And so with his fifth entry, Lex Barker set aside his loin cloth and vacated the role of Tarzan once and for all. But while 5 movies might have been a decent achievement if you were playing James Bond or a B-tier comic book hero, it pales in significance when you realised that he was following up a truly impressive run from Johnny Weissmuller who racked up a stunning 12 entries since he first grabbed onto that vine and just kept on swinging. Not to kick a Tarzan when he’s down, but Lex never was the most stand out of the various Lords of the Apes – he never was particularly as imposing as Weissmuller or Gordon Scott (the actor who followed him) and for some reason he could never keep the same Jane actress twice (5 Janes in 5 movies isn’t exactly a good look).
However, while his final entry, Tarzan And The She-Devil, contains arguably the most annoying trope the series ever repeatedly used by having Tarzan captive/for long stretches of the movie, it also, somehow, manages send Barker out on something of an unexpected high.
Another glorious morning in Tarzan and Jane’s jungle tree house means that it’s another excuse for the Ape Man to lay a little bit of that savage sende of humour on her when he rudely scoops her out of bed and hurls her off a balcony into the nearby river. Needless to say, Jane’s pissed, but she soon forgives the big lug, even if the reason he woke her up so abruptly is that he wanted breakfast. However, while their idyllic – if slightly toxic – love affair continues, villainy typically is looming in the background to try and ruin everything.
Unscrupulous ivory traders are targeting the local elephants in the area under the rule of Lyra, the She-Devil of the title; but while her mercilessly plucked and styled eyebrows may add credence to her intimidating nickname, it’s actually her underlings you really need to watch out for as they yearn to emerge out from under her shadow to claim this elephant slaughtering exercise for their own. The underling in question is the cold-blooded hunter known as Vargo and not only does he push Lyra into mounting the biggest expedition for ivory to date, he also comes up with the nefarious idea to capture an entire local tribe to crew the operation.
It’s at this point Tarzan interjects, but as Vargo proves to be extra crafty, he captures the jungle man and then targets Jane, sending typically clumsy thugs to capture her as leverage who only succeed in burning down their tree house. Yet with Tarzan believing that his beloved Jane has burnt up in their love shack, the hero simply gives up, utterly broken at the death of his wife and not even the taste of Vargos lash can snap him out of it.
However, Jane still lives and even though she seemingly has the survival skills of a newborn, can she get word to a captive Tarzan of her survival so he can break out of his funk and start smashing ivory traders?
On paper, Tarzan And The She-Devil shouldn’t really work at all. Not only is it another one of those entries to the franchise that can’t think of anything better for Tarzan to do other than be taken off the board for long stretches of running time; but the titular She-Devil isn’t anywhere near as formidable as the moniker makes her sound. And yet while these and other issues hang over the story, Barker’s final swing actually proves to be one of his stronger entries for rather novel reasons.
The first is that for the first time in a long time, the movie focuses mostly on the long lasting relationship between the two leads that doesn’t just stick its leading lady in the kitchen playing happy homemaker and actually gives her something to do. Of course, this is still the 1950s, so while Jane is finally given a chance to cut loose, don’t expect her to suddenly become Lara Croft all of a sudden because after the kidnap attempt, she collapses not long after escaping and then, after falling into a river and getting menaced by various reptiles, eventually pulls herself out and instantly tumbles into a feverish sleep. While you have to wonder how a woman who has lived in the depths of the jungle for years somehow has virtually no idea how to run a few feet without stumbling, let alone knowing basic survival skills, the entire movie hinges just on how dependent Tarzan is emotionally on his lady love. While the movie takes such drastic steps as burning down their famous tree house (surely the 1950s adventure equivalent of blowing up the Enterprise in Star Trek III) to show that it means business, the fact that our fearless hero sinks into a fugue state so deep upon word of her “death” that leaves him unable to feel the lash of a whip really does nail down just how much Tarzan needs his Jane.
OK, so these days it might seem like Tarzan’s codependency might be a little unhealthy if the rumoured death of his wife instantly renders a man with the ability to wrestle lions into an unresponsive zombie, but taking Tarzan out of the game in such a way ends up achieving a couple of things. Not only does it provide a much more dramatic way to remove the hero from the board than simply being knocked unconscious or trapped under a log or something, booting him square in the emotions actually does wonders for Jane, who was constantly getting portrayed as “her indoors”.
Also helping with the drama is a scowling Raymond Burr as Vargo who more than makes up for the damp squib of Monique van Vooren by delivering a uber-bastard of some repute. When he isn’t openly plotting against his own partners or abandoning co-conspirators to get trampled by elephants, he’s enslaving entire tribes to be expendable help while plotting to exterminate more pachyderms than the Rohirrim at Pelennor Fields. While the role isn’t that different from other sadistic great white hunters the series has already seen, the future Perry Mason attacks the role with intensity that gives the villain more presence than anybody else in the film and you’re more than satisfied when the climactic elephant stampede crushes everyone under the weight of tusk related karma.
Of course, there’s the usual, unavoidable issues caused by the attitudes of the times. The fact that Jane manages to save herself numerous times doesn’t change the fact that she’s still as vulnerable as an egg in a washing machine and rhe fact that the “natives” in this film are merely white extras painted to look vaguely Samoan is obviously unfortunate. However, considering that Barker’s Tarzan isn’t generally as well regarded as the actors that proceeded and succeeded him, Tarzan And The She-Devil, proves to be a perfectly decent end to his reign. Sure, the jungle dude has the ability to wrestle crocodiles and punch out lions, but it’s good to see that his true Kryptonite is the love for his woman and that a spot of old-school romance still exists in the franchise.
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