Tarzan and His Mate

Released Apr 16, 1934

1h 33m

Adventure

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18 Reviews

Tomatometer

75%

250+ Ratings

Audience Score

Englishman Harry Holt (Neil Hamilton) joins a friend for an African safari on which they hope to find ivory. Holt also hopes to locate former girlfriend Jane Parker (Maureen O'Sullivan) who lives with her husband, Tarzan (Johnny Weissmuller), a white man raised by animals in the jungle. When they find the couple, Jane refuses Holt's overtures. As Holt and his companion continue their search for an ancient elephant burial ground, they unleash havoc from all of the jungle's inhabitants.

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John G

Never seeing a Tarzan movie before, this one is regarded the best. For something produced in 1934, it's remarkable. Maureen O'Sullivan provides sensual freshness to the affair with Tarzan, despite the unreality of his prowess in controlling all of the jungle inhabitants. Remarkable special effects, especially the graceful underwater nude ballet (in TCM's current 104 min. version ).

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/28/24

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Zinjx W

To make a long story short, clearly the best Tarzan movie ever made!.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

02/21/24

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jordan m

I was downright shocked at how much I disliked this movie. I think I enjoyed the first Weissmuller movie a fair amount more than the average viewer, finding the lion-fighting scenes intriguingly unsafe and everything. I went into this expecting more screentime for Tarzan & a general improvement since this is the one in the Library of Congress, but it wasn't - it seems all the hubbub was regarding the naked dancing scene. Tarzan's character arc falls flat here as he's made very little advancement in language in the year that Jane spent with him, he's just as rough with her as he was in the last movie and, most damning of all, there was an absolutely excessive amount of rear projection and matte paintings used in nearly every lion scene, completely ruining the suspension of disbelief as it was far, far less realistic than the first one seemed. Even the monkey work was inferior, and they went through less trouble to hide the trapeze bar he uses while at the same time not inventing any realistic way of Jane traveling with him. I think people who overtly praise this movie can't possibly have seen the 1932 one.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

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Audience Member

The main storyline is the strongest part of Tarzan and His Mate. It tells of two men who seek to enter the jungle seeking an elephant graveyard. One of them went on the first expedition where Tarzan was discovered and Jane was left behind with him, so he plans to use Tarzan’s help in order to locate the valuable ivory. They did a good job of catching us up on what happened in the previous film, so even if you had never heard the legend of Tarzan, you could still follow this film. It’s a straightforward plot, but it works fine, even if there are some moments where people behave illogically just to keep the story moving forward. I could predict most of what happened in the film, but there were a few small twists and turns that surprised me, and I was glad they didn’t spend too much time pursuing a subplot I expected where Jane doubts her decision to live with Tarzan. That felt like the direction they were headed, and I didn’t want to go there with the whole jealousy plotline and all that drama. One thing that surprised me the most was the brutality of the film. It’s not graphic violence, but there is a lot of death in the movie. And I try not to think if they mistreated the animals in the film, but it is questionable how they got them to do certain things without hurting them. I had a lot of problems with Tarzan and His Mate, though. Specifically, I couldn’t stand either of the titular characters in the film. Johnny Weissmuller plays Tarzan as a man that is incapable of more than monosyllabic speech, and he shows no emotion on his face. I suppose it makes sense for a man raise by apes, but then it calls into question how Jane could grow such affection for him. His brow is furrowed in basically every scene so he just looks like a blank canvas through most of the movie. And if I had to hear the canned recording of that Tarzan yell one more time, I was going to scream myself. On the flip side, Maureen O’Sullivan plays Jane as a wonderfully charming woman, and I want to love her. However, she spends the majority of the movie just being the damsel in distress again and again. It’s infuriating how many long scenes are devoted to her getting into trouble, and then calling for Tarzan to come save her. She seemed like such a capable woman, so it was a shame that she acted like she couldn’t do anything for herself. Perhaps I am bringing too much of a modern sensibility to a film from the 1930s, but it was hard to ignore. I still was invested in the main story, when it took center stage, but I guess the style of some older films just doesn’t work for me.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

08/21/19

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Audience Member

The best romance movie ever made!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/26/23

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david l

Tarzan and His Mate still lacks in dialogue and storytelling, but it has less action this time around and more adventure leading to a better film than its predecessor. The sound and cinematography are again superb while the highlight is the sensual romance between the two with that nude swim scene being the most memorable, standout sequence in what truly was a very risqué movie for its time.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

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Cedric Gibbons

Director

Jack Conway

Director

Johnny Weissmuller

Tarzan

Maureen O'Sullivan

Jane Parker

Neil Hamilton

Harry Holt

Paul Cavanagh

Martin Arlington

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Otis Ferguson

The New Republic

The picture is studded with high points (as witness a battle with a rubber crocodile lasting about five uproarious and thrashing minutes), is consistently hair-raising with ambuscades, tom-toms and near escapes, and lasts for something like twelve reels.

Sep 11, 2023

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Kim Newman

Empire Magazine

Engaging and surprisingly sexy and raw for its time with luscious production values.

Rated: 3/5

Aug 7, 2012

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Variety Staff

Variety

The picture has a strange sort of power that overcomes the total lack of logic.

Mar 26, 2009

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Meyer Levin (Patterson Murphy)

Esquire Magazine

The current Tarzan is even better than its predecessors: perfect, when measured by its own standards. A comedy of the impossible; a world in itself.

Apr 17, 2020

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Ann Ross

Maclean's Magazine

There is some good comedy supplied largely by the animals, and the photography is spectacular. For young and old.

Jul 22, 2019

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Helen Brown Norden

Vanity Fair

Amusing, fantastic and lavish.

Jun 6, 2019

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Synopsis

Englishman Harry Holt (Neil Hamilton) joins a friend for an African safari on which they hope to find ivory. Holt also hopes to locate former girlfriend Jane Parker (Maureen O'Sullivan) who lives with her husband, Tarzan (Johnny Weissmuller), a white man raised by animals in the jungle. When they find the couple, Jane refuses Holt's overtures. As Holt and his companion continue their search for an ancient elephant burial ground, they unleash havoc from all of the jungle's inhabitants.

Director: Cedric Gibbons, Jack Conway
Screenwriter: James Kevin McGuinness
Production Co: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Genre: Adventure
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Apr 16, 1934, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Apr 5, 2017
Runtime: 1h 33m