TARZAN THE APE MAN

US, 1932, 99 minutes, Black and white.
Johnny Weismuller, Maureen O'Sullivan.
Directed by W. S. Van Dyke.

Tarzan the Ape Man is the first sound film in the Tarzan series and the first to star Johnny Weismuller. Weismuller was an Olympic swimmer and established himself well in the Tarzan role for over a decade. He is well-matches by Maureen O'Sullivan as Jane.

The film was directed by W. S. Van Dyke, an expert genre director from MGM who had worked in Africa at this time on Trader Horn. This film is quite studio-bound, with a lot of rear projection as well as an amount of stock material of the jungle.

The film is a romanticising of Tarzan. He is presented as the noble savage. He is presented in the context of the jungle and his harmony with the animals. There is the light and romantic comic touch in his interaction with Jane, learning her ways, her attempts to teach him English? There is also melodrama as he rescues Jane from dangers.

There is a lot of African flora and fauna, safari material, dangers and deaths, battles with dwarfs, elephants~rescuing the humans, gorillas, the elephants' burial ground.

The score was arranged by singer-composer, Ivor Novello.

The many sequels with Johnny Weismuller and Maureen O'Sullivan had great vitality and humour. Successive Tarzans generally worked according to formula. In the '80s there was a Bo Derek satiric Tarzan story, Tarzan the Ape Man, as well as Hugh Hudson's excellent and classic treatment, Greystoke: the Legend of Tarzan, King of the Apes with Christopher Lambert and Ralph Richardson.

1. The popularity of the Tarzan stories? The 19th century adventures of the noble savage? Primitive life and civilisation? The writings of Edgar Rice Burroughs? The cinema silent tradition and this film?

2. MGM production values: black and white photography, imaginative effects, studio?bound techniques, stock jungle footage?

3. The stars: Johnny Weismuller embodying Tarzan for over a decade? Maureen O'Sullivan as the personification of Jane? The strong supporting cast?

4. Tarzan as a figure of the jungle, the noble savage, the human instincts, the primitive instincts? His appearance in the jungle, the confrontation with the white safari? The attraction towards Jane? With her, learning English, imitating her? His harmony with the animals? The safari and the dangers, the rescue? The elephant?ride to the burial ground of the elephants? The attractiveness of Tarzan? Heroism? Larger than life?

6. Jane and her father, civilisation, the flighty city girl? Her love for her father? With Harry Holt? The expedition? The dangers? The encounter with Tarzan and her being carried off? The gentle treatment? His name? Her liking being with him? Harry's rescuing her and the death of the monkeys? Harry's attack on Tarzan and her pleading? Her being taken by the monkey to Tarzan and her helping him with his injuries? Affection? Her seeing her father, rescuing him? Reunited with her father, his death? her decision to stay with Tarzan?

7. James Parker and Harry Holt on safari, the African outpost, the lifestyle, the expedition, the native carriers, the animals, the dangers? The encounter with Tarzan and their fears for Jane? The shooting and the killing of the monkey, the injuring of Tarzan? Their understanding Jane's wanting to be with Tarzan? The danger with the gorillas? The dwarfs? The elephant burial place? James Parker and the elephant dying? Harry's return?

8. The jungle sequences, lyrical, comic? The basis of a cinema legend?