FAQ for
Tarzan the Ape Man (1932) More at IMDbPro »

The following FAQ entries may contain spoilers. Only the biggest ones (if any) will be covered with spoiler tags. Spoiler tags have been used sparingly in order to make the page more readable.

For detailed information about the amounts and types of (a) sex and nudity, (b) violence and gore, (c) profanity, (d) alcohol, drugs, and smoking, and (e) frightening and intense scenes in this movie, consult the IMDb Parents Guide for this movie. The Parents Guide for Tarzan the Ape Man can be found here.

Yes. Tarzan is a character in a number of novels by American author Edgar Rice Burroughs [1875-1950]. The movie is loosely based on Burroughs' first novel, Tarzan of the Apes, which was first published in All-Story Magazine in October, 1912. It was later published as a book in 1914. Burroughs continued the series with dozens of sequels. The novel was adapted for the movie by American screenwriter Cyril Hume. There have since been too many sequels, remakes, and adaptations to list them here.

No. The first Tarzan movie was Tarzan of the Apes (1918), a silent movie in which Tarzan was played by Elmo Lincoln.

Jane Parker (Maureen O'Sullivan) has come to join her father, James (C. Aubrey Smith), who has opened a trading center.

To a secret place known as the Mutia Escarpment, supposedly an elephant graveyard where ivory could be harvested by the ton. To get there, they must cross a river that leads into a part of the jungle so taboo that even the natives will not speak of it, because the area is protected by Tarzan (Johnny Weissmuller), the ape man.

No. The elephant graveyard is a fictional place popularized in such novels as Burroughs' Tarzan stories and Trader Horn: A Young Man's Astounding Adventures in 19th-Century Equatorial Africa, written by Alfred Aloysius Horn, a real-life ivory trader in central Africa. Scientists ruled out the existence of the graveyards long ago, concluding that the myth arose from the discovery of groups of elephant skeletons, the result of either poaching or mass die-offs due to such natural events as starvation.

Harry (Neil Hamilton) was referring to Edmund Hoyle [1672-1769], an English writer known for his works on the rules of playing cards and other various games, such as backgammon and chess. The phrase "according to Hoyle" indicates that something must be accomplished in strict accordance with the rules.

Jane doesn't exactly "meet" Tarzan. He kidnaps her and carries her off into the trees.

According to Edgar Rice Burroughs' novel, Tarzan was born John Clayton to an English couple, John and Alice (Rutherford) Clayton, Lord and Lady Greystoke, while they were marooned in the western coastal jungles of equatorial Africa. After the death of his parents, he was adopted and raised by a she-ape named Kala.

"Tarzan" supposedly means "white skin" in ape language.

Tarzan saves Jane from the killer gorilla in the bottom of the pit, then umgawas the elephants, who demolish the village of the black dwarves. One of the elephants pulls Tarzan and Jane out of the pit with his nose. Tarzan, Jane, Harry, and James ride the elephants out of the village, although James has been wounded and is getting weaker. James realizes that the elephant he is riding is also wounded and is heading to the elephant graveyard in order to die, so he remains on his back, the other elephant following. Just after they arrive at the elephant graveyard and he's had the chance to see it, James dies. Sometime later, after they have left the graveyard, Jane says goodbye to Harry, with the knowledge that he will return in the future now that he knows where the graveyard is located. Reluctantly, Harry says goodbye to Jane. In the final scene, Jane and Tarzan climb a cliff in order to wave goodbye to Harry. Cheetah joins them, jumps into Jane's arms, and hugs them both.