Summary

• Tarzan has been adapted to film many times, starting with a silent film in 1918 and continuing with a new movie nearly every year until the 1970s.
• The first Tarzan movie in 1932 started the franchise of films, with different actors playing Tarzan throughout the years.
• Despite mixed critical reception, Tarzan movies have had varying degrees of financial success, with Disney's animated Tarzan film being the most memorable and winning an Oscar. The Legend of Tarzan (2016) was a box office bomb but gained popularity on Netflix.

Though most people are familiar with Disney's Tarzan and the 2016 film The Legend of Tarzan, the classic story has been adapted to film dozens of times. The character was conceived by writer Edgar Rice Burroughs, who published the first Tarzan novel in 1914. From there, he wrote several sequels, and it wasn't long before the first movie was made about the infant English lord raised by apes. From there, a new version of Tarzan appeared on the screen decade after decade, turning Burroughs' books into several movies.

Something is fascinating about the idea of a boy raised by animals. In the classic story of Tarzan, which has been adapted in both live-action and animated films, an English lord and his wife, John and Alice Clayton, become stranded with their infant son after their shipwreck off the coast of Africa. After Alice and John die, their young son, John Clayton III, becomes abandoned. Fortunately, he is taken in by a female ape, who raises and cares for him as her own. It has become a tale as old as time, and the story has been repeated and expanded into several films carrying the name Tarzan.

Every Tarzan Movie In Order Of Release Date

The First Tarzan Movie Arrived In 1918

The first Tarzan movie was brought to the screen only four years after Burroughs published his first novel, Tarzan of the Apes in 1912. This was a silent film and a handful of films of the same format followed. Burroughs and several co-authors went on to publish 24 sequels over the years, and this led to plenty of storylines for movies and TV shows over the years that followed. Seven of the next Tarzan movies were in the silent era and when sound came into Hollywood movies, it created a new era for the franchise.

In 1932, Johnny Weissmüller took the lead role in the first Tarzan movie produced with sound, beginning a film franchise. A new movie following the character was released nearly every year until 1970. After 1970, the franchise remained dormant for over a decade. However, 1981 saw the character's return, and a couple of Tarzan movies have been released every decade since, including both animated movies and live-action movies following the legendary action hero.

The Silent Tarzan Movies (1918 - 1929)

Adapting The First Tarzan Novels By Edgar Rice Burroughs

The silent Tarzan movies were the first to bring the ape-man to the screen, though he wouldn't have a voice for more than a decade later. The first film released in 1918 was a book-faithful adaptation of Burroughs' story, with actor Elmo Lincoln serving as the first adult Tarzan on screen. Lincoln returned for two more films before actors P. Dempsey Tabler and James Pierce took their turns playing the classic character. The last silent Tarzan movie, Tarzan the Tiger (1929), was dubbed over with sound before its release, but it is still typically lumped in with the others since it was initially filmed without sound.

For the Tarzan silent movies, the first one — Tarzan of the Apes — was based on Edgar Burroughs's first novel. The second and third movies are both considered "lost films" and cover the second half of the first novel and the first half of the novel, The Return of Tarzan, respectively. Tarzan and the Golden Lion is based on the novel of the same name and has Boris Karloff (Frankenstein) in the cast. The other four movies are part of a silent serials film series, with Tarzan the Mighty being the only one that is an original story not based on a novel.

• Tarzan of the Apes (1918)
• The Romance of Tarzan (1918)
• The Revenge of Tarzan (1920)
• The Son of Tarzan (1920)
• Adventures of Tarzan (1921)
• Tarzan and the Golden Lion (1927)
• Tarzan the Mighty (1928)
• Tarzan the Tiger (1929)

The Tarzan Franchise Films (1932 - 1970)

From Johnny Weissmuller To Mike Henry