Tarzan The Ape Man 1932 Blu Ray

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Tarzan the Ape Man is a 1932 pre-Code American action adventure film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer 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. O'Sullivan played Jane in six features between 1932 and 1942.[1] The film is loosely based on Burroughs' 1912 novel Tarzan of the Apes, 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. It is also the first appearance of Tarzan's famous yell.

James Parker and Harry Holt travel in Africa on a quest for the legendary elephant burial grounds and their ivory. They are joined by Parker's daughter Jane. Holt is attracted to Jane, and tries somewhat ineffectively to protect her from the jungle's dangers. The expedition encounters an attack by both hippopotami and crocodiles. The mysterious Tarzan wards off the attack, but abducts Jane.

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, and to be part of her world. But Tarzan turns his back on her and returns to the jungle. Her father tells her that is where Tarzan belongs; she cries, "not now, he belongs to me."

The expedition is captured by a tribe of aggressive dwarfs. Jane sends Tarzan's chimpanzee friend Cheeta (Jiggs) for help, bringing Tarzan to their rescue. During the rescue, Tarzan summons elephants and they escape from the dwarfs' stronghold, although Jane's father dies from wounds just as they reach the elephant graveyard. Jane decides to stay in the jungle with Tarzan and in the final scene, to the music of Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet, the happy couple appear on a rock, Jane holding Cheeta like a baby.

MGM finally found who they were looking for when they came across decorated Olympian Weissmuller. The professional swimmer had five gold medals in the 1924 and 1928 Olympics, alongside 67 world and 52 national titles. The only obstacle with signing him onto the role was his contract to model BVD underwear. In order for them to release him from the contract, MGM agreed to have actresses such as Greta Garbo and Marie Dressler, to be featured in BVD ads.[2]

The film was shot on Lot One of the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios in Culver City, California and at the Lake Sherwood area north of Los Angeles[3] as well as Silver Springs in Florida. Lions from the film were borrowed from nearby Goebel's Lion Farm in Thousand Oaks, CA. Goebel himself would often camp by the filming site near Lake Sherwood to watch his lions during filming.[4]

As with most Weissmuller Tarzan films, the elephants were Indian, which have smaller ears, rather than African, so large fake ears, and fake tusks, were fitted onto the animals in an attempt to make them look authentic.[5] Similarly, 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.[5]

Following the twelve films starring Johnny Weissmuller, MGM and RKO would produce a further 16 Tarzan films set in the same continuity with different actors playing Tarzan, along with two remake films in 1959 (starring Denny Miller as Tarzan) and 1981 (starring Bo Derek as Jane).

MGM's pre-Code jungle classic TARZAN THE APE MAN (1932) is now available in a beautiful new Blu-ray from the Warner Archive Collection.
Although I saw the first sequel to this film, TARZAN AND HIS MATE (1934), at the 2019 TCM Classic Film Festival, it had probably been a couple decades since my last viewing of the original movie, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
As many will already be aware, TARZAN THE APE MAN was inspired by the novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs. It tells the story of Jane (Maureen O'Sullivan), who embarks on a safari with her father (C. Aubrey Smith) and Harry Holt (Neil Hamilton) in search of elephant burial grounds and the ivory to be found there.

Jane is initially frightened, but it's not long before Jane feels liberated being with Tarzan in the jungle, and they begin what might be called a romance. But what to do when it's time for the safari to head back to civilization?

I'd forgotten what a good job the film initially does laying out Jane's spunky character. Her introduction, followed by the gradual development of her relationship with Tarzan, makes their relationship very believable. It's the key thing which I think makes the film work as well as it does, enabling the audience to suspend disbelief.

The movie's final scene was particularly fun for me as I immediately recognized it as filmed at Iverson Ranch, where I've hiked several times looking at movie locations. A couple years ago I wrote a column with Iverson Ranch photos for Classic Movie Hub. There are photos specifically of the Tarzan locations at Dennis Liff's Iverson Movie Ranch site.

W.S. Van Dyke directed TARZAN THE APE MAN from a script by Ivor Novello, based on a Cyril Hume adaptation. As a side note, I don't think anyone will be particularly surprised that some of the characters' words and actions, regarding both natives and animals, are not what we consider appropriate today.

