Jane Parker joins her father, James, and his partner Harry Holt in unexplored Africa to find the secret elephant burial yards where a fortune in ivory is awaiting. The explorers have a hard time going past a mountain range that the native consider taboo. When they cross, with some of the native guides dying on the way, they hear the calls of Tarzan swinging his way across the jungles. Tarzan kidnaps Jane and is instantly smitten with her, while Jane is terrified at first, but then sees something nice within him, and starts to teach him to communicate with him. Eventually Parker and Holt catch up to Jane, who rejoins them, but Tarzan once again captures Jane. Tarzan eventually returns Jane to her father and is shot at by Holt, who is losing Jane's love to Tarzan. Parker and company are captured by a band of native dwarfs who plan to sacrifice Jane, Parker, and Holt by throwing them into a pit with a man-killing gorilla. Jane sends Cheetah to get Tarzan to save the day. Decent movie, but not great. The film moves slowly at times (uncharacteristic for a Van Dyke film) and doesn't start to pick up until we see Weissmuller. The battle scenes with Tarzan and the killer ape at the end are worth the price of admission (even though the dwarfs look ridiculous). The performances are a bit wooden as well. Rating, 7.
Review of Tarzan the Ape Man
