TARZAN AND THE SLAVE GIRL - 1950
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Director Lee Sholem
Producer Sol Lesser
Screenplay Hans Jacoby & Arnold Belgard
MAIN CAST
Tarzan Lex Barker
Jane Vanessa Brown
Lola Denise Darcel
Neil Robert Alda
Prince Hurd Hatfield
Randini doctor Arthur Shields
Sengo Tony Caruso
High Priest Robert Warwick
Chief's son Tito Renaldo
Moana Mary Ellen Kay
BACKGROUND
• Lex Barker's second film as Tarzan began a pattern of introducing a new Jane in every film.  His first, Tarzan's Magic Fountain (1949) was Brenda Joyce's last appearance in the role and Sol Lesser began a search for a new Jane.  The chosen actress was 22-year-old Vanessa Brown (born Smylla Brind) who was a petite dark-haired beauty who wore an attractive two-piece outfit for the role.  She played the role with a bit of fire, especially the cat-fight scene with Denise Darcel, who played Lola, the flirtatious French nurse who has an eye for Tarzan.  Miss Brown later confided that she didn't need a lot of preparation for this scene because Miss Darcel was so annoying and distractingly loud in the dressing room.  Lee Sholem, who had directed Barker's first Tarzan film, Tarzan and the Magic Fountain, returned in that role and Hans Jacoby and Arnold Belgardand provided the script.  The film was shot at the Arboretum (jungle scenes) and Iversen's Movie Ranch (additional scenes).  The film, which opened on 15 March 1950, featured an abundance of talented costars including Robert Alda, Anthony Caruso and Hurd Hatfield (The Picture of Dorian Grey).  (Fury, Essoe & Femme Fatales)
 
APE CRY
• To hear the ape cry used in this film click on the image at right
PLOT
• Tarzan tracks down a group of men who are kidnapping native girls and discovers that the population of their city, Lyolia, is being decimated by an infectious plague.  He summons the doctor from Randini but in the meantime the Lyolians kidnap both Jane and the doctor's nurse, Lola.  They plan to use the captured women to repopulate their city.  The prince of Lyolia is disturbed that his high priest can not cure his ailing son and has him imprisoned.  Sengo, the chief kidnapper and custodian of the slave girls, makes advances towards Jane but she manages to fight him off.  She and Lola seek refuge from Sengo in an old tomb but he discovers their hiding place and traps them both by having the tomb sealed.  Meanwhile, Tarzan and the doctor have lost the medicine that will cure the prince's son somewhere in the jungle.  Tarzan rescues Jane and Lola from the tomb and battles Sengo to the death over a lion pit.  The serum is found and the doctor manages to save the prince's son and the other sick Lyolians.  The slave girls are freed and Tarzan, Jane and Lola are bid safe passage back to their homes.
 
MOVING PICTURES
Click on the image below to view the trailer for this film:
 
LOBBY CARDS
Click on the image below to view a near complete set of lobby cards for this film:
 
SOURCES
• Kings of the Jungle by David Fury, 1994, McFarland Classics
• Tarzan of the Movies by Gabe Essoe, 1968, The Citadel Press
• Essay Jungle Girl Vanesssa Brown in Femme Fatales magazine May/June 2001 (Vol 10 No 2)
IMAGES
• Tarzan and the Slave Girl poster was pilfered from an eBay auction item
• The top photo is from Kings of the Jungle by David Fury and the bottom photo is from Femme Fatales magazine May/June 2001 (Vol 10 No 2)
• The video of the trailer was uploaded to Youtube by me specifically to embed in this web page
LYNX
• Read a review and rating of this film at At-A-Glance Film Reviews
• See a Lex Barker filmography at IMDb (Internet Movie Database)
• See a Vanessa Brown filmography at IMDb
CAPTURE
• This film has never been released commercially but collectors sometimes offer it on DVD on eBay
TARZAN® is the property of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc., Tarzana CA.
This independent, nonprofit, fan-based analysis of the Tarzan material is copyright © 2002-2008 Paul Wickham
This page was updated May 2008