Ben Larson
Is this the first case of recycling? MGM spent a fortune making Trader Horn, and was able to reuse some footage for this film. Smart thinking. Of course the footage was not integrated well. It looks as if some of the characters are walking in front of a movie screen.Johnny Weismuller was an Olympic Gold Medalist with no acting experience, and MGM really didn't want him, but they used him for this and four sequels to great effect. Weismuller went on to make more Tarzan films for other producers.It is always a pleasure to watch old films like this and see how far we have come.
Robert J. Maxwell
I understand that this movie was made with little expectation that it would be profitable. The main idea was to use some expensive film that had been shot on location in Africa for "Trader Horn" but never seen on the screen. It's believable. There's not much evidence of effort having been put into the story or characters. A lot of animals chase each other through the jungle.Maureen O'Sullivan is Miss Jane Parker, the daughter of C. Aubrey Smith. They, an extraneous white guy, and their native bearers are on safari in a part o the Dark Continent where the hand of man has never set foot. They're searching for an elephant graveyard. You know, the place where moribund elephants wander to die among their ancestors' bones? That's how Jane puts it anyway. Why, there must be a fortune in ivory in all those tusks! Of course, it's the devil of a time getting the tusks out of the skulls. In Alabama the Tuscaloosa. I don't care. I refuse to put any more effort into a joke like that than the writers, Cyril Hume and Ivor Novello, have put into the script.And, man, have they butchered Edgar Rice Burroughs' original story and characters. I was addicted to them when I was barely a teen. They were implausible then. Now the story and characters are dumbed down so that a five-year-old can absorb them. Eg., the original Tarzan was a Viscount by birth. You won't find that mentioned here. Somebody might ask, "What's a Viscount?" And, if I remember, Tarzan spoke not only ape language, which apes don't have, but was self taught in English as well. And his English was as good as any Brit's. His lexicon encompassed words like "scarcely" and "width." However, having Tarzan speak English means writing more dialog, which takes time, effort, skill, and money. Better -- and easier -- to have Johnny Weismuller thump his chest, say "Tarzan," then thump Maureen O'Sullivan's chest, at the sternoclavicular notch, and say, "Jane!" There now. Isn't that easier than having him ask something like, "I say, actually, what is your sincere impression of this verdant paradise?" There are so many scenes of combat involving so many different kinds of animals, from hippos, lions, leopards, gorillas, and crocodiles to dwarf humans, that I lost interest after a while. My interest was piqued momentarily as Jane's dress was gradually ripped to shreds by the jungle shrubs, and when she deliberately tore some swaths off to make a bandage for Tarzan's head.That brings up another subject. I don't know what Tarzan thought of Jane, per se, but she evidently grows affectionate towards him after spending some time in his tree house. She comes up with something like, "Oh, Tarzan, you don't even know what a kiss IS, do you?" Well, he may not know how to kiss but he sweeps her up tenderly in his arms and carries her slowly off to his rude budoir. And what does Jane do, you ask? Protest? Hardly. She submissively buries her face in his shoulder and allows herself to be taken away. To do what -- make fudge?The next time we see her, it's day time and she's lying on a leopard skin rug in the tree house, wreathed in smiles of satisfaction. And, at the fade out, Tarzan and Jane wave good-bye to the departing remnants of the safari, content to seek happiness alone in the jungle. (Well, not alone -- all those elephants.) But without benefit of clergy, I might add. I ask you, what kind of movie IS this? Would you let your children watch this salacious filth? What do you suppose they'll learn from it -- that it's fun to swing from the chandelier? How to play doctor in the tree house? No, no. Take us back to the original, where Tarzan and Jane remain pure and Tarzan is articulate enough to say, "Now Tarzan will wage war on the miscreant Gomangani."
Scarecrow-88
I must say I was especially surprised at how much I loved this picture! Lavishly produced by MGM with some spectacular sets and dazzling adventure sequences, "Tarzan the Ape Man" certainly won me over big time. Johnny Weismuller would be forever typecast and appear in numerous Tarzan films, as the mostly mute, but impressively built Ape Man, who could communicate with animals in the African jungle, wrestle and defeat the likes of lions and tigers, swing from trees with ease, and swim incredibly fast (this skill needed when giant crocodiles are coming after you!) when needing to. Maureen O'Sullivan, a stunning petite beauty, would portray British daughter of an ivory hunter (played by C Aubrey Smith) Jane Parker in several Tarzan movies after this one. I thought some of her playful scenes with Weissbuller were quite erotic, such as when she falls into his arms while they are swimming (or up in a tree) or is whisked off her feet by Tarzan to be taken to safety. Neil Hamilton is her other more "suitable" potential love interest (a fellow hunter and colleague of Smith's James Parker), Harry Holt, who expresses his strong feelings for her before Tarzan comes on the scene. You get all kinds of jungle animals in this production, such as zebra and rhinos, with that always-present threat of lions and tigers roaming about looking to attack and eat their prey. I was stunned at how realistic Tarzan's battles with tigers (and a lion) were. The elephant charge at the end when Tarzan calls on them for help when the Parkers and Harry are held hostage by a menacing group of African dwarfs, dropping members of their party in a pit with an enraged gorilla, rampaging through the village is awesome. That one scene where Cheetah the orangutan is fleeing from the pursuit of a determined tiger is all kinds of suspenseful, done with no musical accompaniment (we know that if Cheetah is caught and killed that Tarzan will not know that his beloved Jane has been taken prisoner by the dwarfs, adding extra tension to the scene). Perhaps a bit long in the tooth, but the filmmakers get in all the essentials fans would come to expect from the Tarzan series. Weissmuller is quite a hunk and O'Sullivan is definitely his equal in regards to attractiveness—I can see why the pair was in such demand to make more of these movies. O'Sullivan must be given credit for having to carry Weissmuller in their many scenes together because of the Tarzan character's inability to communicate with her through spoken language. Plenty of harrowing escapes such as one instance where Parkers crew are attempting to paddle their rafts across a river as rhinos draw closer to them (and one raft is tipped over, with one African slave becoming croc din-din).
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Johnny Weissmuller,the former Olympic champion in swimming,makes his debut as Tarzan.The movie spawned a lot of sequels and Weissmuller continued as Tarzan for 11 more films during the next 16 years. I had seen this early and somewhat primitive talkie a couple of years back and found it hard to sit through.I decided I'd give it another chance and was surprised at how much more I enjoyed it.Weissmuller is stunning, he fits the part excellent and looks amazing.There's screen charisma by the thousands.Maureen O' Sullivan as Jane really made the role her own.The African footage, shot during the making of "Trader Horn" is exciting and must have been worth the ticket on its own back in the thirties.There's some bad rear-projection used,but it doesn't spoil the movie if you don't let it bother you. So enjoy this entertaining film.
