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. Continue reading
Balladeer's Blog 