{"id":19440,"date":"2011-09-20T01:21:40","date_gmt":"2011-09-20T08:21:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=19440"},"modified":"2021-01-31T22:57:47","modified_gmt":"2021-02-01T05:57:47","slug":"tarzan-the-ape-man-1932","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=19440","title":{"rendered":"Tarzan, the Ape Man (1932)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;From now on, I&#8217;m through with civilization. I&#8217;m going to be a savage, just like you.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Tarzan-Ape-Man-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Tarzan-Ape-Man-Poster-211x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"211\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-19441\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Tarzan-Ape-Man-Poster-211x300.jpg 211w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Tarzan-Ape-Man-Poster-90x128.jpg 90w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Tarzan-Ape-Man-Poster.jpg 335w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 211px) 100vw, 211px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nWhile on safari in Africa, the daughter (Maureen O&#8217;Sullivan) of an ivory hunter (C. Aubrey Smith) is kidnapped by an ape-raised man (Johnny Weissmuller) living in the jungle.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Africa<\/li>\n<li>Cross-Cultural Romance<\/li>\n<li>Jungles<\/li>\n<li>Maureen O&#8217;Sullivan Films<\/li>\n<li>Primates<\/li>\n<li>Tarzan Films<\/li>\n<li>W.S. Van Dyke Films<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Response to Peary\u2019s Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nPeary argues that while this &#8220;first talkie Tarzan film&#8221; has &#8220;lots of action and adventure&#8221;, it is &#8220;foremost a very erotic love story set in the primitive jungle of Africa&#8221;, and was &#8220;directed with adults in mind by W.S. Van Dyke&#8221;. Indeed, much like two other similarly-themed films of the era &#8212; <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=18955\"><em>Tabu<\/em> (1931)<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=16943\"><em>Bird of Paradise<\/em> (1932)<\/a> &#8212; <em>Tarzan, the Ape Man<\/em> (which &#8220;borrows elements from Edgar Rice Burroughs&#8217;s first Tarzan novel&#8230; and deletes many more&#8221;, including &#8220;all references to Tarzan&#8217;s origins&#8221;) offers plenty of provocative pre-Code sensuality, in the form of both 20-year-old O&#8217;Sullivan as Jane &#8212; a &#8220;young woman who seems to be searching for excitement&#8230; and her first lover&#8221; &#8212; and buff Romanian-born &#8220;swimming champion Weissmuller&#8221;, who Peary argues &#8220;has amazing screen presence&#8221; despite the fact that he barely speaks a word. The bulk of Peary&#8217;s review focuses on an analysis of O&#8217;Sullivan&#8217;s sexual coming-of-age, as she graduates from &#8220;childish frolicking&#8221; with Tarzan to the scene in which he &#8220;lifts her and, as if she were a bride, carries her up the tree to his lair&#8221;, after which point &#8220;she acts grown up&#8221; &#8212; and their tentative romance does dominate the storyline. The climactic ending, however, shifts gears to offer plenty of action and adventure, courtesy of a scary dwarf tribe (!) and &#8220;a monster gorilla&#8221; which &#8220;anticipates <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=43687\"><em>King Kong<\/em><\/a>.&#8221; It&#8217;s all silly but effectively harmless serial fun. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Note:<\/strong> This film was followed by five other Weissmuller\/O&#8217;Sullivan Tarzan movies made for MGM &#8212; <em>all<\/em> of which (yes, all) are listed in Peary&#8217;s book. Stay tuned for my ongoing assessment&#8230; <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A provocative pre-Code telling of Edgar Rice Burroughs&#8217; classic adventure novel<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Tarzan-PreCode.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Tarzan-PreCode.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"528\" height=\"384\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-19708\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Tarzan-PreCode.png 528w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Tarzan-PreCode-128x93.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Tarzan-PreCode-300x218.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 528px) 100vw, 528px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nYes, simply for its historical importance as the most definitive of all the Tarzan movies.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Categories<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Historically Relevant<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0023551\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.filmsite.org\/tarz.html\">Greatest Films Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1932\/03\/28\/archives\/johnny-weissmuller-crack-swimmer-makes-his-film-debut-as-a-wild-man.html\">NY Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/moria.co.nz\/fantasy\/tarzantheapeman1932.htm\">Moria Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tcm.com\/tcmdb\/title\/13192\/tarzan-the-ape-man\/#articles-reviews?articleId=76280\">TCM Article<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;From now on, I&#8217;m through with civilization. I&#8217;m going to be a savage, just like you.&#8221; Synopsis: While on safari in Africa, the daughter (Maureen O&#8217;Sullivan) of an ivory hunter (C. Aubrey Smith) is kidnapped by an ape-raised man (Johnny Weissmuller) living in the jungle. Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: Africa Cross-Cultural Romance Jungles Maureen O&#8217;Sullivan Films Primates Tarzan Films W.S. Van Dyke Films Response to Peary\u2019s Review: Peary argues that while this &#8220;first talkie Tarzan film&#8221; has &#8220;lots of&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=19440\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-responses-to-peary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19440","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19440"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19440\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":67575,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19440\/revisions\/67575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}