Tarzan and His Mate

Posted on October 21, 2012

Tarzan and His Mate

1934

Tarzan and His Mate

  • Tarzan: Johnny Weissmuller
  • Jane: Maureen O’Sullivan
  • Director: Cedric Gibbons
  • Producer: Bernard H. Hyman
  • Release Date: April 16, 1934
  • Run Time: 104 min
  • Language: English

Plot

The film begins with Tarzan and Jane Parker living in the Jungle. Henry Holt, with business partner Marlin Arlington, meet up with them on their way to take ivory from an elephant burial ground. Holt tries to convince Jane, who was with him on his first trip to the jungle, to return with him by bringing her gifts from civilization including clothing and modern gadgets but she tells them she’d rather stay with Tarzan.

Later, when Tarzan refuses to let the men take ivory from the burial ground he is shot by Arlington and left for dead. Jane, thinking Tarzan is dead, contemplates leaving the jungle. Meanwhile, Cheeta and his ape friends nurse Tarzan back to health in time for him to stop the men who shot him.

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Tarzan the Fearless

Posted on October 21, 2012

Tarzan the Fearless

1933

Tarzan the Fearless

  • Tarzan: Buster Crabbe
  • Pseudo-jane: Jacquelene Wells as Mary Brooks
  • Director: Robert F. Hill
  • Producer: Sol Lesser
  • Run Time: 71 min (feature), 12 chapters (serial)
  • Language: English

Plot

Tarzan rescues Dr. Brooks, an elderly scientist, who is held by the followers of Zar, God of the Emerald Fingers, in their lost city. Mary Brooks, his daughter, and Bob Hall have also been searching for him, led by villainous safari guides, Jeff Herbert and Nick Moran.

Tarzan goes in search of Mary, and soon all are captured by the people of Zar and brought before Eltar, their high priest. Jeff and Nick are killed, but the others are free to go, provided they never return.

Mary and her father decide to stay with Tarzan instead of returning to civilization with Bob Hall.

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Tarzan, The Ape Man

Posted on October 21, 2012

Tarzan, The Ape Man

1932

Tarzan, The Ape Man

  • Tarzan: Johnny Weissmuller
  • Jane: Maureen O’Sullivan
  • Director: W. S. Van Dyke
  • Release Date: March 25, 1932
  • Run Time: 99 min
  • Language: English
  • Information: Tarzan the Ape Man was the first Tarzan film to star Weissmuller and O’Sullivan, and marked the first appearance of the character of Cheeta the chimpanzee, and the animal actor who created it, Jiggs. The character of Cheeta was created for this film, never having appeared in the original Burroughs novels. Tarzan’s distinctive call was first heard in this film; it was reportedly created by sound recordist Douglas Shearer using special audio effects, including an Austrian yodel played backwards at quickened speed. Weissmuller himself always claimed he had created the trademark Tarzan yell in a yodeling contest he won while he was a boy. He later learned to mimic the famous call so well people assumed that he was the one doing the yell in the films.

Plot

James Parker (C. Aubrey Smith) and Harry Holt (Neil Hamilton), in Africa on a quest for the legendary elephant burial grounds (and their ivory), are joined by Parker’s daughter Jane (Maureen O’Sullivan). Holt, attracted to her, tries somewhat ineffectively to protect her from the jungle’s dangers, notably failing to prevent her abduction by the jungle’s guardian, the mysterious Tarzan (Johnny Weissmuller) and his ape allies. The experience is terrifying to Jane, yet she finds herself missing the ape man after she is returned to her father. When the expedition is captured by a tribe of, what Jane’s father calls “dwarfs”, she sends Tarzan’s ape friend Cheeta (Jiggs) for help, bringing Tarzan to the rescue. In the end, she elects to stay in the jungle with Tarzan.

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Tarzan The Tiger

Posted on October 21, 2012

Tarzan The Tiger

1929

Tarzan The Tiger

  • Tarzan: Frank Merrill
  • Jane: Natalie Kingston
  • Director: Henry MacRae
  • Release Date: October 1929 – February 1930
  • Run Time: 15 chapters, (266 min)
  • Language: English
  • Information: Frank Merrill reprised his role as Tarzan from Tarzan The Mighty. His performance in these two serials makes him the last silent Tarzan and the first sound Tarzan. Merrill did his own stunts and devised the original Tarzan Yell. Tarzan the Tiger was a transitional film with one version released as a silent and the other with a partial soundtrack. The soundtrack only covered music and sound effects, but does include the first Tarzan yell, although it does not sound like the now traditional call that was first used in the Johnny Weissmuller Tarzan movie Tarzan the Ape Man. Frank Merrill was scheduled to play Tarzan in Tarzan the Terrible howeer Merrill’s voice was deemed unsuitable for sound film and the sequel was cancelled.

