Not the first Tarzan film but many think of it as so because it was the first time Johnny Weismuller played that role. Weismuller is extremely good - physically right, charismatic, genuinely strange, a mixture of innocence and violence. Maureen O'Sullivan's Jane is also ideal: beautiful, handy with a gun, an adventurous spirit (she goes to Africa, unlike the books where Tarzan went to her in England), and an eye for flesh - there's little doubt what her attraction to Tarzan is based on and it's not conversation. Cheetah is also good - he is another improvement from the books.While the story revolves around the non-PC search for an elephant graveyard, it should be pointed out that the expedition suffer constantly - losing carriers, falling off mountains, attacked by hippos (an excellent sequence with the hippos very well incorporated) and pygmies. Actually I think all but two members of the expedition die (all the blacks die, naturally).
Some laughable back projection at times and some of the monkey make up isn't the best, but the chemistry between the stars is very hot, the sexual politics fascinating, and it is full of adventure. There is some superb action, particularly the final fight with the pygmies throwing people into a pit and Tarzan coming to the rescue.
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