How many people who claim this is faithful to the book
have read the first Tarzan book?
shareI have read all 26 novels of the original Edgar Rice Burroughs Tarzan series and this film is by far the closest to the books than any other film yet.
Once the movie moves into the city, it takes upon its own interpretation but the core of the reason that Greystroke returns to Africa is there like the first 3 novels.
Yes, there were slight liberties but none that aren't too far from the original novels.
Agreed, considering that most Tarzan movies tend to stray far from the source material, this is about as close as it gets.
Close, but not close enough :O)
Jane is blonde.
D'arnot is Belgian, not French.
The devil is in the details...
I will choose the path that's clear, I will choose free will (Neil Peart)
brisco-8
You said "D'arnot is Belgian, not French"
In the film, he explains he is Belgian and not French.
To clarify- in the Tarzan novels, Paul D'Arnot is French- a French naval Officer, to be specific. He becomes Tarzan's closest friend.
"It ain't dying I'm talking about, it's LIVING!"
Captain Augustus McCrae
It's nothing like the novel. The book is a savage adventure with a love story. Greystoke is like one of those Merchant Ivory productions.
It just doesen't have the Borroughs feel to it.
"Perhaps he's wondering why someone would SHOOT a man before throwing him out of a plane..."
That's my biggest problem with it, it doesn't feel at all like anything ERB wrote and it's just like the notes are all wrong.
shareI have read several of the Tarzan books, including the first four but not for a long time. My understanding is the earliest film version (1918?), starring Elmo Lincoln was very close to Burrough's first book, although only covering roughly the first half of it.
Again I have seen the Lincoln silent version, but not for many years. Theatrically speaking, the Weismuller movies may have been the best, perhaps even artistically, but none of them even remotely resembled the character that ERB created.
Norm
My biggest problem with this film is that it cuts out what, for me, was the best part of the novel. The romantic bonding of Tarzan and Jane in the Jungle.
The movie starts off very detailed and accurate, showing us Tarzan's origins as the King of the Jungle. So far, so good.
Soon, the faces of Western civilization come along and I was looking forward to the 'jungle wooing' that was the heart of the book for me but it was not to be in this film. Tarzan and Jane's romance was an undeniable part of the original ERB story.
Tarzan is, despite all the jungle trappings, a love story. And a big chunk of the middle of Burrough's original tale was about Tarzan becoming fascinated with Jane and the two of them falling in love. (The best part of the original MGM Weissmuller "Tarzan the Ape Man" was when Tarzan carried Jane off and they shared their private jungle oasis, where she went realistically from fear to love.) All the jungle bonding was absent from this film. Jane doesn't even come in until more than half way through the movie.
There's an attempt to relocate the love story to Scotland late in the film (This part of the movie deviates from the novel) but the scenes of Tarzan acting like a monkey in the bedroom with Jane is laughably done. Maybe an antropologist would say it was realistic but it was still unintentionally comical. Also, there was almost no chemestry between Lambert and McDowell. (Maybe having her voice dubbed was part of that.)
Other than a fascinating first half, the film loses the heart and soul of Tarzan--the relationship between him and Jane--and that, to me, is a fatal blow to the film.
Agreed. I wanted to see Tarzan and Jane bond in the jungle. In the book, there was a bit of comedic element because Tarzan used alphabet blocks and old letters to teach himself how to read and write in English. When Jane shows up in the jungle, he passes her love letters but then she can't understand why he can't talk to her. So, this movie has very faithful parts from the novel, but Tarzan, the Ape Man (1981) had the best-looking Tarzan (hello, Miles O'Keeffe, anyone!) and American Jane and Tarzan bonding in the jungle. The animated version had sort of a faithful meeting, where the ship had a mutiny, but Tarzan never leaves the jungle. So, yeah, this version is mostly faithful to the book.
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We never really grow up, we only learn how to act in public.