Tarzan and His Mate

I often half-jokingly refer to "Tarzan and His Mate" as the "T2" of the 1930s, simply because it's packed with special effects, action, and spectacle of the big budget variety that I usually associate with modern films. Sure, some of the visuals look duff now - there's heavy use of rear screen projection and rubber animals - but there's also amazing sights like elephant stampedes, monkeys fighting tigers, hapless people tumbling off cliffs, and a huge elephant graveyard that must rank among the most memorable movie sets of all time.

Never mind the spectacle, though; the best part is the script. Maureen O'Sullivan has a surprisingly wonderful role as Jane. In fact, she carries the movie, since all Tarzan can really do is yodel and swing. She has to fend off the advances of two unsavory ivory hunters who want to lure her back to civilization. Tarzan is doubly threatened by these seedy guys - they want to kill his elephants AND they want his woman. This dual conflict keeps the movie cooking.

There's an amazing amount of violence in the film, including some spectacular battles with nasty tribesmen and knife fights with huge beasties. You'll even get to see a corpse with an arrow through its forehead and bugs crawling all over it. There's a bit of nudity as well, but don't get too excited as it's not really Maureen O'Sullivan swimming in the buff (but it is still swimming in the buff, so feel free to get excited anyway!). Amazing, isn't it, that "Tarzan and His Mate" is such a visceral viewing experience...especially when compared to the much tamer films that followed after Hollywood instituted a strict moral code.

Romantic, sexy, exciting, exotic - in short, all you could expect from a Tarzan movie. And the heroic monkeys are just the cutest thing ever. Once you make it past a rather dry first scene, this movie rocks all the way through.

Never before and never since has there been a more wonderful Tarzan movie than this one. While the first Weismuller Tarzan movie, "Tarzan The Ape Man" is required viewing before seeing this one, "Tarzan And His Mate" is the only one to watch if you have to pick just one Tarzan movie. The film delivers in action, excitement and romance on a grand level with Maureen O'Sullivan looking absolutely sexy in her abbreviated costume as Jane. Unfortunately, the iron hand of the Hays Office forced all subsequent Weismuller-O'Sullivan Tarzan films to be toned down in the romance department (with O'Sullivan getting more conservative wardrobe) and the series never came close to this film again. Highly recommended.

It's interesting how movies slumped after the censors got their out of joint noses involved. Our Puritan foundation really diminished a lot of film for many years (in some ways, it's still happening today). Like "Bride of Frankenstein" surpassing the original, "Tarzan and His Mate" is superior to the first Weissmuller film. Maureen O'Sullivan is incredible to look at, but has all the feistiness and self esteem to hold her own with the big guy. But most importantly, the producers and writers asked themselves what a true depiction of these two, living in the jungle, should be like. They went for the rawness. In addition to the recognition of the sexuality in this film, it is filled with well crafted adventures and close calls. Efforts are still being made by the Westerners to try to reclaim the beautiful young woman. These movies were much more fundamental than the silly stuff that came later, as professional body builders and football players got into the mix. When filmmakers had to work with less, they often had to resort to creativity and imagination.

As noted by other reviewers this is one of the best Tarzan movies. Unlike others however, I like the beginning of the film as it feels like a pretty accurate depiction of what a trading post must have been like. Plus the exposition is needed so we know why Harry wants to go back into the jungle. In addition the beginning of the film contains one of the most thrilling and terrifying chase sequences ever made.This occurs when Harry's safari group has to outrun a tribe of cannibals. The pre-censorship production values add a lot of realism, genuinely depicting the terrible dangers that awaited Europeans going into the jungle. The film also offers, though perhaps antecedently, an accurate account of how horribly treated the native Africans were by their white employers. In addition sexy Jane, thousands of elephants , some great sets and two chetas! Not to be missed an adventure classic.

It feels weird saying this as a young black man of 29, but Maureen O'Sullivan engenders/embodies a flirty sexuality unequaled in today's movies. She plays tomboyish, but is so flirty at the same time that renders her simply irresistible as Jane. I'm also surprised that Tarzan is still so rough with her and that that was acceptable back in the day. I mean, it's cute, but a tad ungentlemanly.

Since I need to write at least ten lines, I'll continue on...

It's actually really refreshing, the irrelevance of the shame of nudity in this film. Here we are, in 1934, with a man undressing for a bath in the same room with his friend. Jane's naked silhouette tempting the imaginations of every red-blooded American. It's just so natural and alluring in its unabashedness. The skinny-dipping scene is a beautiful ballet of light, water, and skin. It's not pornographic, simply playful and free.

As a black man, I'd love if there was some way the treatment of blacks in this film weren't so harsh, as though all they are are beasts of burden, but I suppose it was a sign of the times. It's darned near slavery. But then again, I never traveled on safari in Africa in the 30s.