berberian00-276-69085 About 10 years ago I initiated campaign to build and sustain a Website on the Internet. The reasons for this initiative were two, maybe three. Firstly, I made an unsuccessful career in Academia and University which bolstered for ten years or so my ambition and energy in the field. Second, I was unsuccessful as playmate and marriage candidate which left me a lonesome dove in middle age. Third, because I had always a large family around and was obsessed with the elderly and the procreation on my brother's side. So willy-nilly I departed with my illusions to become a hero in real life and plunged into the imaginary. In the time elapsed I realized that I have become not only older but wiser - that means, I understood that "globalization" is the state of art being connected while the previous level called "totalitarianism" was sponsored by isolated people and societies. Consequently, today Internet has become more important than Movies or Books taken separately and has exempted our culture for future 21st century.I now give realm to Tarzan and his author Edgar Rice Burroughs. The author (ERB) has been my favorite reading since my early age in the 1970s when I studied both Bulgarian and English languages. My mastery in those two languages is equal although I live in Eastern European country by default. In those years before end of Cold War my time was occupied by gathering Movies and Books and associating with Friends. Now in my 50s the last component is missing and I am left alone with myself and whatever artifacts of Culture modern age has to provide in order to survive. Otherwise it will disappear like Dinosaurs and World Wars.After those gloomy memories let me present my Tarzan collection (on 6 double-sided DVDs, 12 movies in total with Johnny Weissmuller). The guy was sort of a hero now-a-days people like Arnold Schwarzenegger have become. He has also similar biography saying he was born in America while in fact he came from Banat, Austro-Hungary (formerly). Weissmuller was trained swimmer and won 5 gold medals for US Olympic team (1924-1928). He then became a Movie star in 1930s and 1940s, keeping constantly in good physical shape because the Tarzan films expounded on the image of semi-naked white ape-man as apotheosis of American supremacy over Germans and other Human Races. Johnny Weissmuller died age 80 leaving the Tarzan legacy to other actors not one of which could beat his productivity or expressionism.Edgar Rice Burroughs adapted to screenwriters format themes from his Tarzan's novels (originally 24 books dealing with this hero). He also wrote several other series of books all of which dealing with imaginary worlds, the most popular being about John Carter of Mars (originally 11 books that follow adventures of dying Captain during the Civil War whose soul transcend on the Red Planet to become there a Warlord of galactic civilization). The recent movies on John Carter aren't half intriguing as the books themselves.Finally, have a list of the 12 original Tarzan movies with Johnny Weissmuller the way they appeared chronologically: TARZAN, THE APE MAN (1932) TARZAN AND HIS MATE (1934) TARZAN ESCAPES (1936) TARZAN FINDS A SON (1939) TARZAN'S SECRET TREASURE (1941) TARZAN'S NEW YORK ADVENTURE (1942) TARZAN TRIUMPHS (1943) TARZAN'S DESERT MYSTERY (1943) TARZAN AND THE AMAZONS (1945) TARZAN AND THE LEOPARD WOMAN (1946) TARZAN AND THE HUNTRESS (1947) TARZAN AND THE MERMAIDS (1948)

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?

nnnn45089191 Johnny Weissmuller,the former Olympic champion in swimming,makes his debut as Tarzan.The movie spawned a lot of sequels and Weissmuller continued as Tarzan for 11 more films during the next 16 years. I had seen this early and somewhat primitive talkie a couple of years back and found it hard to sit through.I decided I'd give it another chance and was surprised at how much more I enjoyed it.Weissmuller is stunning, he fits the part excellent and looks amazing.There's screen charisma by the thousands.Maureen O' Sullivan as Jane really made the role her own.The African footage, shot during the making of "Trader Horn" is exciting and must have been worth the ticket on its own back in the thirties.There's some bad rear-projection used,but it doesn't spoil the movie if you don't let it bother you. So enjoy this entertaining film.

Cyke 061: Tarzan the Ape Man (1932) - released 3/25/1932; viewed 6/04/06.Gandhi is arrested by the British again. The 1932 Winter Olympics go down in Lake Placid, New York. The first daytime soap, Clara, Lu, and Em debuts on the radio. Six million unemployed in Germany. Japan and China fight over Manchuria. The son of Charles Lindbergh is kidnapped and a media circus ensues. Hattie W. Caraway becomes the first woman elected to the United States Senate.BIRTHS: Dabney Coleman, Piper Laurie, Francois Truffaut, John Williams, Milos Forman, Ted Kennedy, Majel Barrett, Johnny Cash, Elizabeth Taylor, Gene Shalit. DEATHS: Edgar Wallace, John Philip Sousa, George Eastman.DOUG: As 1932 gets underway, MGM unleashes the first of a long series of films starring Edgar Rice Burroughs' titular hero in Tarzan the Ape Man, starring Maureen O'Sullivan as Jane and Olympic gold medalist Johnny Weissmuller as Tarzan. Big John looks good as Tarzan. He doesn't have to do much acting, just look wide-eyed, pose shirtless for the camera, and don't be afraid to touch Ms. Sullivan anywhere (I do love the moment when Tarzan grabs Jane's foot right out from under her). The scenes where he swings through the jungle are pretty cool, though they're clearly trapezes (did he do any of his own stunts?). Maureen O'Sullivan plays Jane. She gets to shoot a shotgun (and quite well at that), which surely made her a powerful female character in her day, but she's still a damsel in distress to me since she fills her luggage with her entire fall wardrobe, and for most of the movie she WON'T STOP SCREAMING! The best scenes are between Tarzan and Jane, particularly in the scene in the pond where she amuses herself with the fact that he can't understand her, while he looks over her with such childlike curiosity while touching her rather inappropriately and repeating every last word she says. There is some good action here, such as Tarzan battling a pair of lions (they look like real lions), but some of the effects look fake, especially at the beginning, when the Parkers walk in front of the row of natives, and it's clearly a processed screen; it looks so fake it's bizarre. The film is very uneven, switching between jungle scenes shot on set and choppy stock footage, with unconvincing effects and gorillas that are obviously guys in suits. I wasn't very satisfied with this, the first installment in Weissmuller's 12-film Tarzan series. I would like to check out the second film, Tarzan and his Mate, which I've read is the best.KEVIN: Olympic gold-medalist swimmer Johnny Weissmuller makes his debut as Edgar Rice Burroughs' titular hero in MGM's Tarzan the Ape Man. I doubt this is the best installment of the Tarzan movie series, but it's a cool adventure nonetheless. Some of the special effects are laughable, such as a scene at the beginning when Jane and her father admire a local tribe that is obviously a composite screen. Most of the apes look like guys in suits. Tarzan swings through the jungle on conveniently placed trapezes. But we do see Tarzan duking it out real live lions and tigers in between intimate scenes with Maureen O'Sullivan's Jane Parker. The character of Jane felt uneven to me. She's comfortable shooting a rifle and being outdoors, yet she brings along the entire east wing of Bloomingdale's with her on safari. The climax could've been better, (and easier to see), plus it's no fun watching the black guys get killed first. I look forward to the next adventure, Tarzan and His Mate. I'm sure the Production Code cracked down on the sexuality and the cruelty to animals in later films. Until then, welcome to the jungle, baby! Last film viewed: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931). Last film chronologically: One Hour With You (1932). Next film: Scarface (1932).