The two main heirlooms Tarzan found in his father's cabin in Tarzan of the Apes (1918) - the locket and hunting knife - become a single object in the film: the carved knife that Tarzan wears around his neck.
The original star was to have been Joe Bonomo, promoted by the studio as "the greatest of all Tarzans." Near the end of work on another picture, Perils of the Wild (1925), Bonono fractured his left leg and injured his sacroiliac. Frank Merrill, who had doubled for Elmo Lincoln in Perils of the Jungle (1927), was offered the job and began work the next day.
When a friend of Frank Merrill's learned of a physical culture contest in England, he entered Merrill's photo without his knowledge. Merrill was voted second runner-up for "World's Most Perfectly Developed Man" and the publicity from this added to attendance at the movie. Ironically, Merrill's body was more thoroughly covered in this film than any other Tarzan movie.
This serial is presumed lost.
Episode titles:
1. The Terror of Tarzan
2. The Love Cry
3. The Call of the Jungle
4. The Lion's Leap
5. Flames of Hate
6. The Fiery Pit
7. The Leopard's Lair
8. The Jungle Traitor
9. Lost in the Jungle
10. Jaws of Death
11. A Thief in the Night
12. The Enemy of Tarzan
13. Perilous Paths
14. Facing Death
15. The Reckoning