CAST
Johnny Weissmuller: Tarzan
Maureen O'Sullivan: Jane
John Buckler: Captain Fry
Benita Hume: Rita Parker
William Henry: Eric Parker
Herbert Mundin:  Jiggs Rawlins, Fry's accomplice
E.E. Clive:  Masters
Darby Jones: Bomba
Johnny Eck: Gooney-Bird (uncredited)
Also Credited in 
Tarzan the Ape Man
Tarzan's Secret Treasure

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TRIVIA BITS:

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• Filming Locations: Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden - 301 N. Baldwin Ave., Arcadia, California, USA  and Malibu Creek State Park, Los Angeles County, California, USA  ~ 20th Century Fox Ranch ~ MGM Backlot
• Tagline: "It's New! It's amazing! 2 years to produce!"
• MGM constructed an extravagant  tree-house including a baking oven of dried mud, a fan operated by Cheetah, a bed of bamboo, leaves and fur, and an elevator run on elephant power.
• The original version, titled The Capture of Tarzan, was shown to preview audiences in 1935 and was heavily criticized for scenes of gruesome violence. MGM fired the director and ordered the film re-shot. This resulted in a watered down version meant to appeal to children but seemed to please no one.
• Scriptwriter Cyril Hume had scripted Tarzan, the Apeman and was also Benita Hume's father.
• One of the directors called in to work on the re-filming was John Farrow (uncredited) but he to was canned by MGM. Farrow on set relationship with Maureen O'Sullivan blossomed, however. They fell in love and were married in 1937. One of their seven children, Mia Farrow (Mrs. Frank Sinatra, Mrs. Woody Allen), pursued an acting career.
• The Hollywood Reporter called Tarzan Escapes a jinxed film because of events surrounding its production and crew, in fact, producer Irving Thalberg died a week after its completion.
• English actress Benita Hume (she later married Ronald Coleman), a graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art,. was cast as Jane's cousin, Rita.
• Herbert Mundin was added to the second version of Tarzan Escapes as comedy relief to tone down the violence in the film.
• For the second version, the controverial bat sequence, which MGM personnel thought was excellent, was excised
• The plot line closely resembles the first version of Tarzan Escapes, except that Rita's character is less vicious and makes a play for Tarzan.
• A comedy relief scene is inserted during the safari sequence in which a "gooney bird" is spotted. The actor in the weird bird suit was Johnny Eck, well-known for his role in the film Freaks and in countless circus side-show appearances. One of his memorable circus appearances involved Johnny and his twin brother, Rob. Rob appeared in the audience as a volunteer for a magician's sawing-in-half trick, and climbed in the box, but it was legless Johnny who emerged from it. The effect shocked the audience so much that the act was eventually shut down.
• The musical selection, "My Tender One," written by Dr. William Axt for the 1935 film, Eskimo was used in all the early Weissmuller films... It is particularly effective at the end of Tarzan Escapes when Tarzan sees the smoke rising from the tree-house stove and realizes, with tears in his eyes, that his beloved Jane has not abandoned him.
• This was the final film of John Buckler who played Captain Fry. He died in a road accident along with his father Hugh Buckler (also an actor) on October 30, 1936, just one week before the film was released.
• Herbert Mundin who played comic-relief character Rawlins also died in a road accident in 1939 three years after Buckler.
• The vampire bats scene was cut from the final film after test audiences found the scenes too intense. The first director James C. McKay shot many of the “gruesome” scenes, but he was replaced by John Farrow in 1936 who re-shot much of the film. Richard Thorpe would finally get credit for directing the film.
