Edgar Rice Burrough's 1912 novel about hereditary and how an abandoned baby adapts to the wild African environment was first brought to the screen in January 1918's "Tarzan of the Apes." Pegged as the most faithful film of the novelist's debut book, "Tarzan," played by actor Elmo Lincoln, is the first of a great many Tarzans to come upon the silver screen.
The film follows Burrough's events described in the first half of his book, introducing the characters and events leading up to a young infant's upbringing by the apes in the African jungle. The boy, played by Gordon Griffith, one the earliest child actors in silent movies, is raised by his adoptive ape mother, before Lincoln takes over as the adult Tarzan. Jane, his future partner, comes upon the scene as part of an expedition investigating the disappearance of Lord and Lady Greystoke, who births the boy before she and her husband die. The film reveals the love relationship of Tarzan and Jane in the deepest of terms.
The immediate sequel of "Tarzan of the Apes," which was "The Romance of Tarzan," released in September 1918, deals with the second part of Burrough's book. Incidentally, Burrough ended up writing or co-writing a series of 24 books about Tarzan and his adventures.
A perceptive viewer will notice the large amount of Spanish Moss growing on the trees in "Tarzan of the Apes." The moss, rarely found in Africa but abundant in Louisiana, serves as a lush backdrop where filming took place near Morgan City. Several hundred locals were hired at $1.75 per day to play the natives, while the an entire African village was constructed, only to be consumed by fire as part of the movie's plot. Additionally, several teenagers from the New Orleans Athletic club donned on ape costumes to play Tarzan's weening mother as well as her friends and relatives.
One particular scene in "Tarzan of the Apes" contains a legendary tale where actor Lincoln is wrestling a lion who was trying to get after Jane and her servant while in the cabin. The old lion is seen in the movie lurking around when Lincoln approaches and wrestles the supposedly drugged animal. The anecdote goes that the lion became excessively aggressive with the actor, forcing him to stab the feline to death on the set. The real story is the lion was filmed outside the cabin, then the camera stops and he's killed offscreen before the corpse is placed on the open widow sill. The camera then rolls as Lincoln is seen wrestling and stabbing the "dead" animal, making the sequence appear to look like the lion is alive and kicking.
Agile, athletic actor Stellan Windrow was originally contracted to play Tarzan in the 1918 movie. He had spent five weeks being filmed on long shots climbing tree branches and swinging from vines. But he opted out of the production to enlist in the First World War when the United States entered the conflict. The more muscular, bulky Elmo Lincoln, who had played the Mighty Man of Valor in D. W. Griffith's "Intolerance," was hired as Windrow's replacement. Unable to do the stunts that Windrow did, Lincoln's far away shots of him in the trees were really those of the original actor. Lincoln's daughter, Marci'a Lincoln Rudolph, wrote a biography of her dad in "My Father, Elmo Lincoln: The Original Tarzan." Actress Markey had the distinction of being the first Jane in Tarzan movies. She played her character in the Tarzan sequel before turning to the stage, where she said, "I really wanted to learn how to act." Today's audiences would recognize her as Barney Fife's landlady Mrs. Mendelbright in "The Andy Griffith Show" as well as in other various TV roles.
The film follows Burrough's events described in the first half of his book, introducing the characters and events leading up to a young infant's upbringing by the apes in the African jungle. The boy, played by Gordon Griffith, one the earliest child actors in silent movies, is raised by his adoptive ape mother, before Lincoln takes over as the adult Tarzan. Jane, his future partner, comes upon the scene as part of an expedition investigating the disappearance of Lord and Lady Greystoke, who births the boy before she and her husband die. The film reveals the love relationship of Tarzan and Jane in the deepest of terms.
The immediate sequel of "Tarzan of the Apes," which was "The Romance of Tarzan," released in September 1918, deals with the second part of Burrough's book. Incidentally, Burrough ended up writing or co-writing a series of 24 books about Tarzan and his adventures.
A perceptive viewer will notice the large amount of Spanish Moss growing on the trees in "Tarzan of the Apes." The moss, rarely found in Africa but abundant in Louisiana, serves as a lush backdrop where filming took place near Morgan City. Several hundred locals were hired at $1.75 per day to play the natives, while the an entire African village was constructed, only to be consumed by fire as part of the movie's plot. Additionally, several teenagers from the New Orleans Athletic club donned on ape costumes to play Tarzan's weening mother as well as her friends and relatives.
One particular scene in "Tarzan of the Apes" contains a legendary tale where actor Lincoln is wrestling a lion who was trying to get after Jane and her servant while in the cabin. The old lion is seen in the movie lurking around when Lincoln approaches and wrestles the supposedly drugged animal. The anecdote goes that the lion became excessively aggressive with the actor, forcing him to stab the feline to death on the set. The real story is the lion was filmed outside the cabin, then the camera stops and he's killed offscreen before the corpse is placed on the open widow sill. The camera then rolls as Lincoln is seen wrestling and stabbing the "dead" animal, making the sequence appear to look like the lion is alive and kicking.
Agile, athletic actor Stellan Windrow was originally contracted to play Tarzan in the 1918 movie. He had spent five weeks being filmed on long shots climbing tree branches and swinging from vines. But he opted out of the production to enlist in the First World War when the United States entered the conflict. The more muscular, bulky Elmo Lincoln, who had played the Mighty Man of Valor in D. W. Griffith's "Intolerance," was hired as Windrow's replacement. Unable to do the stunts that Windrow did, Lincoln's far away shots of him in the trees were really those of the original actor. Lincoln's daughter, Marci'a Lincoln Rudolph, wrote a biography of her dad in "My Father, Elmo Lincoln: The Original Tarzan." Actress Markey had the distinction of being the first Jane in Tarzan movies. She played her character in the Tarzan sequel before turning to the stage, where she said, "I really wanted to learn how to act." Today's audiences would recognize her as Barney Fife's landlady Mrs. Mendelbright in "The Andy Griffith Show" as well as in other various TV roles.