''The Romance of Tarzan'' is a 1918 American silent action adventure film directed by

Wilfred Lucas Wilfred Van Norman Lucas (January 30, 1871 – December 13, 1940) was a Canadian American stage actor who found success in film as an actor, director, and screenwriter. Early life Lucas was born in Norfolk County, Ontario on January 30, 1871,US ...

starring

Elmo Lincoln Elmo Lincoln (born Otto Elmo Linkenhelt; February 6, 1889June 27, 1952) was an American stage and film actor whose career in motion pictures spanned the silent and sound eras. He performed in over 100 screen productions between 1913 and 1952 an ...

Enid Markey Enid Markey (February 22, 1894 – November 15, 1981) was an American theatre, film, radio, and television actress, whose career spanned over 50 years, extending from the early 1900s to the late 1960s. In movies, she was the first performer ...

, Thomas Jefferson, and

Cleo Madison Cleo Madison (born Lulu Bailey; March 26, 1883 – March 11, 1964) was a theatrical and silent film actress, screenwriter, producer, and director who was active in Hollywood during the silent era. Madison began her career on the stage. ...

. The movie was the second

Tarzan Tarzan (John Clayton II, Viscount Greystoke) is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungle by the Mangani great apes; he later experiences civilization, only to reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adv ...

movie ever made, and is based on Edgar Rice Burroughs' original 1912 novel ''

Tarzan of the Apes ''Tarzan of the Apes'' is a 1912 story by American writer Edgar Rice Burroughs, and the first in the Tarzan series. It was first serialized in the pulp magazine '' The All-Story'' beginning October 1912 before being released as a novel in June ...

''. It adapts only the second part of the novel, the earlier portion having been the basis for the preceding film ''

'' (1918). Less popular than its predecessor due to much of the action taking place in the wild west rather than Africa, the film has not been preserved, and no prints of it are known to survive today.

Plot

The film opens with flashbacks from ''

'' to establish the back story. The African expedition led by Professor Porter (Thomas Jefferson) to find Tarzan (

), the ape-raised heir of Lord Greystoke, has been crowned with success, and Tarzan and Porter's daughter Jane (

) are in love. The party now prepares to return to civilization when it is attacked by natives and separated from the ape-man. Tarzan's paternal cousin William Cecil Clayton (

Colin Kenny James Colin Ramsey Kenny (born December 10, 1943) is a former Canadian Senator. A member of the Liberal Party, he was appointed to the Senate in 1984 by Pierre Trudeau to represent the Rideau region of Ontario. On January 31, 2018 it was anno ...

), the current Lord Greystoke, desiring to keep his wealth and title, reports having seen the savages kill Tarzan. Believing him dead, they leave without their charge. But Tarzan has in fact survived, and is eager to be reunited with Jane. Finding his new friends gone he swims out to another boat to follow. Eventually he reaches the United States, and is landed near the Porters' ranch in

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

. Tarzan in civilization is like a bull in a china shop, as is demonstrated early in a destructive incident in a dance hall, where his prowess impresses La Belle Odine (

). Things get back on track when Jane is kidnapped by outlaws, presenting him with the opportunity to rescue her. Jane, however, is cold to him, as Clayton has falsely convinced her he is in love with the other woman. Heartbroken, Tarzan swears off civilization and returns to Africa. Belatedly learning the truth from Odine, Jane follows, and is happily reunited with her lover in the jungle.

Cast

as Tarzan *

as Jane *Thomas Jefferson as Professor Porter *

as the Other Woman, La Belle Odine *Clyde Benson as Lawyer * Monte Blue as Juan * True Boardman as Lord Greystoke *John Cook (Undetermined Role) *

Nigel De Brulier Nigel De Brulier (born Francis George Packer; 8 August 1877 – 30 January 1948) was an English stage and film actor who began his career in the United Kingdom before relocating to the United States. Biography De Brulier was born in Frenchay, a ...

as Priest *Phil Dunham as Englishman * George B. French as Binns *

Gordon Griffith Gordon S. Griffith (July 4, 1907 – October 12, 1958) was an American assistant director, film producer, and one of the first child actors in the American movie industry. Griffith worked in the film industry for five decades, acting in ov ...

as Tarzan as a Boy *

as Clayton * Kathleen Kirkham as Lady Greystoke * Bessie Toner (Undetermined Role)

Reception

Like many American films of the time, ''The Romance of Tarzan'' was subject to cuts by city and state film censorship boards. For example, the Chicago Board of Censors required a cut, in Reel 2, of Tarzan choking a native with his arm, Reel 4, Tarzan kissing a young woman on her breast, Reel 6, the intertitle "If you will only spare him I will go back and be your slave", a scene showing Tarzan lifting a man off his feet and choking him, and two scenes of Tarzan choking a man.

References

External links

* *
''The Romance of Tarzan''
entry in ''ERBzine'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Romance of Tarzan, The 1918 films 1910s action adventure films 1910s fantasy films American action adventure films American black-and-white films American sequel films American silent feature films Films based on American novels Films set in San Francisco First National Pictures films Lost American films Tarzan films American fantasy films Censored films 1910s American films Silent adventure films

Plot

Cast

Reception

See also

References

External links