screen images / Tarzan Finds a Son / 1939 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

This is the fourth film to star Johnny Weissmuller as Tarzan and the first to co-star Johnny Sheffield as Boy. Orginally titled "Tarzan in Exile" the character of Jane (Maureen O'Sullivan) was to have been killed off but preview audiences objected to her death so the ending was changed. Johnny Sheffield claimed that Weissmuller picked him for the role and taught him how to swim as filming took place at both Silver Springs and Crystal Springs in Florida. The story concerns Tarzan finding the lone survivor of a plane crash, an infant boy whom he and Jane raise as their own son. Five years later, a search party looking for the child and his parents informs Tarzan and Jane that Boy is to inherit his parent's estate and needs to return to civilization. Jane is tricked into agreeing to this, but she and Boy, along with members of the expedition, are captured by cannibals. Jane helps Boy to escape to find Tarzan and together they return with a herd of elephants to trample the cannibal's village.