THE FIRST TARZAN MOVIE AND MORE: ELMO LINCOLN’S SILENT FILMS

For Balladeer’s Blog’s latest look at a silent movie star I will cover Elmo Lincoln, who is best known as the big screen’s very first Tarzan but also starred in other films outside the Tarzan series.

TARZAN OF THE APES (1918) – Though Elmo had been appearing as an extra or in small supporting roles since 1913, his portrayal of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan in this movie put him on the map. For nitpickers, Gordon Griffith of silent Tom Sawyer fame played the very young Tarzan when his parents died early in this film, but Elmo Lincoln was the first adult Tarzan performer in movie history.

Surviving prints of Tarzan of the Apes run 61 minutes and cover the basics of the original novel’s opening half in workmanlike if not spectacular fashion. Lord Greystoke and his wife perish after becoming shipwrecked in Africa and their surviving heir is raised by apes.

The boy’s discovery of his late father’s knife among the shipwreck ruins enables him to rise to dominance among the apes by killing off rivals. As he matures, Tarzan becomes a legend in the jungle as he wars on tribes which kill apes plus frees slaves captured by Muslim slavers.

Binns the sailor realizes Tarzan is the long-lost Greystoke heir and an expedition heads to Africa, headed by Professor Porter. The professor’s daughter Jane Porter (Enid Markey) accompanies her father’s expedition and winds up abducted by a villain only to be saved by our King of the Jungle.

Jane uses gentleness to calm down the horny Tarzan when he gets too pushy. Her line “Tarzan is a man, and men do not force the love of women” conveys what we need to know without getting graphic. Charmed by the Ape Man, she eventually canoodles with him willingly.   

THE KAISER, THE BEAST OF BERLIN (1918) – Rugged he-man Elmo was among the ensemble cast of this World War One propaganda film alongside the one and only Lon Chaney. Lincoln played Marcas the Blacksmith, a beefy Belgian blacksmith who kills German invaders in order to save his daughter from their depraved intentions.

Ultimately, in the purely fantasy ending of the movie (the war was still going on in real life), Marcas has Germany’s captured and defeated Kaiser Wilhelm at his mercy.

Unfortunately, this is one of the many, many silent films which have not survived.     

THE ROMANCE OF TARZAN (1918) – Roughly eight months after the January success of Tarzan of the Apes came this sequel movie.

The Romance of Tarzan adapts the second half of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ first Tarzan novel. Professor Porter’s expedition, with the lovebirds Jane and Tarzan in tow, prepares to return to civilization.

They get attacked by hostile natives and in the chaos, Tarzan gets separated from the others. William Cecil Clayton (Colin Kenny), Tarzan’s cousin and the sitting Lord Greystoke, lies about seeing the Ape Man get killed in battle and the expedition leaves Africa without our hero.

William wants to remain as Lord Greystoke and does not want to lose his title AND Jane to the newly recovered real heir to the title. Tarzan manages to swim to a ship following the one carrying the Porter Expedition.

He trails them all the way back to the modern world and is a fish out of water in the city. His rugged masculinity wins over a bar girl called La Belle Odine (Cleo Madison). This lets the sinister William convince Jane that Tarzan has found a new love in Odine, so she rejects our hero even after he saves her from criminals. The disconsolate Ape Man returns to Africa.

Later finding out that William lied, Jane returns to Africa herself and reunites with Tarzan in the jungle.

ELMO THE MIGHTY (1919) – He may not have said “I’ll be back” but Elmo Lincoln returned, nevertheless in this action serial.

This time around, Elmo starred as forest ranger Captain Elmo Armstrong, who protects former battlefield nurse Lucille Gray (Grace Cunard) and her family against a corrupt lumber syndicate.

Our hero eventually takes to a motorcycle and adopts the secret identity of the Masked Rider to further their crusade against the villains.

Movie theaters of the time even hired local stunt motorcyclists to perform in publicity activities for the 18-episode serial.

The chapter titles were: 1. The Mystery of the Mad Mountain   2. Buried Alive   3. Flames of Hate   4. A Fiendish Revenge   5. The Phantom Rescue   6. The Puma’s Paws   7. The Masked Pursuer   8. The Flaming Pit   9. The House of a Thousand Tortures   10. Victims of the Sea   11. The Burning Den   12. Lashed to the Rocks   13. Into the Chasm   14. The Human Bridge   15. Crashing to Earth   16. Parachute Perils   17. The Plunge   18. Unmasked.

None of this serial has survived.     

ELMO THE FEARLESS (1920) – Another 18-chapter action serial from Great Western Producing Company.

In Elmo the Fearless our hero stars as the Stranger, an enigmatic but heroic lumberjack (and he’s okay) who comes to the aid of Edith Stilwell (Louise Lorraine) and her father. Bad guys are trying to cheat Edith and dear old dad out of their deed to a gold mine. 

Action took place from San Francisco’s Barbary Coast to the timberlands of America’s northwest.

This time around the chapter titles were: 1. The Wreck of the Santiam   2. The Racing Death   3. The Life Line   4. The Flames of Death   5. The Smugglers’ Cave   6. The Battle under the Sea   7. The House of Mystery   8. The Fatal Crossing   9. The Assassin’s Knife   10. The Fatal Bullet   11. The Temple of the Dragon   12. Crashing Through   13. The Hand on the Latch   14. The Avalanche   15. The Burning Fuse   16. The House of Intrigue   17. The Trap   18. The Fateful Letter.

