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National Film Corporation of AmericaTarzan of the Apes (1918)

Original (PD) version of this classic, NOT the VHS version "copyrighted" in 1982.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0009682/
At this early point in American film history, Tarzan of the Apes was an instant success. Elmo Lincoln was perhaps the best actor at the time for the role. It's a fairly straight forward telling of the novel, tho Edgar Rice Burroughs was frequently on the set in an advisory role and his input was seldom utilized. In the books, Tarzan was quite the self-made scholar and this was barely touched upon in the film. For 1918, this turned out to be an excellent film, parts of which still hold up today. It's a solid 7 out of 10, and well worth seeing.


This movie is part of the collection: Feature Films

Producer: National Film Corporation of America
Audio/Visual: silent, black and white
Language: English dialogue cards
Keywords: Tarzan; silent; Elmo Lincoln; jungle

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Reviewer: Athanatos - - December 20, 2007
Subject: Mixed Bag
This film is definitely of historical interest to many sorts of people -- Tarzan fans, those interested in adventure films, &c.

Its production values are quite high for the time in which it was made; it's easy to find films about ten years younger that are far less well-made.

On the other hand, like many films from silent era, this film sustains itself by having characters act randomly, rather than from realistic motive. Villains handicapped by injury or by the weight of a woman take too long to be run-down. An alleged scientist keeps inexplicably silent when he notices that a skull is that of an infant ape rather than that of H. sapiens. Would-be rescuers aren't intelligent enough to run in the direction of cries for help. A trip one direction takes mere minutes, but in the other direction it requires many hours.

And few will be surprised, but many will be saddened, at the roles played by blacks in this film.

Elmo Lincoln looks more like Bernarr MacFadden than like Herman Brix or like Christopher Lambert, and certainly doesn't move with the agility that Burroughs imputed to his feral hero.

Reviewer: terracesider - - December 19, 2007
Subject: "an excellent film, parts of which still hold up today"
Before watching this film, I had not realised film-making was so advanced by 1918. I thought the film extremely well-made with good acting and nicely -paced direction.

In fact, I found it superior to the rest of the Tarzan films on this site.