He was, however, badly injured a few moments later. The elephant was supposed to lay him down upon the ground gently, but Tantor must have gotten his cures mixed for he whammed him down so hard that the tree trunk was broken and Searles hospitalized. During the filming of another scene that was being taken on location, a lion escaped from a small temporary arena in which the shots were being made and was at liberty in a wood for four or five hours. Tabler gave a war whoop that would have put Tarzan himself to shame and charged the lion. It was a ticklish moment.
Lions are nervous and and temperamental.
Previous experience with lions cannot assure you what the next lion is going to do under any given circumstances. Fortunately for Tabler and the little boy in the red sweater. Numa turned tail and fled. So did the little boy. I myself, had a rather harrowing experience during the making of this picture.