Tarzan peals a victorious cry, while Jane models the skimpy wardrobe that was soon to become more conservative to appease the Hays Office.
nearby cave while Cheeta, in the series’ most elaborate “Cheeta-in-Peril” segment, eludes a rhino, a lion and crocodiles before finally reach- ing Tarzan’s side. In the meantime, the natives have called forth dozens of ferocious lions with horns that emulate their roars, setting off a final- act struggle that rivals (if not surpasses) the first film’s pygmy-village climax in its brutality and lu- nacy: Jane fends off lions, some from the safety of rear screens, others more dangerously in the flesh; while Tarzan and his apes swing into battle, engaging the natives in hand-to-hand combat amid the treetops. As the sequence climaxes, el- ephants trumpet a grand entrance, waging war against the big cats in a manic display of stuntwork and optical effects that may not always be con- vincing, but is nonetheless stunning for its scope and verve. Though the Africans are distressingly depicted as sub-human throughout (they either scream and cower like children or are depicted as bloodthirsty killers) and the white men treat them as such (Arlington can’t understand why the bearers would rather carry food than ivory), Holt poignantly redeems himself—and his
race—by sacrificing his life, not for beloved Jane necessarily, but for his black comrade Saidi. Relentlessly paced in its outer movements and
mounted with great ambition by former art direc- tor Cedric Gibbons, TARZAN AND HIS MATE was afforded a bigger budget than its predecessor or any subsequent MGM Tarzan feature: rear-screen work is markedly improved; almost all of the ani- mal footage is original (by this time, the studio had okayed the building of a zoo to house the exotic animals required for future Tarzan produc- tions); Tarzan’s fast-motion tussle with a giant crocodile is a series highpoint (the full-scale me- chanical prop looks alarmingly alive when Tarzan stabs it in the throat); the glass paintings of the elephants’ graveyard are more grandiloquently executed; and even the fake rubber ear appliances, used in all the MGM Tarzans to make Indian el- ephants appear African, seem better manufactured and blended here. The film, which troubled the new regime at the Hays Board, ran afoul of the censorship Code and was cut by 12m prior to its general release, but do not fear—a preview cut was discovered in the MGM vaults in 1987 and is
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