Tarzan's Revenge is an adventure

Adventure

An adventure is defined as an exciting or unusual experience; it may also be a bold, usually risky undertaking, with an uncertain outcome. The term is often used to refer to activities with some potential for physical danger, such as skydiving, mountain climbing and or participating in extreme sports...

 film starring Glenn Morris

Glenn Morris

Glenn Edgar Morris was a U.S. track and field athlete. He won a gold medal in the Olympic decathlon in 1936, setting new world and Olympic records....

 in his only outing as Tarzan

Tarzan

Tarzan is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungles by the Mangani "great apes"; he later experiences civilization only to largely reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adventurer...

. Eleanor Holm

Eleanor Holm

Eleanor G. Holm was an American swimmer. An Olympic champion, she is best known for having been suspended from the 1936 Summer Olympics team, after she had attended a cocktail party on the transatlantic cruise ship taking her to Germany...

, a popular swimming star, co-starred as Eleanor Reed. The movie was produced by Sol Lesser, written by R. Lee Johnson and Jay Vann (based on the character created by Edgar Rice Burroughs

Edgar Rice Burroughs

Edgar Rice Burroughs was an American author, best known for his creation of the jungle hero Tarzan and the heroic Mars adventurer John Carter, although he produced works in many genres.-Biography:...

) and directed by D. Ross Lederman

D. Ross Lederman

David Ross Lederman was an American film director noted for his western/action/adventure films of the 1930s and 1940s....

.

Plot summary

Eleanor Reed accompanies her parents, Roger and Penny, and Nevil Potter, her fiance, on an expedition to Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

 to capture wild animals to sell to a zoo. Ben Alleu Bey spots Eleanor and wishes her to become the one hundredth wife in his harem

Harem

Harem refers to the sphere of women in what is usually a polygynous household and their enclosed quarters which are forbidden to men...

. When she refuses, he follows their safari

Safari

A safari is an overland journey, usually a trip by tourists to Africa. Traditionally, the term is used for a big-game hunt, but today the term often refers to a trip taken not for the purposes of hunting, but to observe and photograph animals and other wildlife.-Etymology:Entering the English...

.

Both groups are followed closely by Tarzan, who releases the animals and woos Eleanor away from both Nevin and Bey. When Nevin discovers that Eleanor plans to remain behind with Tarzan, he attempts to kill him, but only grazes his shoulder with a round fired at close range. Tarzan attacks Nevin, but releases him at Eleanor's behest. As the Reeds' ship sails down the river, Tarzan and Eleanor go for a swim.

Cast

• Glenn Morris
  Glenn Morris
  Glenn Edgar Morris was a U.S. track and field athlete. He won a gold medal in the Olympic decathlon in 1936, setting new world and Olympic records....
  
   as Tarzan
• Eleanor Holm
  Eleanor Holm
  Eleanor G. Holm was an American swimmer. An Olympic champion, she is best known for having been suspended from the 1936 Summer Olympics team, after she had attended a cocktail party on the transatlantic cruise ship taking her to Germany...
  
   as Eleanor Reed, pseudo-Jane
  Jane Porter (Tarzan)
  Jane Porter is a major character in Edgar Rice Burroughs's series of Tarzan novels, and in adaptations of the saga to other media, particularly film.- In the novels :...
  
  
• George Meeker
  George Meeker
  George Meeker was an American character movie and Broadway actor who became more of a legend off-camera than on. Meeker made several movies such as Crime Inc. , and Thief in the Dark and played an uncredited part in All Through the Night .Meeker has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.-External...
  
   as Nevin Potter, Eleanor's fiance, wannabe big-game hunter
• Hedda Hopper
  Hedda Hopper
  Hedda Hopper was an American actress and gossip columnist, whose long-running feud with friend turned arch-rival Louella Parsons became at least as notorious as many of Hopper's columns.-Early life:...
  
   as Penny Reed, Eleanor's mother
• George Barbier
  George Barbier (actor)
  -Career:Barbier entered Crozier Seminary to study for ministry but gave it up to go on the stage, beginning in light opera. Spent several years in repertory and stock companies and eventually appeared on Broadway...
  
   as Roger Reed, Eleanor's father
• C. Henry Gordon
  C. Henry Gordon
  C. Henry Gordon was an American film actor. He appeared in 79 films between 1930 and 1940. He was a Hollywood villain of the 1930s....
  
   as Ben Alleu Bey, villainous suitor

Production notes

Producer Sol Lesser originally considered casting baseball

Baseball

Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

 great Lou Gehrig

Lou Gehrig

Henry Louis "Lou" Gehrig , nicknamed "The Iron Horse" for his durability, was an American Major League Baseball first baseman. He played his entire 17-year baseball career for the New York Yankees . Gehrig set several major league records. He holds the record for most career grand slams...

as Tarzan, but was unimpressed with the musculature of Gehrig's legs.

Lesser refused to call the lead female character Jane—according to him, Eleanor Holm was so famous for her swimming exploits that audiences would not accept her portraying anyone other than someone named Eleanor.