FeistyUpper If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

UnowPriceless hyped garbage

Curapedi I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Lidia Draper Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

LeonLouisRicci The One that Started the Long Running Series that Became Favorites of Fans of All Ages. It was a Sweet and Adventurous Formula that Started Out in Quite an Adult Fashion with the First Two Films. Edgar Rice Burrough's Literary Character was Literally Dumbed Down, but Audiences Didn't Seem to Mind.The Sound Debut for Tarzan, Featuring Olympic Swimming Star Johnny Weissmuller and Maureen O' Sullivan as Jane, was Filled with Fantastic Footage of Jungle Wild Life Interacting with Humans, Diabolical Dwarf Natives, and a Pre-Code Romance Consummating in a Tree-House.There is a bit of a Clunk in the Opening with Stock Footage from Trader Horn (1931) Backscreened, but the Shots Still are Impressive as Such Things were Not All That Common in 1932 and Audiences were in Awe. But Once the Safari gets Under Way on a Search for the Elephant Burial Ground, the Ivory Hunters Encounter Life Threatening Situations and Tarzan, the Fun Never Stops.The Climax is a Brutal and Violent War Among Giant Killer Apes, Dangerous Dwarfs, and Stampeding Elephants that is Still Exciting and Impressive Today. Ultra-Violent and Visceral it is a Scary and Nightmarish Highlight. Despite a Few Time-Stamped Flaws, and a Lack of Musical Score, there is So Much Here to Enjoy that the Shortcomings can be Ignored. Eclipsed by Tarzan and His Mate (1934), the Sequel is Considered the Best of All Tarzan Movies to This Day.

atlasmb It might be difficult to imagine what audiences who saw this film in 1932 thought of it. Cinema's state of the art at that time was so different than today's. We can count on the fact that many viewers had read Edgar Rice Burrough's accounts of Tarzan and were measuring the film against their expectations based upon reading the imaginative stories.When this film was released, fourteen Tarzan books had already been published and the series was still ongoing. In print, Tarzan's exploits had ventured far from the original story and, perhaps, lost some of their original charm. "Tarzan the Ape Man" would have been measured against the original story.This was the first Tarzan film starring Johnny Weismuller, the American swimming champion. He seems the perfect specimen for the part--lean, athletic and, of course, able to swim like a fish. He was paired with Maureen O'Hara. Her portrayal of Jane is disarmingly sweet and the perfect complement to Weismuller. The dialogue between Tarzan and Jane is very limited in this film, so gestures and looks say what words cannot. They share a primitive electricity.In the first part of the film, Jane arrives in Africa, joining her father and his team who plan to search for the "elephants' graveyard". The viewer is exposed to the wildness of Africa through Jane's eyes: tribal paint and strange customs, myths of forbidden "juju" that no one speaks of, primitive drumming, the sounds of wild animals at night (hyenas, lions, and some unknown sounds). A tribal search party threateningly approaches their encampment at night and then slips back into the darkness of the jungle (achieved by a clever dissolve).When the group of hunters--with their expendable bearers, of course--leaves to investigate unknown territory, Jane goes with them. Before we ever see Tarzan, his eerie yell is heard echoing through the jungle. Much has been written about the actual source of that yell. Was it Weismuller or a concoction of various sounds by MGM sound technicians (probably the latter)? In any event, I don't think it can be overstated how much its blend of human-and-animal helped create the mystery surrounding Tarzan in these scenes (and later continued to always bind Tarzan to his animalistic beginnings).In a similar way, the scenes of Tarzan swinging through the trees makes him seem almost superhuman and at home in nature.Eventually, Tarzan and Jane meet. Curiosity fires their connection at first. An animal attraction takes over.Some of the shots in "Tarzan the Ape Man" were made using rear projection. It is done as competently as was possible at the time. And it does lend an air of authenticity.Some of the animal scenes were made with stuffed animals or fake animals. This is just part of cinema at that time.The early scene where the hunting party traverses an escarpment is, of course, done with special effects, but the result is breathtaking and it creates the needed suspense as the party travels into the unknown.I can only believe that this film, which is fun to watch now, must have been significantly more enjoyable when audiences first viewed it. Lucky them.

bkoganbing I hadn't seen Johnny Weissmuller's debut film Tarzan The Ape Man for many years so I was struck by the fact that Neil Hamilton and Maureen O'Sullivan got first billing with Weissmuller down the opening credits in an 'introducing' category. As if no one in America, let alone the movie going public didn't know who Johnny Weissmuller was.The fuss over swimming champion Michael Phelps is nothing compared to what Johnny Weissmuller's celebrity was like. In the Roaring Twenties when each sport seemed to have an icon that became a legend, Weissmuller was that for swimming. The records he set in the Olympics stood for many years, with today's athlete conditioning methods I can only speculate what he could do today if he were alive and in his prime.Still Louis B. Mayer was nothing if not cautious in protecting an investment in a non-actor to be a lead in a major film. He kept Weissmuller's dialog to grunts, guttural jungle utterings, and a few choice words that Maureen O'Sullivan as Jane teaches her new jungle man toy.With tons of footage left over from MGM's African location film of Trader Horn, Tarzan The Ape Man had all the background needed to make the film look good. It's fairly obvious that when you see shots of Neil Hamilton and Maureen O'Sullivan they're shot against a background of real natives. They never got further to Africa than Toluca Lake in the shooting.It's also obvious that Weissmuller couldn't act at all which was why he was only given grunts and dialog of one and two words. Later on he did become a competent enough actor. But quite frankly who cared when they saw him in a loin cloth.Maureen O'Sullivan as Jane Parker comes to Africa to visit her father C. Aubrey Smith and she finds that Smith and his partner Neil Hamilton are planning an expedition into some unexplored territory in search of the fabled elephant's graveyard. A lot of loose ivory to be picked up there without the danger of actually trying to kill the beasts. Hamilton's interested in her, but when white jungle man Tarzan rescues O'Sullivan, Hamilton doesn't have a prayer.Tarzan The Ape Man is still an exciting adventure film even to today's more sophisticated eyes. And Weissmuller and O'Sullivan's appeal as a romantic couple is timeless.All right so they haven't got the dialog from Romeo and Juliet, who cares?

Petri Pelkonen Tarzan: a mighty man who lives in the mighty jungle.He was raised by the apes and speaks the language of the apes.One day an elderly man named James Parker (C. Aubrey Smith) and Harry Holt (Neil Hamilton) come for an expedition to Africa in search of the elephant burial ground.Also Parker's beautiful daughter Jane joins them in the search that would bring them great riches.Then they hear an ululating yell coming from the trees.It is the yell of Tarzan who captures Jane and it is the beginning of a beautiful romance.W.S. Van Dyke is the director of Tarzan the Ape Man (1932) that is based on the famous book by Edgar Rice Burroughs.Johnny Weissmuller makes his first entrance as the character.Nobody did it better than Johnny.Maureen O'Sullivan plays the part of Jane Parker for the first time.What a beauty! What a talent! Together they make the couple of the century.And then there's of course Cheeta the chimpanzee.Today he's known as the world's oldest chimpanzee said to be born in 1932.The movie is full of thrilling situations.Just look at Tarzan fight all those wild animals of the jungle.Tarzan is a big thing for many kids, especially boys.In my life it also played some part in my younger years.And watching this movie now really brings the child out in me.Tarzan is for all ages.