Tarzan of the Apes(1918). I watched this based on picking up a post in the Silent Film News Thread. This is the PD version that is hosted on IMDB.
This is a really good film for giving the basic outline of the Tarzan origin story. It takes place from the Greystokes fleeing their ship after a mutiny that lands them in the African Jungle. Tarzan is played in the growing up part of the story by Gordon Griffith, who does an admirable job playing the Tarzan of adolescence. As he gets older he starts to realize he's not like the rest of the apes in his tribe and he is able to learn things the apes are unable to. He also gets his trusty knife that gives young Tarzan an important weapon to help him against other animals (and sometimes other humans).
Elmo Lincoln provides a rather stout version of the adult Tarzan. We see him conquer different wild animals, while also getting revenge for the death of his ape mother who took him in and raised him. There was an interesting play of emotions on his first time to see a European female, who tells him "You do not steal love from a woman", a lesson that one of her own companions in the rescue party from England can't seem to understand.
The print on IMDB was in extremely bad shape. There are parts of the film where the image was completely wiped clean from being used over the last Century and a bit. I was glad to see it, as I had wondered how well this first Tarzan film was. I enjoyed it quite a bit.
This is a really good film for giving the basic outline of the Tarzan origin story. It takes place from the Greystokes fleeing their ship after a mutiny that lands them in the African Jungle. Tarzan is played in the growing up part of the story by Gordon Griffith, who does an admirable job playing the Tarzan of adolescence. As he gets older he starts to realize he's not like the rest of the apes in his tribe and he is able to learn things the apes are unable to. He also gets his trusty knife that gives young Tarzan an important weapon to help him against other animals (and sometimes other humans).
Elmo Lincoln provides a rather stout version of the adult Tarzan. We see him conquer different wild animals, while also getting revenge for the death of his ape mother who took him in and raised him. There was an interesting play of emotions on his first time to see a European female, who tells him "You do not steal love from a woman", a lesson that one of her own companions in the rescue party from England can't seem to understand.
The print on IMDB was in extremely bad shape. There are parts of the film where the image was completely wiped clean from being used over the last Century and a bit. I was glad to see it, as I had wondered how well this first Tarzan film was. I enjoyed it quite a bit.