Tarzan and His Mate

Harry Holt returns to Africa. His partner Martin is with him and they mean to mount a large ivory expedition; they want to reach the place said to be the elephants' graveyard. The only way there is Tarzan. At the same time Harry wants to take Jane back; she lives in the forest and has no thought of returning to the city. The expedition sets out. Martin tries every means to get a result and decides to put Tarzan out of the way. Cedric Gibbons directs. Johnny Weissmüller plays Tarzan and Maureen O'Sullivan plays Jane. The film is the second in the series and was made just before the American censorship rules began to be enforced strictly. Because of that it contains scenes not seen in later productions of the period; a swimming sequence in particular was cut afterwards and the film was shown incomplete for years. Jane's costume and her position were changed in the later films of the series; this is how it stood before that change. Some of the animal footage is real and some was staged in the studio, and those sections are found uncomfortable now. The opposition the narrative builds is exploitation against nature; Martin plainly stands for greed. Its depiction of Africa carries the view of the period and is plainly problematic now. Who it is for: anyone curious about classic adventure films and film history. Who it is not for: the representation is problematic, the animal scenes uncomfortable, and the narrative simple.