Tarzan of the Apes (1918)

Director:

Scott Sidney

Writers:

Edgar Rice Burroughs (novel)
Fred Miller (writer)
(more)

Release Date:

27 January 1918 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure

Tagline:

With an unusually brilliant cast including...[list of cast members]...and 500 others

Plot:

The plot follows the novel more closely than does any other Tarzan movie. John and Alice Clayton take ship for Africa...

Plot Keywords:

Tarzan | Ape | Knife | Gift | Child Nudity

Cast

Elmo Lincoln	...	Tarzan
Enid Markey	...	Jane Porter
True Boardman	...	John Clayton, Lord Greystoke
Kathleen Kirkham	...	Alice Clayton, Lady Greystoke
George B. French	...	Binns, a sailor
Gordon Griffith	...	Tarzan, younger
Colin Kenny	...	Greystoke's nephew
Thomas Jefferson	...	Professor Porter
Bessie Toner	...	Bar Maid
Jack Wilson	...	Captain of the Fuwalda
Louis Morrison	...	Innkeeper
Eugene Pallette
Fred L. Wilson
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Rex Ingram	...	(uncredited)
Stellan Windrow	...	Tree-Swinging Tarzan (uncredited)

Directed by
Scott Sidney

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Edgar Rice Burroughs		novel
Fred Miller		writer
Lois Weber		writer

Produced by
William Parsons	....	producer

Cinematography by
Enrique Juan Vallejo

Film Editing by
Isadore Bernstein		(as Isidore Bernstein)

Art Direction by
F.I. Wetherbee

Costume Design by
E.M. Jahrhaus

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Charles Watt	....	assistant director

Art Department
Ted Bevis	....	set designer
Martin J. Doner	....	set designer

Stunts
Frank Merrill	....	stunt double: Elmo Lincoln

Camera and Electrical Department
E.A. Martin	....	wild animal photographer

Production Companies

• National Film Corporation of America

Distributors

• First National Exhibitors' Circuit (1918) (USA) (theatrical)
• Divisa Ediciones (1995) (Spain) (VHS)
• Grapevine Video (????) (USA) (VHS)
• Hollywood Classics (1995) (USA) (VHS)
• Nothing's New Video (2005) (USA) (VHS)
• Punto Zero (2008) (Italy) (DVD)
• Reel Media International (2004) (worldwide) (video)
• Reel Media International (2007) (worldwide) (all media)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

73 min

Country:

USA

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Filming Locations:

Griffith Park - 4730 Crystal Springs Drive, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

National Film Corporation of America

Trivia:

Elmo Lincoln was stockier than original Tarzan Stellan Windrow and had trouble doing the sequences in the trees, so they kept the footage shot of Windrow.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Pineapple Express (2008)

Elmo had to be the guy...

...because of his already established reputation as a Hollywood strong man (e.g. his role as the Mighty Man of Valor in the 1916 DW Griffith classic "Intolerance").

Also, the image of Tarzan in 1918 was not that of a lithe gymnast like Christopher Lambert in "Greystoke", but of a man powerful enough to wrestle lions. Strength equalled bulk.

There's an interesting piece of trivia attached to that movie and Uganda (that's in East Africa) where I'm now based. There's a popular myth around here that the 1918 version of "Tarzan of the Apes" was filmed on the northern shores of Lake Victoria. In fact it was shot, I believe, in Louisiana.