...in some scenes it really seems the animals were hurt. I know those were different times, but please tell me it isn't so :S
shareWell, this was probably at a time when animal protection in movies was not implemented. However, through clever editing, which can fool the eyes, sometimes they probably weren't. And certainly, that giant monstrous crocodile that Tarzan battles was not real, although it was still a great looking design.
shareThey used a rubber crocodile for that scene. As to the other animals, hopefully they didn't have to suffer long.
shareThe animals used in films back then were as much studio players as the human actors. Exotic trained animals were NOT cheap and especially hard to replace. Keep in mind this, and most of the other Tarzan films, were made on the back lots and sound stages in California.
Killing expensive animals for a movie is poor business, something the early Hollywood moguls excelled at.
I would not be surprised to learn that there was less than desirable animal treatment in some of the stock footage.I'm thinking in particular of a scene where a charging lion is shot,and shoots straight up in the air,writhing around.Don't recall what movie it's in.I recall a scene in an old Bomba movie of a leopard being killed by a huge snake..obviously genuine stock footage.A lot of that footage was shot in the 20's by safaris not concerned with theatrical animal codes,for what they were then.
shareSome of the stock footage that was clearly shot in Africa does show actual shootings and such. Of course, in those cases the safari most likely would have been shooting those animals regardless of the camera's presence (it's cheaper to have a camera crew tag along with an existing safari than to mount an entirely new one to get your "stock" film shots).
Some of the charging animals in the studio shots look to me like they're hitting trip wires. That method of getting film shots of animals going down is now illegal in the US. My guess is that how hazardous that technique is to the animal depends to a fair extent on the species of animal. I would think that lions would probably only be bruised by it (a previous poster was right about trained lions being a huge investment and studios not wanting to detroy that for one quick shot; of course a fluke accident is always possible); horses, I believe, have much greater problems with trip wires (including, I think, a higher likelyhood of breaking a leg and then having to be destroyed).
In a modern version, I'm sure they would use CGI and they would also overdo it with extra blood and gore.
I'm not a fan of CGI since it usually looks like a video game. One of the best action scenes involving animals is the chariot race in Ben Hur. It uses real horses, real stunt men, and real chariots.
Ben Hur also uses real actors in front of real rear projection. :P
While some of the puppets for this Tarzan movie are really obvious, some of the stuntwork is crazy. Like actually riding on a hippo.
Osborne on TCM said that animal protection began to be enforced in movies after The Charge of Light Brigade. Apparently, there was an uproar over how many horses her hurt or killed - somewhere between 20 and 30 were killed by tripwires. After that Congress passed laws to protect animals in movies...
shareIn the rhino fight, it looks like in the wide shots there's a stunt person actually riding it. That's crazy to think of even attempting today.
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