• Maureen O'Sullivan and John Farrow married shortly after the filming was completed.
• Footage of the Murchison Falls in Africa, originally shot for Trader Horn (1931), was used in the film. 
• Tarzan fights with the same giant crocodile that he fought with in "Tarzan And His Mate'. It is the same footage used. 
• Actor John Buckler who played Captain John Fry died in an automobile accident one week prior to the release of this film and never got the chance to see it. The original director was James C. McKay, who filmed many gruesome scenes. In July 1936, he was replaced by John Farrow who practically re-shot the entire film. There were also cast and crew changes: Granville Bates was dropped from the cast, while Herbert Mundin was added, playing a new character. Darby Jones replaced Everett Brown as "Bomba"; Elmer Sheeley replaced Cedric Gibbons as art director; A. Arnold Gillespie replaced James Basevi for special effects; Tom Tutwiler replaced 'Max Fabian' for photographic effects; and Charles Salerno Jr. replaced cameramen Virgil W. Vogel and Walter Strenge. 
• The titular character of "Tarzan" does not appear until 23 minutes into the feature, coincidentally the same duration of time from the previous installment "Tarzan and his Mate" 
• Three films into the series, Tarzan and Jane's nest-like home in the trees has expanded into a Swiss Family Robinson-like home with running water and an elephant-manipulated elevator to bring people up to the home. 
• In addition to the larger "African" prosthetic ears worn by the elephants to cover their smaller South Asian ears, the elephants' tusks are clearly rubber, and are loosely mounted to allow them to give way. 
• With Tarzan trapped in the steel cage a second elephant arrives to Tarzan's aid to bend the bars to where the Ape Man can squeeze out. Notice the elephant tusks. Notice how mobile, how easily deflected the tusks of both elephants are. Notice especially where the tusk of the elephant screen left oscillates briefly. 
• In the casting credits at the beginning of the film Cheetah is credited as "By Herself" but numerous shots throughout the film show Cheeta with male genitalia. 
• A great number of scenes were lifted from the two previous Tarzan films. A few examples include the scene with the acacias on the plane with the mountains in the distance, the escarpment, the wildebeest scene, shooting the lion, distance shots of men falling, Cheetah fleeing from the lion, and the crocodile fight. 
• The words "kuja hapa" ("come here") are the Swahili words that appear in the Weissmuller Tarzan films more than many others. There is also a lot of fake Swahili and sometimes Swahili words are used strangely, such as the statement, "kuja kwenda", which means "come (here) go (away)." Most of this is spoken by one of the "African" lead actors, who is obviously an American. 
• In greeting the "Haimonde" chief, Captain Fry responds to the chief's statement "Jambo" (hello) by saying "Jambo sama," The correct words are "Jambo sana" (hello very much). The more common response would be "Hujambo." (Hello - in the responsive sense). 
• The actors playing the Haimonde tribesmen in the closeup shots are actually Maasai.
• A number of cockatoos are seen in the film. These birds are native to Australasia, not Africa. 
• Both actors, who play Rawlins and Captain Frye, died because of car accidents, found dead behind the wheel. One was crashed and the other drowned.
• Jane's two-piece costume (featuring a bare midriff and a top made big enough only to cover her breasts) was retired after the previous film for being 'too revealing'. The more familiar one piece costume makes it debut in this film, though she still has bare feet in this picture. Though Jane is meant to have bare feet at all times, she has shoes in occasional shots, which disappear in subsequent shots (for example, she climbs a ladder with shoes and arrives at the top with bare feet).

