mate is a pretty silly pre-code movie, but there are some fun practical effects used here –particularly when Tarzan swings into acrobatic leaps from tree to tree, or when he wrestles a giant crocodile underwater. Amazingly, Tarzan and His Mate was a bit of a box office disappointment in 1934 in contrast to its predecessor, but if forced to choose, I would submit that Tarzan and His Mate is superior to the first film Tarzan the Ape Man.
In the film, Harry Holt (reprised by Neil Hamilton) and his friend/business partner Martin Arlington (Paul Cavanagh) have ventured deep into the jungle with a group of natives. They are hunting ivory at the elusive elephant burial ground from the first film –Holt describes how he visited this jungle before and came across Tarzan (reprised by Olympian Johnny Weissmuller) and his paramour, Jane Parker (reprised by Maureen O’Sullivan, the future mother of Mia Farrow). In addition to hunting ivory, Holt is also searching for Jane because he claims to be in love with her. Along the way, the Holt and Arlington safari encounters strung up bodies, hostile natives, and aggressive animals so they escape deeper into the jungle until they are spotted by Tarzan, Jane, and their pet chimpanzee “Cheeta.” When finally reunited, Holt desperately wants to bring Jane back to civilization (he shows her the finest dresses from Paris and a recording of new jazz music), but Jane remains steadfast in her wish to remain beside Tarzan in the jungle (she describes their relationship in terms of a marriage). In this film, the wild, untamed jungle is portrayed with a certain degree of celebration –a place of pure freedom—in contrast to the stuffy and slightly racist world of Holt and Arlington.
At any rate, Tarzan agrees to help the safari locate the sacred elephant burial ground. As they proceed further, the true aims of Holt and Arlington become apparent (i.e. hunting ivory) and Tarzan refuses to guide them any longer. Able to communicate with animals, Tarzan helps the elephants as they all turn on Holt and Arlington. Harry then sneakily shoots Tarzan out of a tree and, thinking he is dead, he again attempts to persuade Jane to return to civilization, but little does he know Tarzan has actually been rescued by his animal friends. The safari, meanwhile, is accosted by a cohort of fearsome natives and a pack of lions which slaughters them all, until Tarzan manages to recover his strength and narrowly rescues Jane and Cheeta from certain death with a little help from the elephants. The film ends as Tarzan, Jane, Cheeta, and the elephants all return to the sacred burial ground together.
Click here to read my review of Tarzan the Ape Man (1932).
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Credits:
- Directed by: Cedric Gibbons
- Written by: James Kevin McGuinness
- Based on: the writings of Edgar Rice Burroughs
- Produced by: Bernard H. Hyman
- Starring:
- Johnny Weismuller…..Tarzan
- Maureen O’Sullivan…..Jane Parker
- Neil Hamilton…..Harry Holt
- Paul Cavanagh…..Martin Arlington
- Cinematography: Clyde De Vinna, Charles G. Clarke
- Edited by: Tom Held
- Music by: William Axt
- Production Company: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer