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.

Let's start with a well-kept secret, but you have to promise to keep it to yourself since there are a lot of IMDb users, and they are all pretty nosey. Look at the star billing for this production in the IMDb billboard (main page). What do you see? Recall that IMDb gets their basic info on each film but sources directly related to the original release. Did you notice anything odd? OK, enough suspense. The answer is: Johnny Weissmuller is not billed as a star. Think about that. This is the first in a series that is both iconic and classic, that verily defines the term "action film" from this era; that was so commercially successful it not only created one of the first legitimate "franchises" in Tinseltown but led to 11 "legitimate" sequels (and a lot of dubious knockoffs, but that is not a topic for now). And the reason for the strange billing is, AT THE TIME THIS FILM WAS CONCEIVED, not only did the producers have no idea how it would catch on with the public, but the casting of Weissmuller, known merely as an ex-Olympian, and with no major dialogue in the role, was considered secondary, like a glorified extra. OK, now we have covered the big Reveal, allow me to opine that, within its class, this film (and the next one, TARZAN AND HIS MATE) are two of the best films OF THEIR KIND ever done, with superb acting, cinematography, story, and a very high fun factor. If you have not seen either (or both) prepared to be amazed. Final notes: the HAYES censorship code was still being "explored" at the time of these two films, so expect to be surprised at few scenes here and there you would not ordinarily expect from this period; and out of respect for the actors, I will merely suggest that these two films probably should not be compared to the 1940s analogues of the same name (by which time Weissmuller looked like he would have trouble climbing a flight of stairs yet alone a tree; and story lines like TARZAN in NEW YORK were beyond awkward.)

I understand that this movie was made with little expectation that it would be profitable. The main idea was to use some expensive film that had been shot on location in Africa for "Trader Horn" but never seen on the screen. It's believable. There's not much evidence of effort having been put into the story or characters. A lot of animals chase each other through the jungle.Maureen O'Sullivan is Miss Jane Parker, the daughter of C. Aubrey Smith. They, an extraneous white guy, and their native bearers are on safari in a part o the Dark Continent where the hand of man has never set foot. They're searching for an elephant graveyard. You know, the place where moribund elephants wander to die among their ancestors' bones? That's how Jane puts it anyway. Why, there must be a fortune in ivory in all those tusks! Of course, it's the devil of a time getting the tusks out of the skulls. In Alabama the Tuscaloosa. I don't care. I refuse to put any more effort into a joke like that than the writers, Cyril Hume and Ivor Novello, have put into the script.And, man, have they butchered Edgar Rice Burroughs' original story and characters. I was addicted to them when I was barely a teen. They were implausible then. Now the story and characters are dumbed down so that a five-year-old can absorb them. Eg., the original Tarzan was a Viscount by birth. You won't find that mentioned here. Somebody might ask, "What's a Viscount?" And, if I remember, Tarzan spoke not only ape language, which apes don't have, but was self taught in English as well. And his English was as good as any Brit's. His lexicon encompassed words like "scarcely" and "width." However, having Tarzan speak English means writing more dialog, which takes time, effort, skill, and money. Better -- and easier -- to have Johnny Weismuller thump his chest, say "Tarzan," then thump Maureen O'Sullivan's chest, at the sternoclavicular notch, and say, "Jane!" There now. Isn't that easier than having him ask something like, "I say, actually, what is your sincere impression of this verdant paradise?" There are so many scenes of combat involving so many different kinds of animals, from hippos, lions, leopards, gorillas, and crocodiles to dwarf humans, that I lost interest after a while. My interest was piqued momentarily as Jane's dress was gradually ripped to shreds by the jungle shrubs, and when she deliberately tore some swaths off to make a bandage for Tarzan's head.That brings up another subject. I don't know what Tarzan thought of Jane, per se, but she evidently grows affectionate towards him after spending some time in his tree house. She comes up with something like, "Oh, Tarzan, you don't even know what a kiss IS, do you?" Well, he may not know how to kiss but he sweeps her up tenderly in his arms and carries her slowly off to his rude budoir. And what does Jane do, you ask? Protest? Hardly. She submissively buries her face in his shoulder and allows herself to be taken away. To do what -- make fudge?The next time we see her, it's day time and she's lying on a leopard skin rug in the tree house, wreathed in smiles of satisfaction. And, at the fade out, Tarzan and Jane wave good-bye to the departing remnants of the safari, content to seek happiness alone in the jungle. (Well, not alone -- all those elephants.) But without benefit of clergy, I might add. I ask you, what kind of movie IS this? Would you let your children watch this salacious filth? What do you suppose they'll learn from it -- that it's fun to swing from the chandelier? How to play doctor in the tree house? No, no. Take us back to the original, where Tarzan and Jane remain pure and Tarzan is articulate enough to say, "Now Tarzan will wage war on the miscreant Gomangani."

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?