 

Original Story

Eric and Rita Parker, Jane’s cousins, Eric and Rita Parker, are rafting down an African river. they are hoping to contact Jane and convince her to return to England to collect an inheritance. The loud music from Rita's portable phonograph attracts hostile natives and they take cover on a small island. The attacking natives retreat when Major Fry arrives. Their dying boat captain tries unsuccessfully to warn them of Fry's reputation. Fry is transporting the caged animals he has captured, including Tarzan's chimp, Cheeta. He also has plans to capture Tarzan to put him on display as an African wildman. The party pushes on toward the Mutia Escarpment.  That night Tarzan arrives and releases Fry's animals form their cages. He returns home with a photo of Jane that he has found on the ground. The photo arouses Jane's curiosity so Tarzan reluctantly  takes her to meet the newcomers. When they arrive, Nimba the ape is shot by Fry as he tries reaches out to touch Rita. Tarzan is furious and Fry's life is spared only through Jane's intervention. She is overjoyed at seeing her cousins, although Rita is a rather unpleasant character. The Gabonis attack again but Tarzan and Jane try to lead the attackers away while the safari takes shelter in among rocks. The great apes help drive off the attackers and Tarzan kills their witch doctor. Rita has been wounded by a poison arrow and Tarzan agrees to guide the party to the Escarpment. They are saved from a lion attack by Tarzan's elephants. The party camps in a cave near Tarzan's tree house while Tarzan prepares an antidote to save Rita. Tarzan saves Cheeta from a crocodile attack by wounding the beast with his spear. Rita now is conspiring with Fry to lure Tarzan back to civilization with hopes of trapping him. 

Resuming their trek come under attack from giant vampire bats in a mysterious swamp but are saved by a tribe of pygmies whose torches drive off the bats. The pygmies guide them to a rope bridge that will take them out of Gaboni territory. Jane and Eric fall into a whirlpool when the bridge breaks and Fry takes advantage of the situation to capture Tarzan. 

Eric and Jane survive the whirlpool, build a raft and float to safety. Fry reaches a steamboat with the captured Tarzan but Erich and Jane arrive to release Tarzan. The apes answer Jane's call for help and send the boat crew into a panic which results in the boat running aground and gives Tarzan a chance to release all the animals. A great ape kills the traitorous Rita, despite Jane's attempt to save her. Fry is killed by a crocodile while attempting to escape. Tarzan and Jane send Eric safely off to civilization after which they return to their tree-house with Cheeta and Timbee, the great ape.

[The cast in the original version had Granville Bates as the boat captain and Everett Brown as Bomba.]

The text  from the Big Little Book version is featured in ERBzine 0648

The Final Version Upon their arrival in Africa, Rita (Benita Hume) and Eric Parker (William Henry), Jane's cousins, are met by Jiggs Rawlins (Herbert Mundin). He introduces them to white hunter, Captain Fry (John Buckler), whom the hire to guide their safari to the Mutia Escarpment. They hope to find Jane and persuade her to return with them to England to claim an inheritance.  Fry, however, plans to capture Tarzan and exhibit him for profit.  Near the Escarpment, fearing juju (black magic), the natives refuse to go on, and they camp. Rita plays with a lion cub, and Fry shoots the attacking mother lion. The safari is attacked by the savage Gabonis but Tarzan’s (Johnny Weissmuller) cry stops them in their tracks. 

The party then goes on to climb to the top of the Escarpment. Tarzan appears to free chimps from cages and takes Rita to see Jane (Maureen O'Sullivan) who wants to meet the party. Tarzan breaks Fry's rifle and kills a wildebeest which Jane prepares for dinner for the party. Jane eventually agrees to return to England with her cousins and tells Tarzan that she must go away for three months. Jane and Tarzan spend their last day in love play. 

Fry sends Bomba (Darby Jones) to the Hymandis chief  with a message that he will take Tarzan away. Meanwhile, Tarzan saves a fawn by killing a crocodile with his knife (a scene reprised from Tarzan and His Mate), after which Jane says good-bye to Cheetah and leaves with Fry's safari. Fry tells Tarzan that Jane is not coming back and traps the apeman by tricking him into entering a specially built cage. The Hymandis chief goes back on his word and confiscates the cage and seizes the party for ritualistic sacrifice. 

The cage rolls down a hill and is taken away by an elephant. A lion chases Cheetah, but the chimp manages to get another elephant to break open the cage to free Tarzan. Tarzan returns to the village to rescue Jane and the safari who are tied to trees. He calls to the elephants for help in chasing away the tribesmen. Rita, who has injured her leg, is carried on a litter as the tribesmen pursue them. The Hymandis follow them to a forbidden juju area that the natives are afraid to enter. Tarzan forces Fry to move on ahead where he is killed. 

