"Tarzan and His Mate" is an early Tarzan picture that is an improvement over later films in the series, but still lacks the quality to pass for anything above escapist entertainment.
The plot has white elephant hunters using Tarzan to locate and plunder a huge elephant graveyard of ivory tusks. The hunters encounter resistance from enemy African tribes and organized animal armies. Jane tries to help the hunters, one of them a discarded beau. She gets into frequent trouble and often requires rescue from Tarzan.
The film starts slowly, with our two safari-clad hunters talking to various uninteresting white people that we never see again. The expedition finally begins for the ivory. An enormous number of Africans are hired for labor, and are cruelly used, even shot, by the reckless expedition head. There is a disorganized battle with an opposing tribe, and an unlikely confrontation with rock throwing apes. At long last we meet Tarzan, as he prevents the apes from further killing off unlucky Africans.
Tarzan rules the apes and the elephants. Heaven knows how he has trained him, but they obey without question. He has no power over "bad" animals, such as lions, rhinos and crocodiles. When he makes the mistake of leaving Jane's side, she ends up trapped by these bad creatures, but Tarzan comes to the rescue when called. The lion and rhino fights are good stunts, but the crocodile is an obvious spinning dummy. These scenes are similar to those from "King Kong" (1933) which had the big ape battling various dinosaurs to impress Fay Wray.
The wild finale involves an army of lions who for no apparent reason are after the hunters, and even attack an opposing army of elephants. Tarzan is the improbable victor of a series of one-on-one battles with enormous lions.
It is refreshing to see Jane with more sensuality than clothes, and a sense of adventure sparks the movie. The sets are impressive as well. However, muddled direction and plot keep the film from being more than watchable. (43/100)
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