In 1932 M.G.M's Tarzan, The Ape Man cost $652,675 to make, and took $2.54 million at the box office. Ideas for scenes in a follow up toyed with the idea of a fight with a huge mechanical crocodile, and a spectacular jungle fire. For the day it was to be complex, involving such devices as matte paintings, miniatures, split screens, and rear projection. The Hollywood Reporter announced that W. S. Van Dyke (director of the first Tarzan) was to co-direct with Art Director Cedric Gibbons. By July 1, 1933, Van Dyke was dropped from the project, and Gibbons was announced as the film's sole director. In September 1933 however, the Hollywood Reporter announced that Jack Conway was to take over the direction of one of Gibbons' units.Cedric Gibbons was the house Art Director at M.G.M, so, how did he come to be assigned the job of directing Tarzan & His Mate (and as you shall soon find out), end up not directing it, and yet still get credit? I've wondered if because his surname is Gibbons, they thought it would be a good gag. The 'Gibbon' is a lesser ape, and a great master of brachiation. This is the act of swinging from branch to branch for distances up to 15 metres at speeds of up to 56 km/h. They are the fastest and most agile of all tree-dwelling, non-flying mammals. Makes me think of Tarzan.Filming on Tarzan & His Mate began August 2nd, 1933. Joining Weissmuller for the sequel were Rod La Rocque (who had just appeared in S.O.S. Iceberg, co-starring Leni Riefenstahl), Murray Kinnell and Frank Reicher (one of 17 films he appeared in 1934!). Problems soon developed. After 3 ½ weeks of shooting, the first unit was shut down; Gibbons had shot a lot of excess footage, and costs were spiraling. When it resumed, Gibbons was no longer the director. In his place was Jack Conway as dialogue director with James C. McKay directing a number of animal sequences. In August the Hollywood Reporter announced that Rod La Rocque had been pulled from the cast, and replaced by Paul Cavanagh in the role of Martin Arlington, 'because of miscasting'. The roles of Tom Pierce and Van Ness were changed, and Frank Reicher and Murray Kinnell were replaced by Desmond Roberts and William Stack, respectively. M.G.M had spent $1,279,142 on the production. In early April 1934, after previews the film had fourteen-and-a-half minutes cut. Although a hit, it did not earn as much as the first Tarzan film in the United States. Internationally it was a huge success, despite the fact that it was banned in Germany by the NAZI's on the grounds that it showed a "Nordic man in brutal surroundings."Tarzan & His Mate is a direct sequel to Tarzan, The Ape Man (1932), with the film picking up a year after the events of the previous film. Jane is happily living in the jungle side by side with her "husband." The first film began with a safari arriving in Tarzan's jungle, and during the rest of that picture Jane learns about Tarzan. In the sequel a safari arrives in Tarzan's jungle, and during the rest of the picture we learn about Jane.Harry Holt from the first movie returns to Africa looking for ivory. His friend the cad Martin Arlington joins him. Holt's intention is to return Jane to "civilization," not that she's particularly interested. Arlington attempts to murder Tarzan when he refuses to help them find a fortune in ivory at the elephant's graveyard. They confront wild animals and the 'Men-Who-Eat- Lions' tribe. With the help of his jungle companions Tarzan protects his land from the evils of these greedy 'civilised' men.The film is remembered today largely because of O'Sullivan's revealing costumes; mainly a halter-top and loincloth that leave her thighs and hips exposed. As Jane is a 'lady' from England (not Baltimore as in the novel), her wearing such an outfit is particularly provocative, symbolising her casual sexuality. In this pre-Hayes Office film Jane sleeps in the nude, swims nude, at one point is stranded nude in the jungle, and she is seen nude in silhouette by other men when dressing in a well lit tent.The scene that caused all the commotion is the so-called 'underwater ballet' sequence. Tarzan and Jane swim after Tarzan pushes Jane in the water, her clothing being ripped from her by a tree branch as she falls leaving her completely nude. When she rises out of the water, Jane flashes a bare breast. Hypocritically though it was okay for dark skinned extras; witness the topless 'native' girls at the start of the film. The new Production Code Office blew its top. O'Sullivan's scant costume was too provocative. And the swimming scene had to go; interestingly Dolores del Rio, the wife of Cedric Gibbons, had a risqué nude swim in Bird Of Paradise (1932), a sequence that is said to have inspired this one.By April 24, 1934, all prints of Tarzan & His Mate were changed. The New York Censors also insisted that the scene involving Arlington lowering his body into a portable bathtub be eliminated as well!The trade papers of the day were full of stories of the long and complicate shoot; 'The Hollywood Reporter' declared the production schedule on Tarzan & His Mate (six months), was the longest in cinematic history! I think it was worth it; it may not be as important a document of the time as Leni Riefenstahl's Triumph Of The Will the following year, however I have rarely had as much fun re-watching a film as I had with Tarzan & His Mate.

