Tarzan, the fictional British lord who was raised by apes to become a brawny jungle hero, was introduced in a story by novelist Edgar Rice Burroughs in 1913 and first appeared on film in 1918. His story has been told in endless variations ever since. Arguably, however, the ape man's Golden Age was the series of movies made by MGM in the 1930s and '40s featuring Olympic swimming champ Johnny Weissmuller as Tarzan and Maureen O'Sullivan as Jane.

Weissmuller, with his splendid physique and underdeveloped voice (except for those yells), seemed just right as the loin-clothed Tarzan, and O'Sullivan brought a delicacy to Jane that helped keep the couple's underdressed jungle adventures from seeming crass. Their first film together, Tarzan the Ape Man (1932), generally follows the Burroughs original in relating how Jane travels to darkest Africa with her great-white-hunter father (C. Aubrey Smith). After being kidnapped by Tarzan, she learns to love her uncivilized captor and decides to remain permanently in the jungle.

The second entry in the series, Tarzan and His Mate (1934), is considered by many the best of the Weissmuller/O'Sullivan Tarzan films. Like the first, it is aimed at adults and celebrates the sensual side of the unmarried couple's relationship, complete with a sexy skinny-dipping scene. The plot of this one revolves around a nasty ivory hunger (Paul Cavanagh) who, much to Tarzan's displeasure, wants to plunder an elephant graveyard.

By the time of Tarzan Escapes! (1936), the film industry's Production Code dictated that Tarzan and Jane wear less revealing clothing and assume the characteristics of a married couple. This film, which involves a plot by a British hunter to kidnap Tarzan and put him on display in England, marks a change of direction in that it is designed as family fare.

In Tarzan Finds a Son (1939), Johnny Sheffield joins the family unit as Boy, who is found as an infant in a plane crash and raised by Tarzan and Jane. The original plan was to kill off Jane at the end of this film, but Burroughs objected and O'Sullivan returned to play Jane in two more entries in the series, Tarzan's New York Adventure (1942) and Tarzan's Secret Treasure (1941). Weissmuller appeared in yet another half-dozen Tarzan films for RKO before turning to another character, Jungle Jim.

Our tribute includes the world television premiere of Tarzan: Silver Screen King of the Jungle (2004), a new, feature-length documentary about Tarzan on the screen, featuring interviews with Maureen O'Sullivan and Johnny Weissmuller, Jr., as well as several noted film historians and Tarzan experts.

The movies in TCM's tribute to Tarzan are Tarzan the Ape Man (1932), Tarzan and His Mate (1934), Tarzan Escapes! (1936), Tarzan Finds a Son (1939) and the documentary Tarzan: Silver Screen King of the Jungle (2004).

by Roger Fristoe