Sadly, no footage from this serial has survived, either.

UNDER CRIMSON SKIES (1920) – In this hour-long movie Elmo Lincoln stars as bearded badass Captain Yank Barstow. Yank’s ship has been chartered to transport wealthy Vance Clayton (Harry Van Meter), his wife Helen (Mabel Ballin) and daughter Peg (Nancy Caswell) to revolution-torn Central American nation Puerto Cortes.

On the journey, Captain Barstow realizes that Vance is an abusive husband and father who tries provoking the crew into a mutiny when Helen falls for the much kinder Yank. Our hero is also furious that Clayton tricked him into transporting weapons to Puerto Cortes.

The contraband cargo is exposed when they arrive in port and noble Captain Barstow takes the rap rather than see Helen and Peg dragged into the trouble that Vance caused.

Yank is sentenced to five years for smuggling weapons to the villainous rebels but soon escapes and fights his way to command of a gang of beachside plunderers and scavengers.

The evil Vance Clayton continues covertly backing the bloodthirsty rebels and even provokes them into militarily besieging the U.S. Consulate even though his wife and daughter are inside with him. Yank Barstow leads his ragtag rogues in saving the consulate from the bad guys.

Vance is conveniently killed by his rebel co-conspirators during the battle, leaving Helen with her late hubby’s fortune. She’s also left free to marry the dashing Captain Barstow. After a suitable mourning period, I’m sure.

THE FLAMING DISK (1920) – Our man starred in this 18-episode serial as both U.S. Secret Service Agent Elmo Gray and his twin brother Jim, who falls under the hypnotic control of the serial’s villains.

Professor Robert Wade (Lee Kohlmar) devises a large, high-tech version of a magnifying glass called the Flaming Disk. It can concentrate the sun’s rays into a powerful beam capable of melting down any metal.

Bad Guys steal the invention and Secret Service Agent Elmo Gray and the professor’s daughter Helen pursue and battle the villains around the world in an attempt to recover the Flaming Disk.

The titles of this serial’s episodes: 1. Rails of Death   2. Span of Life   3. Perilous Leap   4. Fires of Hate   5. Vanishing Floor   6. Pool of Mystery   7. Circle of Fire   8. Through Walls of Steel   9. The Floating Mine   10. Spiked Death   11. The Dynamite Trail   12. The Tunnel of Flame   13. Caged In   14. The Purple Rays   15. Poisoned Waters   16. Running Wild   17. Rails of Destruction   18. End of the Trail.  

ADVENTURES OF TARZAN (1921) – Elmo Lincoln’s third and final screen appearance as Tarzan. Adventures of Tarzan was originally a 15-episode serial adapting two of the novels – The Return of Tarzan and Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar. Today only 10 to 13 episodes have survived and are available online.

There is also a 73-minute feature edit of this serial, plus footage from the production often showed up in other Tarzan movies over the years.

Adventures of Tarzan opened with an introduction starring author Edgar Rice Burroughs himself. The story saw Tarzan saving Jane (Louise Lorraine this time) from Muslim slavers only to wind up in the clutches of evil Queen La of the Lost City of Opar.

Queen La has Jane prepared for sacrifice, including the tattooing of a map to Opar’s location on her back. (LOL) Tarzan rescues Jane before she can be killed and the pair escape the hidden city.

Before long, Jane winds up being nabbed by Tarzan’s villainous cousin William Cecil Clayton and his men. Using the map on Jane’s back they reach Opar intent on plundering it.

The King of the Jungle arrives in time to defeat all the bad guys, save Jane once again and extricate them from Queen La’s schemes.

DESPERATION (1922) – This 20-minute short starred Elmo as Bob Vernon, a rough and tough man of the American West. He saves the traveling heiress Myrtle Vane (Laura La Plante) from back east when she gets entangled in a hold-up.

The duo meet again when Bob travels to the East, and she wants to show him that eastern ladies can be just as tough as western ladies. To that end she hires fake kidnappers that she plans to feign victory over.

The kidnappers turn out to be real, however, and when they really try to hold the scheming young lady for ransom our hero Bob must once again rescue Myrtle from danger. 

THE KING OF THE JUNGLE (1927) – A 10-episode serial that tried to cash in on the title’s nostalgia bait for Elmo Lincoln’s previous efforts as Tarzan.

This time, however, it was more of a traditional jungle adventure rather than a “wear a loincloth and swing on vines” production.

Gordon Standing, a co-star of Lincoln’s in The King of the Jungle, was mauled to death by a lion during the making of this serial. Elmo was devastated and retired from films for years.

He returned during the Sound Era but mostly to bit parts, including a few in Tarzan movies. Only the trailer to The King of the Jungle survives, but the episode titles are known – 1. The Great Tragedy   2. The Elephant Avenger   3. Battling for Her Life   4. Into the Lion’s Jaws   5. The Striped Terror   6. Gripped by the Death Vice   7. The Slinking Demons   8. The Giant Ape Strikes   9. No Escape   10. The Death Trap.   

THERE WERE A LOT OF SILENT TARZAN FILMS MADE WITHOUT ELMO LINCOLN AND I’LL COVER THOSE IN THE FUTURE.