How did a pulp novel ape-man become Hollywood's most recycled jungle hunk?
Tarzan: the super hero who never goes out of fashion. The son of British Royalty, he is raised by apes in the African jungle and finds his true love, Jane. Swinging through trees, communicating with wild animals, he is exotic, entertaining and accessible. This film recounts the birth of the character in the mind of Edgar Rice Burroughs and how each generation has reinvented and reinterpreted him.
Production
Rare Weissmüller and O'Sullivan archive footage
Direction
Lambert's charmingly chaotic interview energy
Director
Robert de Young
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Ron Ely, interviewed here, later became the only Tarzan actor to play the character in both film and live-action TV series.
The documentary notably sidesteps deeper critique of Tarzan as colonial fantasy, focusing instead on Hollywood's endless thirst for profitable nostalgia.
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