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Tarzan
1918 - 1999
Tarzan is the longest running, most frequently filmed movie subject. Though Edgar Rice Burroughs wrote his first Tarzan in 1912 (book published 1914), nearly a hundred years after Mary Shelley gave literary birth to Frankenstein's monster, the character has endured over 50 filmings, plus numerous animated & TV episodes, far more incarnations than Mary's monster. There are even 5 Spanish versions never released in the US.
Over 20 actors have portrayed the title role, with Elmo Lincoln as the first Tarzan of the Apes in 1918 & the only film that was close to Burroughs original novel. That film grossed over a million dollars, which made it a huge hit in those days. Supposedly none of the subsequent films used plots from any of Burroughs 26 Tarzan novels. Irving Thalberg initiated the most famous Tarzan at MGM with Johnny Weissmuller who also played Tarzan the longest from 1932 to 1948. Lex Barker was my first encounter, which sent me swinging on ropes in my backyard. Gordon Scott played him in the two best action pictures, Tarzan's Great Adventure (1959), featuring Sean Connery & Anthony Quayle as the villains, & Tarzan the Magnificent (1960), with Jock Mahoney as the villain, who then became the next Tarzan. John Derek made a sexy Tarzan of the Apes in 1980, & most recently Tarzan became a Disney animation in 1999. The finest film is Greystoke, the Legend of Tarzan. Lord of the Apes (1984), 70 years after the book first appeared.
Greystoke tells the story more deeply & touchingly than any other attempt, not surprising perhaps as it was initially scripted by Robert Towne & directed by Chariots of Fire Hugh Hudson.
Re our 31 posters here, to me, the finest are the earliest, where I think, the art is better than the movies, though Disney's teaser does touch back to these originals. Unfortunately, the poster presentation of Greystoke is rather mundane, except for the Polish edition that has to be the weirdest.
Edgar Rice Burroughs wrote 70 books altogether, many of them science fiction, with John Carter of Mars his most popular creation besides Tarzan. tarzan.org is a good site providing maybe the best data on Burroughs. Tarzana, California, a suburb of Los Angeles, was once the location of the writer's ranch. --s
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