So it has to be about three years since I've seen an old Tarzan film, because every time I do I remind myself to check the IMDb bio page for Cheeta, who was alive the last time I inquired. Alas, I just found out Cheeta passed away on December 24th, 2011, outliving all her human co-stars from the Johnny Weissmuller era. Cheeta's name doesn't appear in any of the Tarzan movie credits (I wonder why that is), so if you're doing a search you'll have to use the name itself.Well I'm thinking about the film and wondering if this might not have been better positioned as 'Jane and HER Mate'. I'm being a little facetious, but WOW, Maureen O'Sullivan as a pre-Code Jane is absolutely stunning if not just a bit bold and daring in her jungle attire. And then, when it's swim time with Tarzan, you'll have all you can do to contain yourself with the decidedly erotic underwater performance done by Olympic stand-in Josephine McKim in the nude. Personally I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me, but the scene lasts long enough to convince otherwise. Very tastefully done I might add.But you know, it's a Tarzan picture, and of all the jungle epics Weissmuller appeared in between Tarzan and Jungle Jim, this is the best I've seen. It's loaded with wild animal fare, and for the very first time, Weissmuller actually sports claw marks on his chest after tangling with a lion. However all trace of them are gone in a subsequent scene, so you might say that this ape-man had more lives than any of the cats he ever wrestled with.Watching today, I have to say that the original "Tarzan the Ape Man" from 1932 and this sequel are a lot more violent than what I remember as a kid. Wild gorillas throw attacking natives off a mountain cliff and human hand to hand combat results in quite a few nasty encounters involving stabbings and beatings. Tarzan himself wailing away with his knife on a runaway rhinoceros was also pretty brutal, later to be topped by elephants handily flailing attacking lions from pillar to post.But then you have some really exciting stunt work involving vine swings, acrobatic somersaults and genuinely athletic climbing and action scenes, and you have to wonder how much of that the main players participated in. O'Sullivan herself does a number of tree dives into the outstretched arms of her main man; they look very well timed and synchronized. Finding out how they filmed those is probably a research project I'll have to make some time for.Anyway, from the vantage point of eighty years since the film was released, this is quite the remarkable adventure in more ways than one. It's as if Jane's remark to hunting guides Holt and Arlington was meant to stand as a testament to the power of imagery in movie making when she said - "Woman's greatest weapon is Man's imagination".

Tarzan And His Mate was the second of MGM's Tarzan series and we find Maureen O'Sullivan settled down to jungle bliss with Johnny Weissmuller without benefit of clergy. In the first film Tarzan The Ape Man, Jane after her father died decided to stay with Tarzan and her guide and suitor Neil Hamilton went back to civilization.Now Hamilton is back with a partner, wolfish Paul Cavanaugh who is in business with Hamilton to discover the elephant's graveyard, that legendary place where the elephants go to die and there's tons of ivory to be picked up. That's a lot of piano keys. He's hoping to enlist Tarzan's help with Jane's help.As it involves old friends she gets Tarzan to agree. Hamilton still likes her, but keeps a distance. Not Cavanaugh who is acting in the best Snidely Whiplash tradition. This is the only Tarzan film I remember where Tarzan's domestic bliss is threatened.Lots of Trader Horn stock footage is used and effectively. Best scenes involve Tarzan taking on a rhino and the final climax where O'Sullivan, Cavanaugh, and Hamilton are all threatened by lions being sicced on them by a hostile tribe. Nicely done if a bit way out.Tarzan And His Mate also features the famous nude swim scene with Weissmuller and O'Sullivan. When the Code came in this scene was edited out, but fortunately restored for these less puritanical times. Definitely one of the better Tarzan features.

Scandalous! Pre-production code, this film has Tarzan and Jane sharing quarters even though they were not married, Jane running around in an outfit that barely covered her, and they even skinny-dipped. Tame stuff today, but it brought about an enforcement of the movie production code and the film was edited before release. Fortunately, the complete movie exists and we can see what all the hullabaloo was about.Seeing Tarzan fight the rhino or the crocodile was worth the price of admission. It was thrilling. Of course, with Jane, it seems he was always fighting something.The real stars of the movie were the animals, especially Cheeta.