Jane's cousins come to Africa looking to take her back to England. They enlist the help of a big game hunter who, like every hunter in the Tarzan series, is evil. None of this goes over well with Tarzan. Third entry in MGM's Tarzan series is less impressive than the first two but still entertaining in its own right. Maureen O'Sullivan's charm and playful chemistry with Johnny Weissmuller is the best part of the movie. Actually, it's probably the best part of the entire series to me.
As other reviewers have discussed, this one was meddled with by the studio, who deemed the original cut too violent after poor screenings. Unfortunately, we'll probably never know how good that version was. The biggest cut we know of is the much-talked about climax involving giant bats. It sounds pretty cool and I hope someday a copy of that cut exists so we can see it. Still, even with the cuts, the climax of this film is still exciting.
It's an enjoyable film, even if it doesn't hold up well compared to the two that preceded it. Weissmuller and O'Sullivan are terrific. The rest of the cast is pretty good, too, with Herbert Mundin a standout. I can't imagine any fan of the series not liking this one, even if the spectre of "what might have been" hangs over it. Too bad about those bats, though.