Rita and Eric realize that Jane would be happier here than back in civilization and they tell her she need not return with them if she signs a document. Tarzan and Jane resume their idyllic life in their jungle paradise.

Alternate Synopsis from Adventure Movies

Jane’s two cousins Eric and Rita arrive in Africa to tell Jane about a fortune left to her back in their world and to try and convince her to return with them. They are led to Tarzan’s escarpment home by Captain Fry (John Buckler), a hunter with an agenda of his own. Jane convinces Tarzan to let her go back with Eric and Rita, promising that their separation will only be temporary, but Captain Fry (unknown to the others) attempts to capture Tarzan to take him back civilization so he can be put on public display and actually succeeds in caging Tarzan. Fry’s treachery includes making a deal with an unfriendly native tribe to give him food, canoes and protection for the journey back in exchange for his handing over Jane, Eric and Rita for “ju-ju” and taking away the greatest “ju-ju” – Tarzan. Fry’s plan goes wrong when the natives capture Tarzan in his cage and all four white people are taken prisoner. Tarzan manages to escape with the help of elephants and Cheeta and guides what’s left of Fry’s party through a cave passage filled with treacherous quicksands. Just before they exit the caves to safety, Tarzan forces Fry to go back the way they came as punishment for his betrayal. Fry starts to go back, then seizes a heavy branch to attack Tarzan, but before he can exit the cave he falls into a quicksand bog and is swallowed up. Rita and Eric tell Jane that it is not necessary for her to return with them and that she belongs with Tarzan. The film ends with Tarzan and Jane reunited at their treehouse.

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Reviews

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The Motion Picture Herald Momentum given public interest, especially by the youngsters, by previous Tarzan films, plus the continued popularity of the ape man's amazing experiences as a colored supplement newspaper feature, stand in good stead for this attraction. From the standpoint of production value, story quality, caliber of action and exciting action, this production is several strides ahead of its forerunners in both potential entertainment and commercial quality. As all that is expected of a Tarzan show is intelligently delivered, "Tarzan Escapes" is almost a certainty to interest the red-blooded youngsters greatly. At the same time, it is of such a character that adults who see it are not likely to consider the time wasted.
[Previewed in the Uptown theatre, Los Angeles. The audience, made up mostly of adults, got quite a thrill out of the film. The few youngsters in attendance gave vent to an enthusiasm that augurs well for Tarzan's reception when it plays before a predominantly juvenile gathering.]

The New York Times

The interesting question is no longer whether Tarzan is going to escape from his enemies that much we may take for granted but whether his enemies will ever be able to escape from Tarzan. It seems unlikely, too, so long as the handsome pithecanthrope continues to be surrounded by rich and leisurely productions as Metro has draped about his handsome shoulders in "Tarzan Escapes," at the Capitol. From the adult viewpoint, if there is such a thing, where Tarzan is concerned, it is Africa that really saves the picture.

The flavor and the monstrous spell, the strange and horrifying beauty of the Dark Continent are all there, carefully processed and sound-tracked, to offset the comical ululations of the ape-man (and Mr. Weissmuller, by the way, is in excellent voice) or such delightful spectacles as the elephant-operated lift by which Maureen O'Sullivan, showing surprisingly few signs of exposure after all these years in the bush, elegantly ascends to her arboreal love nest. Then too, there is Cheta, the Martha Raye of chimpanzees, a comedienne who would tear herself into little bits to give you a laugh, and whose wild and Corybantic cachinnation at opportune moments is an affront and a joy to hear.

In its wealth of animal sequences, Metro has slyly propitiated the sentimentalists and zoolaters with shots of cunning lion cubs, cute fawns, etc., while withholding nothing from the lovers of savage scenes of tiger-shooting, native-spearing, war dances, sacrificial ceremonies. There is a running sound accompaniment, meanwhile, of tropical bird cries, hyenic laughter, hippopotamic grunts, leonine coughs, tom-toms Africa.

