Tarzan and His Mate (1934)
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Tarzan and His Mate Movie Review
Tarzan and His Mate is a 1934 adventure film directed by Cedric Gibbons and starring Johnny Weissmuller and Maureen O’Sullivan. It’s such a fine sequel.
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“The best weapon a woman has is a man’s imagination“
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Being a sequel to 1932’s ‘Tarzan the Ape Man’, it follows Englishmen coming to Africa in search of ivory and Jane who now lives with Tarzan in the jungle. Needless to say, I really liked this film because every character and the overall setting and plot have already been established so that now we have time for a true, spirited adventure to take place which is exactly what happened.
The film this time around doesn’t have that much action which I certainly appreciated, but it still has its fair share of action scenes which are well executed. The adventure is excellent and I just loved the simple, yet very effective story of the search for ivory whereas in particular the romance here is absolutely fabulous.
Yes, Tarzan and Jane are the reason to see this film and once again Jane is wonderful and stole the show for sure. Johnny Weissmuller and Maureen O’Sullivan are both excellent again and the very sensual and very risqué romance scenes are the film’s standout elements. Pre-Code Hollywood in its full glory is evidenced here and I loved every single second of it. Jane’s nude scene worked quite a lot. Harry Holt is solid, but the animals are pretty memorable here too with the highlights being the chimps.
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Tarzan and His Mate is gorgeously shot once again. Of course the film is lacking in terms of sophisticated themes and dialogue. It has more plot for sure, but it still ain’t anything smart to be had here. But the cinematography truly is striking and the sound design is once again superb. The action was better before, but in almost every other regard, this film trumps its predecessor which I did not expect at all. The highlight of the movie for me was that nude swim scene which is where the movie shines the most and left a lasting legacy.
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.
