Tarzan kills Kerchak and takes his place as "king" of the apes. As he grows up, Tarzan becomes a skilled hunter, exciting the jealousy of Kerchak, the ape leader, who finally attacks him. Upon his return from one visit to the cabin, he is attacked by a huge gorilla which he manages to kill with his father's knife, although he is terribly wounded in the struggle. Using basic primers with pictures, over many years he teaches himself to read English, but having never heard it, cannot speak it. The infant is then adopted by the she-ape Kala.Ĭlayton is named "Tarzan" ("White Skin" in the ape language) and raised in ignorance of his human heritage.Īs a boy, feeling alienated from his peers due to their physical differences, he discovers his true parents' cabin, where he first learns of others like himself in their books. When he is one year old his mother dies, and soon thereafter his father is killed by the savage king ape Kerchak. Some time later, their son John Clayton II is born. John and Alice (Rutherford) Clayton, Viscount and Lady Greystoke from England, are marooned in the western coastal jungles of equatorial Africa in 1888. Scholars have noted several important themes in the novel: the impact of heredity on behavior racial superiority civilization, especially as Tarzan struggles with his identity as a human sexuality and escapism. In April 2012, the novel's centennial anniversary, the Library of America published a hardcover edition based on Burroughs' original novel, with an introduction by Thomas Mallon.( ISBN 978-1-59853-164-0).
#Tarzan the ape man 1981 part 1 series#
So popular was the character that Burroughs continued the series into the 1940s with two dozen sequels. The story follows the title character Tarzan's adventures, from his childhood being raised by apes in the jungle to his eventual encounters with other humans and Western society. It was first serialized in the pulp magazine The All-Story beginning October 1912 before being released Just, meh.Tarzan of the Apes is a 1912 story by American writer Edgar Rice Burroughs. Maybe I would have preferred the sequel, where it sounds like the sex and violence was ratcheted up a notch.
#Tarzan the ape man 1981 part 1 movie#
The other is the plot, which isn't all that exciting, and I began looking forward to the movie ending about halfway through. We cringe as we hear Jane trying to stop the others from shooting Tarzan by yelling "He's White!" The racism is certainly one of the film's problems, and is more than a little off-putting. We see the African porters whipped on more than one occasion to keep up.
There are other scenes that surprise us, like Jane falling off a cliff face shortly after a native has the difference, she's on a rope, whereas his death is treated simply as property loss, with no recognition that he was a human being. There are scenes that drag on, dashing through the jungle and bellowing his famous cry in places he could not possibly have done, such as when he's swimming, and O'Sullivan shrieking 'Tarzan' gets quickly jarring to the ears. The best has Tarzan battling a lion in what looks real, and we know it's not CGI. yikes), and Maureen O'Sullivan has great chemistry with him, so what's the trouble? I ask myself, does the movie hold up? The worst of the scenes has the explorers very noticeably standing in front of stock footage of African tribesmen in the background. Olympic champion Johnny Weissmuller was a great choice for Tarzan (my understanding is that Clark Gable was also considered. They want to bring him back to civilization, but here is it where it diverges: Tarzan has the choice, and declines, and Jane has fallen in love with him, and wants to stay.
Tarzan, like Kong, has to fight and kill other wild creatures that threaten them. The young woman along for the adventure falls into the hands of a powerful being who can take care of her. The explorers have no qualms about blowing things away with their guns, in this case, hippopotamuses, not dinosaurs.
The natives jump around and dance to sacrificial rites. The white man goes to the unknown, forbidden jungle in search of treasure. The original Tarzan has some historical appeal and watching it can be fun in a campy way, but it just didn't click with me, despite reminding me of the classic 'King Kong' in a few ways.
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