Tarzan and the She-Devil (1953)

Ivory poachers, headed by Lyra the She-Devil, Vargo and Fidel, capture a native tribe to carry their loot. Tarzan intervenes and is captured. Jane is also captured and believed killed, so the despairing Tarzan endures endless torture until he learns she is alive. He rises to the occasion and leads his elephants in the usual victory stampede.

Director: Kurt Neumann
Cast: Lex Barker, Joyce Mackenzie, Raymond Burr, Monique van Vooren, Tom Conway, Michael Granger, Henry Brandon, Fred Aldrich, Ben Astar, George Barrows, Robert Bice, Mara Corday, James Dime, Sol Gorss, Ted Hecht, Al Kikume, Ethan Laidlaw, Lee Miller, Frank Mills, Michael Ross, Les Tremayne

In an African jungle, while their native porters lug a load of elephant tusks to the city of Dagar, ivory hunters Vargo and Philippe Lavar discuss their next, big excursion. Having located an enormous but dangerously remote herd of elephants, Lavar and Vargo plan to capture and enslave members of the sturdy Laikopos tribe, then force them to carry the valuable tusks. While Lavar takes off to track the herd and establish a camp, Vargo continues to Dagar to deliver the tusks to Lyra, an exotic, rich French woman, and her husband Fidel. Hoping for financial backing, Vargo tells Lyra and Fidel about the herd and the proposed enslavement. Although Fidel declares Vargo's scheme preposterous, Lyra is intrigued and orders her right-hand man Maka to organize the expedition. After the Laikopos men are captured, the women rush to tell their friend Tarzan and his wife Jane about the kidnapping. Tarzan and his companion, chimpanzee Cheetah, leave immediately for Dagar and, while Vargo's men are distracted by a seductive dancer, knock out some of the guards, steal a stash of rifles and free the Laikopos. As they are sneaking away, however, they are spotted, and a brawl ensues. Although Tarzan and the Laikopos eventually escape, Lyra leads her own expedition to track them down. After finding Tarzan at home, Lyra tries to hire him to guide the doomed elephants into her traps, but Tarzan orders her away. Later, in Dagar, the determined Lyra instructs Vargo to raid the Laikopos again, confident that Tarzan will come to their aid and leave Jane unprotected. Fidel then is to kidnap Jane and hold her until Tarzan gives in to their demands. As planned, Vargo and his men recapture the Laikopos and Tarzan, but Fidel cannot subdue Jane. During the ensuing fight, an oil lantern is knocked over, and the treetop house is engulfed in flames. Jane flees in the confusion, but soon collapses in a daze. Tarzan, meanwhile, frees himself and races home, only to discover his house destroyed and Jane apparently dead. Grief-stricken, Tarzan offers no resistance when Vargo's men come for him. Nearby, a revived Jane struggles toward the Laikopos village, but after being menaced by crocodiles and snakes, falls unconscious again. A passing elephant sees her and carries her in his tusks to the village, where the women take her to the tribal medicine man. In Dagar, meanwhile, Vargo whips the emotionally numb, chained Tarzan, trying to rouse him, but Tarzan barely reacts to the beating. Even the resourceful Cheetah fails to stir Tarzan to action. Soon after, Vargo, Fidel and their enslaved porters return to the jungle and eventually arrive at Lavar's camp. Meanwhile, in the Laikopos village, Jane is nursed back to consciousness and, when she wakens, calls out for Tarzan. At the same moment, a sleeping Tarzan also wakens and loudly cries Jane's name. As punishment for his outburst, Vargo puts Tarzan alone in a pen and denies him food and water. Later, as the Laikopos are building huge pens to house the elephants, Fidel leaves to do some hunting, and his rifle shots cause the animals to stampede. Furious, Vargo demands that Fidel return to Dagar, but just before Fidel departs, he overhears Vargo and Lavar plotting to steal his and Lyra's share. In Dagar, a fully recuperated Jane confronts Lyra, who informs her that Tarzan is deep in the jungle. Jane hurries off to find Tarzan, and after Lyra learns about Vargo's betrayal from Fidel, decides once again to imprison Jane to get to Tarzan. Jane is soon captured and taken to the still-grieving Tarzan in camp. Lyra then tells Tarzan that if he wants to see Jane again, he must lead the elephants into the pens. Though Tarzan at first appears to be cooperating with Lyra, he calls the elephants in a way that makes them stampede toward the camp. In the ensuing panic, Tarzan frees Jane, while Fidel accidentally shoots Lyra. After Fidel, Vargo and Lavar are trampled to death by the elephants, Tarzan and Jane embrace, as a happy Cheetah looks on

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