JohnHowardReid Producer: Sol Lesser. Copyright 10 June 1953 by Sol Lesser Productions, Inc. Released through RKO Radio Pictures. No New York opening. U.S. release: 8 June 1953. U.K. release: 29 June 1953. Australian release: 21 August 1953. 76 minutes. Censored by 2½ minutes in Australia in order to qualify for a "G" certificate.NOTES: Number 29 of the 46-picture "Tarzan" series. Fifth and last appearance of Lex Barker as Tarzan. First and only appearance of the gorgeous Joyce MacKenzie as Jane.COMMENT: Definitely one for the boys. Thanks to the girls. Our choice of the two lovelies is Tarzan's mate. We found Joyce most attractive, though we admit that many will prefer the exotic Monique. Dressed to the nines, Miss Van Vooren will flame the fires of passion in many an adolescent breast. She's terrific!The rest of the players fail to reach the MacKenzie/Van Vooren standards, though Lex tries his best as the jungle man, and Raymond Burr makes a decent stab at the heavy. Nice to see Tom Conway too. But the real king/queen of the support stars is Cheta, the chimp. Not only does he/she get up to more than his/her usual tricks, but the director calls time out to photograph a whole series of delightful head-knockings.Admittedly, a fair bit of stock footage (said to be from 1934's "Wild Cargo") has been thrown into this one, and the conclusion is a bit abrupt. All the same, it's attractively photographed and full of lively incident. And Misses Van Vooren and MacKenzie are definitely worth anyone's price of admission.

Edgar Soberon Torchia Thankfully this was Lex Barker's last Tarzan film. Discarding clichéd Cold War leanings and Eastern European villains in the stories, the routine plot of "Tarzan and the She-Devil" turned its attention to hot-blooded Europeans with similar greedy motivations, this time for profits from ivory trading, including three mean Mediterranean males and one Belgian woman. But as Jane's mishaps are central to the plot, the enterprise turns too mellow and becomes more melodramatic than the previous entries that showed the Greystokes' domestic life. In the story Jane is abused, lost in the jungle, kidnapped and imprisoned, and in the proceedings the Greystokes' tree house is set on fire, so there was a need to introduce before romantic images and dialogues between Tarzan and Jane that in the end seem too ludicrous and out of place. On top of that Monique van Vooren's character (a Belgian business woman called Lyra) becomes too soft to be one of cinema's unforgettable she-devils (think of Ona Munson in "The Shanghai Gesture", Gale Sondergaard in "The Spider Woman", or Mari Blanchard in "She Devil", for example). Directed by Kurt Neumann (a veteran in Burroughs land, having directed Johnny Weissmuller in "Tarzan and the Amazons", "Tarzan and the Leopard Woman" and "Tarzan and the Huntress") the film still has high entertainment values to keep our attention. As Neumann went on to direct "She Devil", "Kronos" and the original "The Fly", Lex Barker became a superstar in European adventure films, made two movies with Cuban H-Bomb Chelo Alonso, appeared in Fellini's "La dolce vita" with Anika Ekberg and De Sica's "Woman Times Seven" with Shirley MacLaine, and lived happily ever after married to Miss Spain 1961, until his death in 1973.

tom_amity My fellow-reviewers have commented that the "She-Devil" in the title is a misnomer, and that the lady in question is far less of a "devil" than her two male flunkies--one of whom, wonderfully played by Raymond Burr, is easily the most frightening, hateful, detestable villain you'll ever encounter in any film, period. But emphasizing this point too much will entirely miss the point of the film.It is, after all, the "she-devil" who concocts the horrible idea of robbing Tarzan of his power by robbing him of his love. What man, however evil or intelligent, would ever be able to think of that? I refer you to the earlier and more celebrated film "Tarzan and His Mate": in the earlier film, a white hunter launches an evil plot against Tarzan's life, but that scheme is child's play in comparison with this one.As in "Tarzan and His Mate", the jungle man and defender of animals is opposed by callous ivory hunting white men. "Whenever I am close enough to the elephants - the finest ivory in the world - Poof! Tarzan, he calls them away!", says one of them. We hear no such useless whining from the boss lady. She knows what Tarzan lives for and she knows where to hit him. Consequently, she comes closer to destroying him than any of his other (usually male) enemies ever could. And she doesn't need to do the overt evil; she gets her male flunkies to do it for her. She knows that Tarzan is above all a man of love, and her scheme is simplicity itself: make him think his love Jane is dead, thus breaking his spirit. Then, as a climax, reveal to him that she's alive, and make a deal: call the elephants for us, and the two of you are free. Is that a she-devil or not? You bet!Tarzan, of course, outsmarts her; his famous quick mind returns in a flash when he sees Jane alive. "Tarzan call elephants", he says, doing such a good imitation of a broken man that the viewer is totally fooled along with the ivory hunters. Then he has an enclosure built (to attract the elephants into) and says to the native attendants, "Tarzan say when close gates." The native gives him a dirty look, as if to say, "Yeah, 'Tarzan say when close gates'! Cop-out!" Tarzan calls the elephants, and when they're stampeding toward the gates he yells out, "Close gates!" and the camp is stampeded. The ivory hunters are presumably killed as Tarzan rescues Jane and rides off with her on an obliging elephant. The ending is magnificently happy.The earlier "Tarzan and His Mate" is best seen in a double feature with "Tarzan and the She-Devil." The earlier film, a lyrical celebration of Tarzan's life with Jane, features a fellow named Holt, an old flame of Jane's. Holt has apparently killed the ape-man and made it look like an accident. Armed with this false report, he woos Jane into agreeing to accompanying him back to "civilization." (It goes without saying that Holt is an ivory hunter, and that his style is greatly cramped by Tarzan's presence.) As those who have seen the earlier film will recall, Jane's interest in Holt and in "civilization" disappear when she realizes that Tarzan is very much alive.Well, "Tarzan and the She-Devil" pursues a rather interesting and similar angle. Here, the plot against Tarzan is ten times more evil than anything Holt or any other man could have come up with in a million years. Women, as also men, can be good or not so good. But the female of the species bears the more watching.

Hermit C-2 Tarzan looks like a real hero of the '90's here, not only stopping illegal ivory poaching but upholding human rights by foiling some latter-day slave trading. This time it's one of those curiously light-skinned tribes that inhabit Central Africa in some of his movies.The film's title is something of a misnomer. The nominal she-devil here is Monique van Vooren, who sponsors the poachers, but she's a pussycat compared to Raymond Burr, full into his "heavy" role. This was the last time around as Tarzan for Lex Barker, no reason to shed any tears, though admittedly the character isn't one you can do a whole lot with. Joyce Mackenzie was the fourth actress in a row to give a single performance as Jane, and she does an OK job. There are some nice scenes of domestic bliss with the happy couple in this movie. All in all this is just another Tarzan flick, not so great, a little better than most. But you always knew what you were getting with these movies.