The serial was produced by Sol Lesser, written by Basil Dickey, George Plympton and Walter Anthony (based on the character created by Edgar Rice Burroughs), and directed by Robert F. Hill.

Tarzan rescues Dr. Brooks, an elderly scientist, who is held by the followers of Zar, God of the Emerald Fingers, in their lost city.

Mary Brooks, his daughter, and Bob Hall have also been searching for him, led by villainous safari guides, Jeff Herbert and Nick Moran.

However, due to the wording of the contract the courts found in Lesser's favour and held that it was still valid.

A score was later taken from old westerns and "minutes passed" with silent (no sound effects, music or dialogue) stock footage of distant animals.

[4] Lesser wanted a more svelte athlete for the part and was appalled at the thought of casting the large, ex-football player Pierce as Tarzan.

Lesser actually had a comedy script written by Correy Ford with Jane in the masculine role but he was not happy with it.

At this time Paramount released King of the Jungle with Buster Crabbe as Kaspa the Lion Man (a Tarzanesque character), which brought him to Lesser's attention.

The studio had taken a quick group test during filming of That's My Boy but "didn't give any of us a chance.

She is searching for her missing father, Dr Brooks, who has been captured by "worshippers of Zar, god of the Emerald Fingers".

The "feature film", which was 61-minutes long, consisted only of the first four chapters spliced together, so came without any ending to the story; but it was sometimes exhibited as a stand-alone movie, without objection by Lesser's distribution franchise agents.

Hence viewers found themselves faced with the villains still on the loose and Tarzan having carried the girl off to his cave, unchaperoned.

[4] William Tray, writing in London's The Nation: "If Mr Burroughs' Tarzan books are not beyond the reach of an eight-year-old mind, the movie versions of them may be said to reduce the age limit by three or four years.

In fact, even an intelligent child may find something embarrassing in the manner in which an unfortunate young athlete named Buster Crabbe is required to jump from tree to tree, caress synthetic Hollywood apes, and make hideously inhuman noises.