Thursday, May 10, 2018

Tarzan and His Mate


Runtime: 104 minutes

Directed by: Cedric Gibbons... and some uncredited people

Starring: Johnny Weissmuller, Maureen O'Sullivan, Neil Hamilton, Paul Cavanagh, Forrester Harvey

From: MGM


Yep, this is better than Tarzan the Ape Man: 

I understood this was an improvement on the franchise's first (Tarzan, the Ape Man) entry and overall that was correct. The movie was bigger and/or better in a variety of ways: the effects, the number of people in the film, the battles, the number of animals, how the animal interactions look, the overall story, etc. In addition, Jane is a more tolerable character for sure and her annoying moments were less prevailing.

If at first you don't succeed with your ivory-hunting scheme because it ended in a flaming disaster w/ dozens of people killed, why not try, try again? That's what happens here as Jane's ex-fiance returns to the jungle with a new party in a second attempt to find that elephant graveyard filled with all that ivory. They meet up with Tarzan & Jane, but Tarzan is like many people now in being against humans using ivory. Naturally, someone else in the party is a real A-hole so there's some conflict. Yeah, you still have some white people leading a battle against African natives and it is a little awkward to realize that in these modern times, but otherwise I can say this is a very good film.

This plays little into my rating as overall it is a quite enjoyable jungle adventure flick, but this was still Pre-Code so this is still randy compared to things being toned way the F down once the Hays Code began. Jane wears a revealing outfit for much of the film, not to mention how she and Tarzan are a couple that sleep together despite not being married... and oh yeah, you get to see Maureen O'Sullivan nude! That was NOT what audiences saw in '34 but the original version of the film is the one in circulation and that's what Turner Classic Movies played on Tuesday night.

I won't spoil all the impressive moments but there definitely are at least a few and those help make this such a romp.

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