Alternate versions

In the UK, the 2002 DVD release was cut by 12 secs by the BBFC to remove shots of lions being genuinely tripped to simulate a shooting and a spear killing. The 2005 release features the extended version, but these scenes were pre-cut before submission to the classification board.

The infamous nude swimming scene was originally filmed in three different versions: with Jane wearing her traditional costume, with Jane topless, and with Jane topless while wearing a flesh-toned covering below. US states were empowered at that time to enact individual censorship laws, and the three versions were filmed in order to allow individual states to select the version of the scene best conformed to its laws. All three versions were eventually removed from the film due to protests from conservative religious groups, particularly the powerful Catholic Legion of Decency.

On March 25, 1986, Ted Turner and his Turner Broadcasting System purchased Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and Turner discovered a full positive copy of the movie without censorship cuts, in their vaults. On his orders, the nude swimming scene was restored to most subsequent versions of the film. In the restored version of the scene, Tarzan is depicted wearing his traditional loincloth while Jane appears fully nude, as her costume had torn off when Tarzan playfully tosses her from a tree to the water below. The scene as it exists today in the VHS print is approximately 4 minutes in the total running time of 116 minutes.

In the USA, the Hays Office insisted on cuts of 11 minutes of nude swimming by Jane, and imposed that her only appearance in the two-piece Jane costume, be subsequently replaced by a long one-piece costume, less revealing. In New York, the State censors cut a further scene involving male nudity. This was the version that eventually went on general release. For TV broadcasting, the running time was 93 minutes, missing the nude swimming scene, brief footage of bare-breasted natives, and some graphic violence.