So much average

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

A very enjoyable silent B-movie and superior to many Tarzan films. Many Tarzan movies skip Tarzan's tragic origin and load the film with too much action, animals and comedy. Its interesting that this massive franchise started with a slow, logical and character-driven movie. Tarzan comes off more like a superhero here than in any of the other films. He's powerful, heroic and sensitive. Kudos to Weissmuller for playing Tarzan as a more primal innocent wildman (bringing great acting to the series) but Elmo Lincoln is the perfect fantasy of a jungle superhero. This film seems to be missing a lot of footage because its so disjointed and the over-the-top cuteness of the child Tarzan and the over-the-top evil of Tarzan's African enemies will annoy modern viewers. But the rest of the film holds up. Even the B&W photography is awesome.

Yes, Tarzan of the Apes is pretty faithful adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs' first Tarzan story, but it isn't the best Tarzan movie, or silent adventure movie for that matter. Just compare it to The Mark of Zorro which came out only two years later.Imagine if they got someone like Fairbanks to do the stunts. Elmo Lincoln looks good enough as Tarzan (I don't know what people are talking about), but there are no impressive vine swinging scenes to be found here.The best thing about Tarzan of the Apes is the exciting fight scene at the end, where Tarzan kicks the big tribe member's buttocks. It's fun to see how fight scenes have developed over the years, from realistic punching and wrestling to overly choreographed dancing.The worst thing about Tarzan of the Apes is the part where the lion is killed. It's supposedly real (but looks very fake). If that's the case, shame of the filmmakers. I hate PETA as much as everyone else, but It's just wrong to kill animals for entertainment. One of the few good things about the CGI we have today is that filmmakers can fake a lot of action scenes featuring animals.I can't remember any racist content in the movie. Some people may complain about Esmeralda (white woman in blackface? Not sure), but she's not as bad as in the book. It's nothing compared to the racism in the first Weissmuller movies anyway.There's some mild (and non-sexual) nudity in some parts the movie that should have been left out. It's not offensive, but it doesn't add anything to the story either. All in all, there's nothing truly offensive about this movie except for the killing of the lion...and I'm not even sure if that part is real.While it could have been a much better movie, there's never a boring moment in it. And Tarzan is a character that has been on the big screen for almost a hundred years now, so it's very interesting to see where it all began...

It's actually pretty astonishing, when one thinks about it, how many types of Tarzan have existed and how many versions of the story have been filmed. This first, silent version is a far cry from the more famous ones (most famous being the ones featuring Johnny Weissmuller), but it's still very interesting to watch for fans of the character. More than practically any other adaptation of the tale, this one features his parents and his youth as the Lord and Lady Greystoke come to Africa and are left alone in the jungle to face their fate along with their newborn baby. Though Lincoln is nearly always credited as being the first movie Tarzan, Griffith actually plays the role as a youth for the first half of this relatively brief film. He is shown cavorting in the nude with his ape family and eventually discovering the joy of clothing, the importance of a knife and the act of reading. Later, Lincoln takes over the role just as a safari led by his long lost family is on an expedition to locate his parents. This is where he meets Jane (Markey) and introduces her to the wonders of jungle life. Griffith does a fairly remarkable job as the boy. His facial expressions and enthusiasm help a lot in keeping the film watchable. Lincoln has been heavily criticized by many as the fattest, most out of shape Tarzan ever. However, though he is certainly husky, he isn't really as rotund as his costume helps to suggest. Many times he is shown briefly from an angle that displays a waistline and he is somewhat muscular, not completely flabby. Most folks prefer the lean, lithe Tarzan's, but for a man to wrestle a lion to death, some muscle would likely be in order as well. Gordon Scott, though clearly a more fit and beautiful specimen than Mr. Lincoln, is not too much smaller in size. If Lincoln is not the ideal Tarzan, Markey is even less appealing as Jane with her heavy plaid outfit and her unengrossing demeanor. Still, the two manage to muster up a shred of chemistry. The film was actually revolutionary at the time for it's inclusion of jungle footage and the bodily exposure of its leading man. Lincoln was considered a sensation. The film is archaic, but interesting and, at 60 minutes, doesn't take too long to watch, at any rate.

At this early point in American film history, Tarzan of the Apes was an instant success. Elmo Lincoln was perhaps the best actor at the time for the role. It's a fairly straight forward telling of the novel, tho Edgar Rice Burroughs was frequently on the set in an advisory role and his input was seldom utilized. In the books, Tarzan was quite the self-made scholar and this was barely touched upon in the film. For 1918, this turned out to be an excellent film, parts of which still hold up today. It's a solid 7 out of 10, and well worth seeing.