Tarzan of the Apes

Released Jan 27, 1918

55m

Adventure

List

86%

Tomatometer

7 Reviews

24%

Audience Score

50+ Ratings

Wealthy John (True Boardman) and Alice Clayton (Kathleen Kirkham) sail to Africa with their young son. But after a nasty mutiny, only the child survives. In the jungle, the boy is accepted by a motherly gorilla, who raises him as her own. Years later, a team sets out to locate the long-lost Clayton boy, only to find that he's now Tarzan (Elmo Lincoln), a savage who bears no traces of his upper-class origins. But, when natives attack the search party, it's the brutish Tarzan who must save them.

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Variety Staff

Variety

Edgar Rice Burrough's story, Tarzan of the Apes, as a 10-reel screen feature produced by the National Film Corporation, lacks much of the pep of the original.

Mar 26, 2009

Full Review

NYT Staff

New York Times

Intertwined with the jungle story is a domestic narrative which grows tedious at times, and the expedient of the cutback is resorted to a trifle too freely. All of this is more than compensated for, however, by the stirring scenes of the jungle.

Mar 25, 2006

Full Review

Gladys Hall (Junius)

Motion Picture Magazine

A thrilling, spectacular drama that contains a little of everything.

Dec 9, 2020

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Harriette Underhill

Photoplay

It is interesting if not advanced drama.

Feb 26, 2020

Full Review

John A. Nesbit

Old School Reviews

remains far truer to the text than most subsequent film versions

Rated: B-

Dec 4, 2009

Full Review

Dennis Schwartz

Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews

The first Tarzan put to film though creaky, is an amazing curio.

Rated: B

Mar 19, 2007

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Audience Member

The first Tarzan film ever made and was a slightly below average film. The costume designs were cheap and cheesy. Overall, I didn't really enjoy Tarzan of the Apes. Maybe if you're into the Tarzan franchise as a whole but this motion picture was just not impressive.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

02/18/23

Full Review

jordan m

I think this was the shortest silent film that I've seen, but the problem was I knew that it was short going into it and expected a breezy experience. What I got instead was a lot of exposition scenes where it felt almost like the movie's purpose was more to ponder how neat the artistic medium of film is and how weird it'd be if a human were raised by apes. Knowing there's an entire back half to the origin story that was also shot explains why the pace was languid in a 60-minute movie as they had another hour to get to more action. To my knowledge this is also the only movie that has shown the definite harming of animals in the making of it out of any that I saw, which sucks but is a sign of the times I guess - one of the actors in the movie even died of the Spanish flu the same year. It's appreciable that they left in the black savages for historical context as most later movies take them out completely, as they should, but having this relic not do so is a good thing I think. Some of the animal costumes are surprisingly good and in fact take a bit of shine off of the revolutionary 1933 Kong movie. The version we watched had a decent film score added.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

david l

Tarzan of the Apes is a respectable first adaptation of the titular book which is unfortunately truncated in its length and thus it's not easy to judge it properly, but from what survives of it, the movie is pretty strong, very charming and particularly endearing in its romance. It's also very good in its adventurous elements. Although the gorilla costumes are ridiculous, the movie is otherwise phenomenally shot for its time, well directed and solidly acted by its two likable leads.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

kevin w

Elmo Lincoln? Edgar Rice Burroughs first got his story "Tarzan" published as a magazine series in 1912. It was turned into a novel in 1914. And the first film feature of the "noble savage", a popular notion widely entertained back then, came 4 years later. Having grown up with the loin-clothed wonder always around it's kinda difficult imagining a world w/o him, yeah? Otto Elmo Linkenhelt was a big, brawny aspiring actor from cornfed Indiana in the fledgling Hollywood of yore but broke away from the pack, became a star, behind his sometimes feral performance in this, the first Tarzan filmed, notable for following Burroughs scenarios better than those that followed. Lusty adventure.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Arguably the first ever Tarzan on the silver screen...and besides over acting & putting up with the horrible print I was watching it was enjoyable. This followed the early years of Tarzan & then really quickly transitions into his adult life. Filled with dangerous animals & situations no surprise it was popular for audiences in cities & suburbs who had never experienced these locales.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

01/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

I've always enjoyed Tarzan and his infinite incarnations, but this silent work has made me an official Tarzan fan. It's current running time doesn't really allow for the whole story to be told and it leaves you wanting more. Some have complained about Elmo Lincoln not having the physical appearance of Tarzan, but I COMPLETELY disagree. It's nice to see a great, expressive actor like Elmo looking like an unkempt linebacker instead of the endless thin, clean looking Tarzans we would see in the years to come. Although the entire cast is made up of excellent actors, the real shining star of this film is Gordon Griffith as young Tarzan. The stunts are great and the film is action packed. The sets and location filming in Louisiana make an excellent substitute for the jungles of Africa and the mixture of real animals with costumed ones is used well, even if one or two of the ape costumes look a bit ridiculous. My biggest, if only complaint, is the soundtrack. Although the sound effects were nice touches, the actual "music" sounds closer to the background music of a Commodore 64 game as opposed to a score written for a 1918 feature film. If you have any interest in Tarzan, Burroughs or silent film then this needs to be in your collection.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

02/25/23

Full Review

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Scott Sidney

Director

Elmo Lincoln

Tarzan

Enid Markey

Jane Porter

Gordon Griffith

Young Tarzan

True Boardman

John Clayton

Kathleen Kirkham

Alice Clayton

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Synopsis

Wealthy John (True Boardman) and Alice Clayton (Kathleen Kirkham) sail to Africa with their young son. But after a nasty mutiny, only the child survives. In the jungle, the boy is accepted by a motherly gorilla, who raises him as her own. Years later, a team sets out to locate the long-lost Clayton boy, only to find that he's now Tarzan (Elmo Lincoln), a savage who bears no traces of his upper-class origins. But, when natives attack the search party, it's the brutish Tarzan who must save them.

Director: Scott Sidney
Screenwriter: Fred Miller, Lois Weber
Distributor: First National Exhibitors' Circuit
Production Co: National Film Corporation of America
Genre: Adventure
Release Date (Theaters): Jan 27, 1918, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 11, 2016
Runtime: 55m

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