by Nathaniel R
On this weekend in 1918 the first filmed version of Tarzan of the Apes movie appeared. You may recall that I have a bit of an...um... problem with Tarzan that stems from childhood. I'd never seen the first Tarzan but it is streaming on YouTube and is only 60 minutes long. It has all the typical Tarzan controversial flashpoints (whitewashed pro-coloniaism history and in-the-now-whenever-that-happened-to-be gender politics) plus the origin story and even the yodelling (you can't actually hear it, mind you, but he does beat his chest while wailing so you know that's what's happening.
Despite the worst Tarzan wig that ever existed and the lack of jungle animals (it was shot in Louisiana) it's significant for having launched a now 100 year old franchise...
And it made over a million dollars at the box office.That was not insignificant money in 1918 when going to the movies would set you back only 10 or 15¢.
Alas it's not good. The biggest problem is that Elmo Lincoln is just not an attractive Lord of the Apes. Tarzan kind of needs to be to satisfy one of the principle draws of the character. Chubby is fine (no body fascism here) but it's not appropriate for this character, who is famous for being fit enough to fight wild animals, swim as fast as crocodiles, swing on vines. Lots of calorie burning with that one. Elmo couldn't handle the tree work so another man did all that. How do you decide on someone chubby to play this role in the early 20th century back when men were (generally speaking) smaller and slimmer (no fast food yet). Was it just a matter of largeness translating as "mighty", visually, to 1918 eyes?
The filmmakers in the silent era didn't fully grasp Tarzan's carnal appeal until Buster Crabbe's barely there loincloth arrived. In most versions of Tarzan he eventually covers up but you keep Tarzan out of clothes for as long as possible. That's the law (of the jungle)! So check out this counterintuitive title card when naked boy Tarzan (silent regular Gordon Griffith) sees his first African villagers wearing grass skirts and the like.
The exclamation mark is LOLz.
Less funny is Tarzan's courtship of Jane (Enid Markey). She's terrified when he gets handsy and is prepared to drag her into the jungle. She admonishes him for his aggression.
This actually works to shame him (!) and he falls to his knees kissing her hand instead. At which point she's all okay call me maybe... oh what the hell I'll live in the jungle with you forever. This animal skin bed you made me in a tree does look comfy if not quite practical
In case you missed TFE's "Swing, Tarzan Swing" series in which we stopped in on several of the key Tarzans for one film each. Here are the links.
All Chapters:
Ch. 1 Buster Crabbe in Tarzan the Fearless (1933)
Ch. 2 Johnny Weissmuller & Maureen O'Sullivan in Tarzan and His Mate (1934)
Archive Extra: Tarzan the Ape Man (1932)
Ch. 3 Lex Barker in Tarzan's Peril (1951)
Ch. 4 Gordon Scott in Tarzan's Great Adventure (1959)
Ch. 5 Mike Henry in Tarzan and The Valley of Gold (1966)
Ch. 6 Bo Derek & Miles O'Keeffe in Tarzan the Ape Man (1980)
Ch. 7 Oscar loves Greystoke, The Legend of Tarzan: Lord of the Apes (1984)
Ch. 8 Casper Van Dien in Tarzan and the Lost City (1998)
Ch. 9 Disney's vine-surfing Tarzan (1999)
Somehow we never finished up with Alexander Skarsgård's 2016 take! We haven't heard a peep about sequel plans. Perhaps Warner Bros decided it wasn't worth it. The latest attempt to revive the franchise cost $180 million and only took in $356 globally. Given the added promotional expenses there probably wasn't much of a profit margin to spur that sequel on.