Tarzan of the Apes (Silent)

Playing this in my BluRay player, and the disc is bad. It keeps stopping and pixelating. About halfway through, it smooths out. I don’t regret buying it, but Alpha Video should do a better job with their products. I have other titles of theirs and none are like this

Elmo Lincoln was the first and most famous of the silent screen Tarzans. At just under 6 feet with a 53 inch chest his effect on the ladies was ecstatic. It his later films he was made to cover up. During filming he was attacked by the elderly lion so he killed it. When the lion was publicly exhibited this created a sensation. Elmo Lincoln's similarity to the first illustration of Tarzan by Clinton Pettee on All Story magazine in October 1912 is remarkable. The iconic profile silhouette by Fred J Arting used to illustrate the cover of the first edition hardback is faithfully rendered in the image of Elmo Lincoln at the beginning of the film. Gordon Griffith is also ideal in the role of Tarzan as a boy with a great sense of fun and outstanding tree climbing and swinging. A more appropriate actress should have been found to play Jane. The film opens with African wild life scenes which were actually shot at the E and R Jungle Film Company in Los Angeles. The film is to a large extent faithful to Edgar Rice Burroughs' story of the same title. Inevitably there is considerable simplification. It differs in using Binns the loyal sailor to the Greystokes as the means for informing English relatives of the child lost in the jungle. Just over one third of the original film is lost but most of this involved Binns in his return to England to inform the Greystoke family about the missing boy for which he is unfortunately locked up as deranged. As the Tarzan film is only just over one hour the remaining 52 minutes is made up of a documentary concerning the then new Tarzan Gordon Scott and his projected 1957 film Tarzan and the Lost Safari. At present only this film and The Son of Tarzan of the silent films are available for DVD players outside region 1. Hopefully the other silent Tarzan films will at some time in the future also be available.

I've always enjoyed Tarzan and his infinite incarnations, but this silent work has made me an official Tarzan fan. It's current running time doesn't really allow for the whole story to be told and it leaves you wanting more. Some have complained about Elmo Lincoln not having the physical appearance of Tarzan, but I COMPLETELY disagree. It's nice to see a great, expressive actor like Elmo looking like an unkempt linebacker instead of the endless thin, clean looking Tarzans we would see in the years to come. Although the entire cast is made up of excellent actors, the real shining star of this film is Gordon Griffith as young Tarzan. The stunts are great and the film is action packed. The sets and location filming in Louisiana make an excellent substitute for the jungles of Africa and the mixture of real animals with costumed ones is used well, even if one or two of the ape costumes look a bit ridiculous. If you're not sure about whether Tarzan films are for you, then this is a great place to start because of 'Tarzan Of The Apes' being the first film adaptation, it's short running time and the fact that you can get it for $5-10. I do agree with some reviewers that a few parts of the film are badly transferred, but to me that adds to the charm of this movie and definitely doesn't distract from the film or it's story. My biggest, if only complaint, is the soundtrack. Although the sound effects were nice touches, the actual "music" sounds closer to the background music of a Commodore 64 game as opposed to a score written for a 1918 feature film. If you have any interest in Tarzan, Burroughs or silent film then this needs to be in your collection.

Being an Edgar Rice Burroughs fan, I've always wanted to see the first film version of Tarzan. Who knows when it will come out on DVD (although 20 minutes of this are included as a sort of prologue in the DVD  Adventures of Tarzan - Serial ). So I bought this tape.Bad points - a typical Madacy video - blurry picture with a totally inappropriate soundtrack. Since it's a silent picture anyway, I just turned the sound off. Although it's listed here as 73 minutes, the box itself says 63 minutes, and The End actually came up at 60 minutes. The scene(s) in England with a barmaid played by Bessie Toner are missing, for example. The American Film Institute Catalog says that after its Jan 27, 1918 premiere, the film was cut from 10 reels to 8 reels, so maybe 63 minutes is all we have now.Good points - faithful to many points of Burroughs' novel. Rather than Tarzan implausibly teaching himself reading and writing, the film introduces a sailor who teaches young Tarzan those skills, and then makes his way to England. Unlike the book, the party with Professor and Jane Porter, and the presumed Greystoke heir, is actually looking for the wild Greystoke son.It was interesting seeing the wildlife in the beginning, clearly filmed on location in Africa, although maybe it was footage taken from some early documentary. I like Gordon Griffith's performance as the boy Tarzan. Elmo Lincoln wasn't bad, even though he's not the type of filmic Tarzan we've become used to. Enid Markey wasn't particularly appealing to me. The film still has the exaggerated pantomines of ealier silent films. The acting in silent films in general got a lot better in the 1920's.Overall, I thought it was OK for a Tarzan film. Later films had better acting (some of them), and more appealing Jane's, and in recent years gorgeous jungle scenery. But I appreciate that this was the first, and that it stayed so close to Burroughs' story.

As close to the original novel as possible

Tarzan of the Apes [DVD] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC ] ex AmazonAIt's very interesting to see what they made of the very firstTarzan Film. Elmo Lincoln is nothing like the various Tarzanswe are used to but he's quite good. Sticks quite a bit withthe original book; well a bit at least. It's not Greystokebut for it's time it's quite good. Not for anyone usedto Johnny or Lex Et Al; maybe for a cineaste. Bear in mindwhen it was made. Unlike say, the 1933 King Kong this ain'ta definitive version. Tarzan of the Apes [DVD] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC

Sehr gut, sehr spannend. Sehr gut gespielt. Sehr interessante Schauspieler, und sehr interessantes Styling und Make-up. Sehr guter Film hervorragend.

OK

„Ein bemerkenswertes filmhistorisches Dokument“, urteilt das Lexikon des internationalen Films. In der Tat wird der Historiker beim Betrachten dieses Films mehr Vergnügen empfinden als der Cineast, der nur unterhalten werden will. Schon 1918 bemängelte die New York Times die „zahme, stellenweise öde Erzählweise“. Und auch das Chicago Journal lobte nach der Premiere am 27. Januar 1918 nicht etwa den Spannungsbogen oder das Drehbuch, sondern schrieb: „Es ist eine tolle Sache, all diese Affen und Löwen und Elefanten in Tarzan zu sehen.“ (Zitate aus R. M. Hahn/R. Giesen: Das neue Lexikon des Fantasy-Films, Berlin 2001). Insgesamt war die zeitgenössische Kritik dem Film gegenüber sehr wohlwollend eingestellt, und auch an der Kinokasse wurde er zum finanziellen Erfolg. Aus heutiger Sicht bedeutend ist, dass wir es mit dem ersten „Tarzan“-Film der Filmgeschichte zu tun haben und somit auch mit dem ersten Film-Tarzan. Das ist jedoch nicht Elmo Lincoln, der den erwachsenen Tarzan darstellt und der ein bisschen so aussieht wie Helmut Markwort mit Stirnband, sondern der junge Gordon Griffith, der Tarzan im Kindesalter spielt. Wie in den meisten frühen Filmen haben wir es hier mit einer hauptsächlich statischen Kamera zu tun, Kameraschwenks sind eher selten. Wer keine Stummfilme mag, wird auch diesen Film nicht mögen. Wer sich allerdings für Filmgeschichte interessiert, sollte sich diese etwa 60 Minuten gönnen. In der deutschen Fassung wurden die originalen englischen Zwischentitel beibehalten und deutsch übersprochen. Das ermöglicht ein noch entspannteres Zuschauen.