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In their African jungle home, wild man
Tarzan and his mate Jane find their pet chimpanzee Cheetah playing with
an old cigarette case, which is inscribed to "Gloria" and dated 1928.
While Jane expresses her curiosity about the case's owner, Cheetah and
her male chimp friend return to the secluded place where the cigarette
case was found, a plane crash site littered with skeletal remains.
After romping through the debris, Cheetah returns home with a journal
written by famed British aviatrix Gloria James, whose plane disappeared
twenty years earlier during a round-the-world flight. Jane tells
Tarzan that the journal must be sent to England as soon as possible, but
Tarzan flatly refuses to take the book to the trading post at Nyaga Ratu.
Tarzan's mysterious refusal annoys Jane and, after she falls asleep,
Tarzan goes to the river port and shows the journal to trader Trask and
his partner, pilot Dodd. Trask and Dodd inform Tarzan that an
Englishman named Douglas Jessup is offering a reward for Gloria's
return, as she is the only person who can clear him of a murder charge
for which he has been imprisoned for twenty years.
Disturbed by this news, Tarzan travels alone
to a village hidden in a treacherous mountain valley. There
Tarzan, who is the only outsider who knows of the village's existence,
tells the tribal leader, the High One, about Jessup and asks if Gloria,
who lives in the village, can return to England to save him. The
chief grants Tarzan's request and, after he promises not to reveal
anything about the village to the outside world, Tarzan leaves with
Gloria. The High One's decision angers some villagers, who are
convinced that Gloria's departure will mean the end of their isolation.
When Tarzan arrives home with Gloria, Jane
is thrilled, but is also perplexed by Gloria's youthful appearance.
Tarzan refuses to discuss Gloria with Jane but, upon seeing the
aviatrix, Trask and Dodd are reminded of a local legend about a hidden
city with a fountain of youth. Although Trask claims not to
believe in the legend, he hires the brutish Vredak to find the village,
sure that such a place would mean great fortune for him. Vredak
leads a group of men to the mountains but, as he approaches the valley,
he is hit by a flaming arrow fired by a tribal guard. After the
other men flee, Pasco, the leader of the dissidents, declares that
Tarzan must be killed.
Later, Tarzan and Jane receive a letter from
Gloria informing them that she has married Jessup and wants to return to
Africa with him. News of Gloria's return reaches Dodd, who makes a
deal with Trask to follow Tarzan and Gloria to the hidden city.
After Tarzan is nearly killed by a valley
tribesman, Gloria and Jessup arrive in the jungle in Dodd's plane.
Jane is shocked to see that Gloria has aged twenty years and, deducing
her secret, tries to convince Tarzan to lead her and the middle-aged
Jessup back to the mountains. When Tarzan refuses to lead them,
Jane offers to be their guide. Feigning engine trouble, Dodd and
Trask then ask to travel with the group for part of the way.
Unknown to Jane, Tarzan is following the group and is forced to rescue
them when they become trapped in a ravine during a flash flood.
After Tarzan announces that the group is
turning back in the morning, he sneaks away with Gloria and Jessup.
A determined Trask, however, forces Jane to lead him and Dodd to the
valley by threatening to kill Cheetah. While Jane guides Trask and
Dodd, Tarzan presents Gloria and Jessup to the High One, who decrees
that the newlyweds may stay and offers them a drink from the village's
fountain of youth. Before Tarzan can leave, however, the
dissidents capture him, intending to burn out his eyes.
Tarzan escapes from his chains and flees the
village just as Jane, Dodd and Trask are being attacked at the valley's
entrance. After Dodd and Trask are killed, Cheetah starts a
landslide that enables Tarzan and Jane to escape from the fiery arrows.
Back at home, the impish Cheetah drinks from a vial of stolen valley
water and is turned instantly into a baby chimp. |
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