Thanks to the Warner Archive for providing a review copy of this Blu-ray. Warner Archive Blu-rays may be ordered from Movie Zyng, the Amazon Warner Archive Collection Store, or from any online retailers were Blu-rays are sold.

Fun review, Laura! Hoping to have the same success as MGM's TARZAN THE APE MAN, Paramount released a similar film KING OF THE JUNGLE less than a year later. It stars Buster Crabbe and Frances Dee and will be shown for the first time at the Joel McCrea Ranch on Saturday, March 23. Hollywood made great use of Olympic champion swimmers Weissmuller and Crabbe! Best, Jane

The fictional character of Tarzan, a feral child raised to manhood by African apes, first appeared in the pages of Tarzan of the Apes, a novel that was first published in 1912 in the pages of All-Story Magazine. (This magazine, through a series of mergers and alterations, eventually became a famed pulp magazine named Argosy. This publication is one of the first, if not the first, American pulp magazine.)

The character exploded in popularity during the 1930s, and continued to capture audiences during the century after the first novel was published. Tarzan has been featured in around 90 feature films, as well as TV and radio series, anime, video games, and songs.

As mentioned before, the Weissmuller version of the yell appeared three years later, in April of 1932, with the release of Tarzan the Ape Man. But later in 1932, another version of the Tarzan Yell appeared in the Tarzan of the Apes radio serial, which began airing in September of that same year. The James H. Pierce version of the yell first appeared in Episode 4, which aired on September 15, 1932:

Whatever the true story is behind the sound clip, Johnny Weissmuller actually could perform the yell himself. There are many reports of people who met Weissmuller himself and heard Weissmuller perform the yell upon command. The video below is a segment from a documentary Tarzan: Silver Screen King of the Jungle:

In all he won five Olympic gold medals and one bronze medal, fifty-two United States National Championships, and set sixty-seven world records. He never lost a race and retired with an unbeaten Amateur record. In 1950, he was selected by the Associated Press as the greatest swimmer of the first half of the 20th Century.

In 1929, Weissmuller signed with BVD to become an underwear model. When he, with no previous acting background, signed a seven-year contract with MGM to make the Tarzan films, MGM had to strike some deals with BVD so they could show Tarzan running around in a loincloth instead of underpants. Weissmuller was an instant hit as the ape-man.

In fact, 1983 was a prime year for horrid use of the Tarzan Yell. At a sad and terrible point in the Star Wars film series, Chewbacca utters the Tarzan yell while swinging on a vine on Endor. Behold the Tarzan Yell of Return of the Jedi (1983):

Finally, I shall close with Carol Burnett, because Carol Burnett is amazing. Also, she was quite well-known for her take on the Tarzan yell. Check out this video, which is a compilation of clips from the Q&A section of The Carol Burnett Show. The whole thing his hilarious, but the Tarzan bit begins at 4:40.

Tarzan the Ape Man is a 1932 jungle adventure Tarzan movie. It is based on Edgar Rice Burroughs' book Tarzan of the Apes. It is the first of the six MGM Tarzan movies starring Johnny Weissmuller and Maureen O'Sullivan. Tarzan's yell was first heard in this movie. The animal character of Cheeta was created for this movie.

An African expedition led by James Parker is searching for the elephant burial grounds. Parker's daughter Jane is captured by Tarzan. At first, Jane is terrified. As time passes, she accepts him. She wants him to come to London with her, but Tarzan returns to the jungle. The expedition is captured by pygmies. Jane sends Tarzan's ape friend Cheeta for help. Tarzan comes to the rescue. Jane's father dies. Jane stays in the jungle with Tarzan.

James Parker and Harry Holt are on an expedition in Africa in search of the elephant burial grounds that will provide enough ivory to make them rich. Parker's beautiful daughter Jane arrives unexpectedly to join them. Jane is terrified when Tarzan and his ape friends abduct her, but when she returns to her father's expedition she has second thoughts about leaving Tarzan.

Fact: letting a real lion sprint through a movie set at top speed is infinitely more exciting than a cgi lion. Most common phrase from kids 8 and 5: "That's real! That's really happening!" Elephants and jaguars and chimpanzees and wildebeests. All real. All fascinating in their realness. (Except when they're fake which is just kind of funny). Also effective in ways that can't really be explained: stock footage of crocodiles slipping into a river that is clearly not the same river that our heroes here attempting to raft across. Still my heart was racing. The kids were screaming. Movie magic.

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