Plot

Lord Greystoke (Tarzan) returns to Africa, with Lady Jane and friend Albert Werper, in order to return to Opar. He needs the treasure of Opar in order to secure his estates in England. Werper, however, is actually interested in the gold himself. He is in league with Arab slave trader Achmet Zek who wishes revenge on Tarzan and Lady Jane for himself.

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Tarzan The Mighty

Posted on October 21, 2012

Tarzan The Mighty

1928

Tarzan The Mighty

  • Tarzan: Frank Merrill
  • Mary Trevor: Natalie Kingston
  • Black john: Al Ferguson
  • Lord greystoke, Tarzans uncle: Lorimer Johnston
  • Director: Jack Nelson, Ray Taylor
  • Release Date: October 29, 1928
  • Run Time: 15 episodes
  • Language: Silent Film, English intertitles

Plot

Mary and her brother, survivors of a shipwreck, are constantly harassed by Black John, a thief and cruel descendant of a pirate. Black John has taken a strong liking to Mary and wants to marry her. Tarzan has befriended Mary and protected her and her brother from Black John’s friends who are cruel to them. As Tarzan could not read, he wasn’t aware that the papers he had been keeping were very important. Mary read some of the documents only to discovered that Tarzan is sole heir to the Greystoke estate. Tarzan’s uncle arrives to try to find his nephew but before he can, Black John shoots Tarzan, then hides Mary’s bother and Tarzan’s uncle in a cave. Black John poses as Lord Greystoke and plans to go to England with Mary as his bride.

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Tarzan and the Golden Lion

Posted on October 21, 2012

Tarzan and the Golden Lion

1927

Tarzan and the Golden Lion

  • Tarzan: James H. Pierce
  • Jane: Dorothy Dunbar
  • Owaza: Boris Karloff
  • Tarzans sister, Betty Greystoke: Edna Murphy
  • Director: J. P. McGowan
  • Producer: Edwin C. King
  • Release Date: March 20, 1927
  • Run Time: 57 min
  • Language: Silent Film, English intertitles

Plot

While Tarzan is away from Greystoke, John Gordon (Weesimbo) manages to take refuge at Lord Greystoke’s estate and tells everyone at Greystoke the story of how he was held captive in the Temple of Diamonds by the Tangani tribe. Flora Hawkes and her Aunt Jane arrive in time to hear the story Weesimbo is telling. News of the diamonds travels to the chief of a band of thieves, Esteban Miranda, who is able to intrude onto the Greystoke estate pretending to be Tarzan. He and his band capture Weesimbo and Flora and force Weesimbo to take them to the diamonds. The evil high priest at the Temple of Diamonds captures Flora intending to sacrifice her to Numa, the lion god of the Tangani. Once Tarzan hears what has happened he and Jad-bal-ja fight their way to the Temple of Diamonds along with a band of Wiziri warriors to an exciting conclusion.

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The Adventures of Tarzan

Posted on October 21, 2012

The Adventures of Tarzan

1921

The Adventures of Tarzan

  • Tarzan: Elmo Lincoln
  • Jane: Louise Lorraine
  • Director: Robert F. Hill and Scott Sidney
  • Producer: Louis Weiss
  • Release Date: December 1, 1921
  • Language: Silent film, English Intertitles

Plot

Tarzan rescues Jane from Arab slave-traders after they have been marooned in Africa. They return to the cabin where his parents lived before their death. Jane is captured by Queen La of Opar, taken to that hidden city, and is to be made a sacrifice. Tarzan rescues her and they escape. Nikolas Rokoff and William Cecil Clayton, the usurper to Tarzan’s title of Lord Greystoke, learn that Jane has a map to the city (which contains fabulous riches in exotic jewels), tattooed onto her back. They kidnap her and attempt to loot the city. Tarzan braves many perils, finally rescues Jane, defeats the villains and escapes La’s amorous clutches.

