Three Early Tarzan Films
 
Tarzan of the Apes (1918) - 5.0





This 1918 film is the first Tarzan movie made. A silent of course. There were a handful of silent Tarzan films produced though most are lost. But a few are up on YouTube including this one. Edgar Rice Burroughs published his first Tarzan novel in 1912 with 23 more to come over many years. Burroughs lived to 1950 so he was able to see his character come to life on the screen many times. I wonder what he thought of them because most of them never came close to the plots or character of his books. This one though more than most. The Weissmuller Tarzan and the  Lex Barker Tarzan had Tarzan stuck in the jungle in various adventures speaking guttural English and living in his tree house with a maiden. Nothing could be further from the books. By the end of the first one he has mastered English and French and goes to Wisconsin to find Jane who is engaged to another man. When he returns to Africa in another novel he lives on an estate. Maybe not the stuff of boy's adventures.




This one though is the origin story that we are all familiar with and sticks fairly closely to the first half of the novel. The Romance of Tarzan released the same year takes up where the first film left off but it seems to be lost. Usually the actor Elmo Lincoln is given credit as the first Tarzan but in actuality in the first part of the film he is a boy and played by Gordon Griffith. So if someone ever asks you the trick question - Elmo was not the first Tarzan! Elmo was to go on though and make the next one and then a serial titled Adventures of Tarzan (1921). And then kind of obscurity. He had small parts in many films often uncredited and even has appearances in Tarzan's New York Adventure (1942) and Tarzan's Magic Fountain (1949). Admittedly, he is not a particularly impressive Tarzan with his fright wig and boxy body. No swimming or swinging on vines. But he does fight a lion.



Tarzan's parents Lord and Lady Greystoke go to Africa to put an end to Arab slavers but there is a mutiny on the ship and they are put on the shore. Lady G gives birth to Tarzan (white skin in Ape talk) and soon dies. The father does so as well not much further along but Kala the Ape has lost her baby and takes the young baby and raises it. Nothing strange about that. When he is about ten he notices he is different than apes - not the most observant of lads - and then discovers the cabin his parents built and teaches himself how to write English. Ok - maybe not that stupid.



A few years later and Jane and a party shows up looking for the Greystokes. One look at a white woman and his loin cloth begins to twitch. One look at that boxy body that can kill lions and saves her from a savage and she melts in his arms. End of part one. It runs a little over an hour and isn't all that great but it is the first Tarzan film from 1918! 100 years later we can still see it. At least most of it. I have seen various sources on how long it was from 73 minutes to 120 minutes. It feels like a complete film so I wonder what was lost. Perhaps some are including the second film in the running time. Jane is played by Enid Markey whose last film appearance was fifty years later in The Boston Strangler. Wow.
Tarzan and the Golden Lion (1927) - 6.0






This is rather fabulous considering. That it is a silent Tarzan film with an actor I bet no one has heard of and a film few have heard of. It only runs 57 minutes but probably has a bigger budget than most of the Weissmuller films. It was considered lost for decades before a print was found. There is one of Burroughs books with the same title but the similarities are slight. It stars James Pierce who is so much more athletic and good looking than Elmo Lincoln was. He had been an All-American center at Indiana University and looks like an All-American boy. Even as Tarzan you would think he was going out on a social call to the Dean. But he swings on the vines and has a definite grace. His career after this was mainly 25 years of "uncredited" but he did get one thing out of this - he married the daughter of Burroughs for 44 years. They were later to play Tarzan and Jane on the radio and probably in their bedroom. The print I saw is very decent but the intertitles are in French. My French extends to croissant and merci. There were a couple though that I think I figured out "Preparez la femme pour le sacrifice" and "Vive Tarzan. Vive le Roi de la jungle."



It was not an origin story thankfully but takes place years later. Jane and Tarzan's sister Betty are coming home from a long absence and Tarzan is a very happy boy. Wait, did I say sister? How did Tarzan gain a sister - maybe I got that wrong. What is the French word for sister? But the party including Jack, boyfriend of Betty, and the handlers are attacked by the Waziris (a tribe created by Burroughs) at the instigation of a white man who wants their goods. Mainly food by the look of him. The Waziris chief is none other than Boris Karloff in black-black face in a headpiece with bones sticking out. But Tarzan and his tribe of Africans come to the rescue. By this time Tarzan has his own little army of warriors. Later the four of them settle comfortably into Tarzan's pad with a grown up pet lion that sits there as well. It is an interesting look with the four of them in formal evening attire and the lion without. Oh and a black servant fanning them.



Tarzan who switches to a loin cloth when he goes exploring finds an old white man near death and brings him back. He tells the group of a temple deep in the jungle that is filled with diamonds. The evil white guy and Karloff overhear this and while Tarzan is away kidnap Betty and the old man and go on an expedition to find the temple. The temple is totally cool and the natives have their own lion that they worship and sacrifice women to, And along comes Betty. They capture her and dress her up as a flapper ready to be thrown to the lion. Tons of extras - nice sets -  a lion that speaks French it seems and Tarzan ends up with a basket of diamonds. A good day for Tarzan.


Tarzan the Fearless (1933) - 4.0




In 1932 the Olympic Gold winner Johnny Weissmuller made his first Tarzan film. The following year another Olympic Gold swimming winner in both 1928 and 1932 starred in a Tarzan serial. This was Buster Crabbe. I had always thought that he made a number of Tarzan films because his name was so familiar to me growing up but it was only a 12-part serial. He later did serials for Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers - a pretty famous threesome. So maybe that was why I knew his name. The time duration of the serial was 200 minutes. The version I have was 90 minutes and believe me I won't be looking for the missing 110 minutes. This was enough. It was not, too surprisingly, of serial quality which in general is pretty bad. Meant for children on Saturday afternoons. Every now and then I see one that sounds interesting with great art work on the cover and I give it a go and give up after a few episodes. They are just cheap. This isn't so much the cheapness but just how poor the script is and the acting is not great.



It is set in some Tarzan Twilight Zone period. Tarzan is grown up though he acts like a child of ten unless he is fighting. He hangs out with an elderly white gentleman Dr. Brooks who is searching for the Temple of Zar which looks like something the Assyrians built. But Tarzan speaks zero English and freaks out when the record player plays some music. Later he tries dancing to it which is tragic. Where you might ask is Jane. Brook's daughter Mary (Julie Bishop) and her boyfriend come looking for him and are led by two guides who have their own agenda. Kill Tarzan and steal the jewels from Zar. Tarzan meanwhile likes to spend his time fighting lions, eating grapes and playing with his chimp. But when he sees a photo of Mary he gets all excited. White woman. He isn't the only one as some Arabs want her as does the High Priest of Zar (played by Mischa Auer of all people).



Tarzan keeps saving Mary's life - her boyfriend gets a little put out and she begins to love him because they have so much in common. She giggles a lot. He smiles. At the end she decides to stay with her hunk and I ask again where is Jane. Crabbe is a fantastic swimmer and does a good job of going vine to vine but he has the personality of a mango. I just don't know how much the quality of this is hurt by either being abridged or just including one story. I don't want to find out.