The plot of the film, such as it is, concerns the return of an old flame to try to tempt Jane back to England and away from Tarzan. He also wants to loot the legendary elephant graveyard of its ivory, over the strong objections of the Lord of the Jungle, a tribe of angry natives, and about every animal in the vicinity. Unlike other films of the genre, this one is much more grim and grisly and not really for children.

By today's standards, Jane's outfit is far less revealing than what can be seen on any textile beach. But it is the only movie in which she gets to wear it; future movies will show Jane in a full-bodied jungle dress that seems far less functional. The infamous underwater nude swimming scene shows featuring a totally naked Jane playfully doing summersaults and other gymnastic twists with her man, but O'Sullivan isn't the one in the shot. On the DVD she explains she was afraid of water and claustophobic so the stand in was Olympic swimmer Josephine McKim.

Unlike many films from the early Thirties, the character of Jane is written as an intelligent, resourceful and brave woman who stands up to her father and remains firm in her decision to remain in the jungle.

Tarzan has always been a good anti-violence-except-as-a-last-resort type of action hero, and the story definitely has a "save-the-environment" side to it decades before such sentiment was politically correct. It it therefore even more ironic that the movies bear little resemblance to the characters as written by Edgar Rice Burroughs in his books. The Tarzan novels are exciting, adult, heroic thrillers. I highly recommend you read the original for a totally different perspective. The movies, however, can stand on their own as quaint reminders of the values of an American movie culture long since gone.