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==Production==
==Production==
* As in other Weissmuller Tarzan films, the elephants were [[Indian Elephant|Indian]], which have smaller ears, rather than [[African Elephant|African]]. Large fake ears, and fake tusks, were fitted onto the animals in an attempt to make them look authentic.<ref name="Ethington">{{cite book |last=Ethington |first=Phillip J. |authorlink= |editor-last=Prakash |editor-first=Gyan |editor-link=Gyan Prakash |editor2-last=Kruse |editor2-first=Kevin Michael |contribution=Global Spaces of Los Angeles |title=The Spaces of the Modern City: Imaginaries, Politics, and Everyday Life |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=2008 |page=88 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rDGd7HDMFp4C&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false |isbn=978-0-691-13343-0}}</ref>
* As in other Weissmuller Tarzan films, the elephants were [[Indian Elephant|Indian]], which have smaller ears, rather than [[African Elephant|African]]. Large fake ears, and fake tusks, were fitted onto the animals in an attempt to make them look authentic.<ref name="Ethington">{{cite book |last=Ethington |first=Phillip J. |authorlink= |editor-last=Prakash |editor-first=Gyan |editor-link=Gyan Prakash |editor2-last=Kruse |editor2-first=Kevin Michael |contribution=Global Spaces of Los Angeles |title=The Spaces of the Modern City: Imaginaries, Politics, and Everyday Life |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=2008 |page=88 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rDGd7HDMFp4C&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false |isbn=978-0-691-13343-0}}</ref>
* The tribe of African dwarfs, made to look like pygmies (all males) portrayed in the film was actually a cast of several white [[Dwarfism|little people]] wearing [[blackface]].<ref name="Ethington"/>
* The tribe of African dwarfs, made to look like pygmies (all males) portrayed in the film was actually a cast of several white midgets wearing [[blackface]].<ref name="Ethington"/>
* The stock footage was added to location work shot in the then-undeveloped [[Toluca Lake, Los Angeles|Toluca Lake]] region north of Los Angeles.<ref>Miller, Frank, [http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/13192/Tarzan-the-Ape-Man/articles.html ''Tarzan, the Ape Man'' (1932)], tcm.com</ref>
* The stock footage was added to location work shot in the then-undeveloped [[Toluca Lake, Los Angeles|Toluca Lake]] region north of Los Angeles.<ref>Miller, Frank, [http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/13192/Tarzan-the-Ape-Man/articles.html ''Tarzan, the Ape Man'' (1932)], tcm.com</ref>


Revision as of 13:33, 7 November 2016

Tarzan the Ape Man
Theatrical poster
Directed byW. S. Van Dyke
Written byCyril Hume
Produced byIrving Thalberg
StarringJohnny Weissmuller
Neil Hamilton
Maureen O'Sullivan
C. Aubrey Smith
CinematographyClyde De Vinna
Edited byTom Held
Ben Lewis
Music byGeorge Richelarie
Distributed byMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date
  • March 25, 1932 (1932-03-25)
Running time
99 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$652,675
Box office$2.54 million

Tarzan the Ape Man is a 1932 Pre-Code American action adventure film featuring Edgar Rice Burroughs' famous jungle hero Tarzan and starring Johnny Weissmuller, Neil Hamilton, C. Aubrey Smith and Maureen O'Sullivan. It was Weissmuller's first of 12 Tarzan films. The film is loosely based on Burroughs' novel Tarzan of the Apes from approximately two decades earlier, with the dialogue written by Ivor Novello. The film was directed by W. S. Van Dyke. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer released two remakes of Tarzan, the Ape Man in 1959 and in 1981, but each was a different adaptation of Rice Burroughs' novel.

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 at first, but as their relationship develops, she finds herself happy: "Not a bit afraid, not a bit sorry." As she returns to her father, her feelings are brought to a test. She wants Tarzan to come with her to London, to be part of her world, but Tarzan turns his back on her and returns to the jungle. Her father tells her that's where Tarzan belongs, she cries, "No dad, he belongs to me." The expedition is captured by a tribe of violent dwarfs. Jane sends Tarzan's ape friend Cheeta (Jiggs) for help, bringing Tarzan to their rescue. During the rescue, Tarzan summons elephants. Jane's father dies and she decides to stay in the jungle with Tarzan. In the end-scene, to the music of Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet, the happy couple appears on a rock below the heavens, Jane holding Cheeta like a baby.

Cast

Production

  • As in other Weissmuller Tarzan films, the elephants were Indian, which have smaller ears, rather than African. Large fake ears, and fake tusks, were fitted onto the animals in an attempt to make them look authentic.[1]
  • The tribe of African dwarfs, made to look like pygmies (all males) portrayed in the film was actually a cast of several white midgets wearing blackface.[1]
  • The stock footage was added to location work shot in the then-undeveloped Toluca Lake region north of Los Angeles.[2]

Series

References

  1. ^ a b Ethington, Phillip J. (2008). "Global Spaces of Los Angeles". In Prakash, Gyan; Kruse, Kevin Michael (eds.). The Spaces of the Modern City: Imaginaries, Politics, and Everyday Life. Princeton University Press. p. 88. ISBN 978-0-691-13343-0.
  2. ^ Miller, Frank, Tarzan, the Ape Man (1932), tcm.com
  • DVD commentary for the Tarzan Collection DVD set released in 2005.
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