In its incidents, the film is almost pure circus, with Tarzan doing trapeze antics in the trees, fighting a crocodile, bulldogging a hartebeest, and a one point making a beautiful catch of Maureen, who does a coy adagio leap from a treetop into his uxorious arms. The action, effectively slow-paced, begins with the perilous journey of a safari outfitted by William Henry and Benita Hume into the apeman country to bring Maureen back to Mayfair. John Buckler, a villain, is engaged to head the expedition and Herbert Mundin is taken along for comic uses. Ensuing misunderstandings and native intrigues involving ju-ju and other dark matters threaten to disrupt Tarzan's happy home which has running water and a kitchenette besides elevator service but you know the way things turn out and what Maureen decides to do. Now let's see what Mr. Sol Lesser, who has bought Tarzan from Metro, will decide to do. It's going to be pretty tough.

Variety

Two years of ribbing between the last "Tarzan" feature and this one, has left its mark on the subject. With the constant kidding having accentuated the absurdity of the highly imaginative jungle doings, the tree-to-tree stuff has worn pretty thin for adult consumption. Appeal of "Tarzan Escapes" will be mostly for the kids, and that's not likely to mean more than mediocre returns.

While at first the sight of Tarzan doing everything but playing pinochle with his beast pals was a novelty, it's all rather silly now. Derisive laughter greeted the picture too often at the Capitol and it will probably run into similar difficulties most everywhere.

It must be pretty difficult to think up new jams for Tarz within the confines of the African game country; and the scripters apparently had quite a tussle with this one. They appear to have been n the verge of getting him out of the jungle and into a Hyde Park penthouse several times, but the lure of the jungle finally prevails and Tarz is permitted to escape from the wicked hunter's grasp.

This latest plot permits Tarzie's idyllic romance with his mate, Maureen O'Sullivan, to be rudely interrupted by a couple of the missus' relatives from London. Mrs. Tarzan has unknowingly become the heir to a late uncle's large fortune, and the relatives try to bring her back to civilization so that she may grab the coin and help them grab some of it also. It so happens, however, that their jungle guide is a dastardly rat who sees in Tarzan a cinch freak show attraction for up north, and it takes not only Tarz himself but also a big zoo full of animal friends to clear up the mess., save the lives of the white folks, give the villain his just dues, and restore Tarzan's mate to Tarzan. A big battle with a tribe of savages serves as the usual blowoff.

Among other things, Tarzan has learned a few additional English words since last seen, although his vocabulary still couldn't get him into the kindergarten class of a school for mental deficients. But he manages to get by. He has also softened up considerably in a husbandry manner. In this one he does such things as diving into the water to grapple with a 20-foot man-eating alligator in order to save the life of a young deer, and then after killing the 'gator in a terrific struggle, swim back to shore where his mate awaits him. He finds time to pick her a lily on the way in and isn't even puffing when he lands.

Another advancement for the Tarzan couple is the addition of some modern conveniences in their tree home: an elevator with motive power furnished by a pet elephant, a revolving fan operated by an ape, etc.

Johnny Weissmuller once again looks good as the jungle boy, but it's about time they found him a new set of lyrics. And Miss O'Sullivan is also okay once more as the loving wife, but considerably more covered up in clothing this time. Benita Hume and William Henry are required to look scared mostly as the visiting relatives from London. Herbert Mundin does the comedy and the late John Buckler is the heavy. Incidentally, Warren William, who has been accused of imitating John Barrymore, now gets his turn on the receiving end of some flattery; Buckler can be charged with imitating Warren William.

A female ape called Cheta is the Tarzans' pet and houseworker, and some expert handling of the monk provides the picture with its most legitimately comical and best moments.

Jungle backgrounds for the action are beautifully done. A steamy swamp scene is a standout for photography and art work. But along with the good looking views are some stock animal shots on old celluloid that don't blend.