Tarzan on Film

Scott Tracy Griffin’s Tarzan on Film is a generously illustrated, fact-packed appraisal of the 52 Tarzan movies and telefilms and seven TV series.It begins with a foreword by Casper Van Dien, the twentieth actor to portray Tarzan, offering a few anecdotes from his filming of Tarzan and the Lost City. Throughout, there are many other fascinating insights and anecdotes concerning the actors, actresses and directors. The book is a feast for Tarzan fans and for anyone fascinated by the movie business.The Tarzan franchise was the most profitable in history until the James Bond movies took off in the 1970s. The only other fictional character to have been a serious contender for the number of movie and TV adaptations is Sherlock Holmes.Edgar Rice Burroughs’ first Tarzan story was published in 1912 in magazine format and subsequently as a novel. Twenty-three novels followed. It was inevitable that this iconic character would find himself on the silver screen. In 1918 the silent movie appeared, starring Elmo Lincoln. As we know, Hollywood didn’t really buy into the complete ape-man, only aspects of him. Until relatively recently, he was presented as a grunting, monosyllabic strong yet simple man, while in the books he possessed a remarkable inherited intellect, teaching himself to read and speak several languages, including French, English, German, Arabic, Dutch and a host of African dialects.The first talky Tarzan film was Tarzan the Ape Man (1932), starring former Olympic swimmer Johnny Weissmuller; he appeared in twelve Tarzan movies and is still fondly regarded by fans. The scripts required the ape-man to appear a noble savage capable of only speaking broken English, in marked contrast to the cultured aristocrat of Burroughs’ books. One exception was the Burroughs co-produced The New Adventures of Tarzan (1935), starring Herman Brix (also known as Bruce Bennett). The “me Tarzan, you Jane” characterization persisted until the late 1950s, when producer Sy Weintraub produced Tarzan's Greatest Adventure (1959) featuring Gordon Scott. It must have been strange for Scott to present an ‘educated’ ape-man having already starred in four ‘monosyllabic’ Tarzan films. The Weintraub productions portray a Tarzan that is closer to Edgar Rice Burroughs' original concept in the novels; subsequent outings have maintained that stance.There are interesting biographies of the actors and actresses who played Tarzan and Jane over the years, and others besides. Despite the scripts, the stories and actors brought in the audiences in their droves. Each actor added something to the myth.Also covered are the two 2016 movies The Legend of Tarzan and the animated Netflix series Tarzan and Jane.Besides the many still photographs, there are numerous film posters.Even after almost a hundred years, the movie Tarzan is still a phenomenon and this book does the franchise justice. A collector’s item.

Legendary Character Tarzan is celebrated in This Lavish book showcasing Edgar Rice Burroughs jungle swinging Hero in The movies. From early silent classics The Disney animated classics To The recent latest big screen outing for Tarzan Author Scott Tracy Griffin as gathered a wealth of information on The making of The films and all of The Actors who have portrayed Tarzan on The screen Through The Decades. Tarzan's Mate Jane is not overlooked as each Actress To have played Jane is Given Their own chapter in The book. Printed on High Gloss paper Throughout with a wealth of colour and black and white stills from The movies All The original movie posters from The films are reproduced in full colour as The Author Details each film by film. Not only limited To The movies Tarzan's TV outings are all covered from The Ron Ely sixties series To The long forgotten 70s Animated series featuring The Ape man. of course any mention of Tarzan and The Great Johhny Weissmuller comes To mind considered To be The Greatest screen Tarzan. Weissmuller's Tarzan alongside Maureen O'sullivan and Brenda Joyce Two of The most popular Actresses To portray Jane are well represented in The book. Alongside David Fury's excellent book Kings Of The Jungle see my earlier review on That Author Scott Tracy Griffin's Tarzan On Film is a real labour of love offering The Definitive Book on Tarzan's remarkable celluloid legacy. The Book's cover features Johhny Weissmuller & Francis Gifford from one of Weissmuller's most popular Tarzan movies Tarzan Triumphs. along with other incarnations of Tarzan showing along The bottom. A large book for your collection but Then again They Don't come any larger Than Tarzan The Ape Man and Cheetah The chimp who Gets His own chapter Devoted To Him. Highly Recommended for any Tarzan fan Un Gow Ah.

Great book and great pictures and value for money

This book. Buy it. Seriously, any Tarzan and Jane fan will LOVE this book.It’s got pages on EVERY SINGLE TARZAN MOVIE throughout it chronologically and with notes and tidbits on the actors, directors, the time period it was released.It’s great, Scott you did an amazing job on this book and I’d love to interview you about it someday!

Excellent high-quality trawl through the Tarzan universe, with fine photos. My favourite has always been Gordon Scott, who really looked like Tarzan should, but others have done it well too.

Five stars I would have given it Ten if I could .Buy it or your collection will missing a true classic

It was a present for someone and it was well received.

Excellent product for afficiandos of the genre.