Tarzan and the Leopard Woman

Tarzan and the Leopard Woman is a 1946 American action film based on the Tarzan character created by Edgar Rice Burroughs and portrayed by Johnny Weissmuller. Directed by Kurt Neumann, the film sees Tarzan encounter a tribe of leopard-worshippers. It was shot in the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden. Its plot has nothing in common with Burroughs' 1935 novel Tarzan and the Leopard Men.

Plot

Travelers near Zambezi are being killed, apparently by leopards. The commissioner asks Tarzan to look into the matter. Tarzan immediately doubts that leopards are the problem. At the same time, Tarzan, Jane, and Boy take in Kimba, a boy who claims to have become lost in the jungle. Kimba is the brother of Queen Lea, leader of a leopard cult. She has dispatched him to spy on Tarzan. Queen Lea also conspires with Ameer Lazar, a Western-educated doctor who resents the West's domination of the area.
Kimba has a goal of his own: to take the heart of Jane, a deed that would make him a warrior in the eyes of the cult. The Leopard Men wear leopard skins that form a cowl and cape, with iron claws attached to the back of each hand. Queen Lea wears a headband, wrist bands, ankle bands, halter top and miniskirt made of leopard skin. She works her followers into a frenzy in an underground chamber, "These skins are your disguise. These claws are your weapons. Go not as men, but as leopards. Go swiftly, silently."
They attack a caravan bringing four young teachers and bring the maidens back for sacrifice. They also capture Tarzan, Jane, and Boy. Tarzan brings down the roof of the cavern, destroying the cult and rescuing his friends.
The plot is summed up by these lines spoken by Tarzan : ''"If an animal can act like a man, why not a man like an animal?"''

Cast

Johnny Weissmuller as Tarzan
Brenda Joyce as Jane
Johnny Sheffield as Boy
Acquanetta as Lea, the High Priestess
Dennis Hoey as Commissioner
Tommy Cook as Kimba
Anthony Caruso as Mongo
George J. Lewis as Corporal
Doris Lloyd as Miss Wetherby, School Superintendent
Ken Terrell as Leopard Man

Critical reception

Writing in DVD Talk, critic Paul Mavis described the film as "ompletely ridiculous fun" and "straight-faced in its overripe campiness," further noting that "ven funnier is harried Tarzan's domestic situation, where Jane, like Blondie to Tarzan's Dagwood, is yapping and complaining about how the tree house is going to 'wrack and ruin' because Tarzan is too lazy to get up off his ass and fix the giant clamshell shower." In critic Jeremy Arnold's review for Turner Classic Movies, he wrote that the film "stands today as a satisfying, action-packed entry in the series," but noted that contemporary reviews in Variety and The New York Times were dismissive of the film's story, production values, directing, and acting.