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The Son of Tarzan

Posted on October 21, 2012

The Son of Tarzan

1920

The Son of Tarzan

  • Tarzan: Perce Dempsey Tabler
  • Jane: Karla Schramm
  • Korak/jack clayton: Kamuela C. Searle
  • Korak as a child: Gordon Griffith
  • Director: Arthur J. Flaven and Harry Revier
  • Producer: David P. Howells
  • Release Date: 1920 (First Chapter) January 27, 1921 (Final Chapter)
  • Run Time: 253 min (15 chapters)
  • Language: Silent film, English intertitles

Plot

Tarzan and Jane have left Africa, married and settled in London. Their pre-teen son, Jack, dreams of jungle adventures like his father’s, but is discouraged by his parents. He sneaks away to see a trained ape called Ajax (in reality, Akut, an old friend from Tarzan’s youth). The ape’s trainer is really Ivan Paulovich, an old enemy of Tarzan’s, who is looking for a way to enact vengeance. He kidnaps Jack and takes him to Africa.

Jack escapes with Akut, and survives on his own in the wild much like his father before him. He is given the Ape name Korak, which means “Killer” in their language. Korak rescues Meriem, a young French girl held captive by Arab slave traders, and they grow to adulthood in the jungle. Paulovich hopes to receive a ransom from her wealthy parents for her return as well, and attempts to capture both of them.

Eventually Paulovich lures Jane to Africa in order to extort a ransom, but Tarzan soon follows. Tarzan and Jane, living at their African estate, find Meriem and informally adopt her. They discover her parentage and send for her father. The film climaxes with a battle pitting Korak against Paulovich, his henchmen and the slave traders. An elephant rescues Korak, who is bound to a stake, and he and Meriem are reunited with their parents, and all sail for England.[3]

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The Revenge of Tarzan

Posted on October 21, 2012

The Revenge of Tarzan

1920

The Revenge of Tarzan

  • Tarzan: Gene Pollar (a former firefighter, made no other films, and returned to his old job after the film was completed
  • Jane: Karla Schramm
  • Director: Harry Revier and George M. Merrick
  • Producer: Great Western Producing Company
  • Release Date: May 30, 1920
  • Run Time: 90 min
  • Language: Silent film, English intertitles

Plot

Tarzan and Jane are traveling to Paris to help his old friend Countess de Coude, who is being threatened by her brother, Nikolas Rokoff. Rokoff has Tarzan tossed overboard. He survives, comes ashore in North Africa, and goes to Paris to search for Jane.

In Paris, Tarzan reunites with his old friend Paul D’Arnot, who informs him that Jane was taken to Africa.

Tarzan returns just in time to save Jane from a lion attack, and soon defeats Rokoff and his henchmen.

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The Romance of Tarzan

Posted on October 21, 2012

The Romance of Tarzan

1918

The Romance of Tarzan

  • Tarzan: Elmo Lincoln
  • Jane: Enid Markey
  • Director: Wilfred Lucas
  • Producer: William Parsons
  • Release Date: September 16,1918
  • Run Time: 96 min
  • Language: Silent film, English intertitles

Plot

The film opens with flashbacks from Tarzan of the Apes to establish the back story. The African expedition led by Professor Porter (Thomas Jefferson) to find Tarzan (Elmo Lincoln), the ape-raised heir of Lord Greystoke, has been crowned with success, and Tarzan and Porter’s daughter Jane (Enid Markey) are in love. The party now prepares to return to civilization when it is attacked by natives and separated from the ape-man. Tarzan’s cousin Clayton (Colin Kenny), the current Lord Greystoke, desiring to keep his wealth and title, reports having seen the savages kill Tarzan. Believing him dead, they leave without their charge. But Tarzan has in fact survived, and is eager to be reunited with Jane. Finding his new friends gone he swims out to another boat to follow. Eventually he reaches California in the United States of America, and is landed near the Porters’ San Francisco ranch. Tarzan in civilization is like a bull in a china shop, as is demonstrated early in a destructive incident in a dance hall, where his prowess impresses La Belle Odine (Cleo Madison). Things get back on track when Jane is kidnapped by outlaws, presenting him with the opportunity to rescue her. Jane, however, is cold to him, as Clayton has falsely convinced her he is in love with the other woman. Heartbroken, Tarzan swears off civilization and returns to Africa. Belatedly learning the truth from Odine, Jane follows, and is happily reunited with her lover in the jungle.

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