Tarzan of the Apes First ever film 1918 Gordon Griffith

The very first Tarzan movie shot in 1918. Some scenes Of Tarzan of the Apes staring The child actor Gordon Griffith as the boy Tarzan. aged 10.
These are a few clips cut short to fit the 10 minute limit. Its a very pixilated copy of a historically important silent film. The whole movie is now public domain and can be found in many Internet movie sites. A full clear version can be easily downloaded.

This was the movie that brought Tarzan to the masses and set the ball rolling.
Only those that had read the book knew of the ape man prior to this film.
Even today every one knows of Tarzan but how many have read the book?

Gordon Griffith (1907-1958) was big in his day and had been acting in short films for children. Griffith was already an experienced actor when, at age seven, he got his first acting role as a regular character in the Little Billy serials. Mack Sennett of Keystone Studios cast Griffith in many of his slapstick features, where he eventually earned supporting roles in Charlie Chaplin films, including Tillie's Punctured Romance.
His big break came with the role of young Tarzan, in the 1918 film Tarzan of the Apes. He was required to do his own stunts, such as climbing trees, swinging from vines, and interacting closely with a chimpanzee. Griffith also has several nude scenes in the first half of the film, making him one of the first pre-teens to appear on screen naked. Griffith appears before the actor portraying the adult Tarzan—Elmo Lincoln—making him the first actor to portray Tarzan in film.
Griffith later received the role of Tom Sawyer in the 1920 film version of Huckleberry Finn. He worked with the big names of the day including Mary Picford in Little Annie Rooney (1925.
He played the role of Sam in the Penrod movie.
He worked with Charlie Chaplin, and was the first actor to portray both Tom Sawyer and Tarzan on film.

Griffith continued to work in the film industry until his death, working as an assistant director at Monogram Pictures, an associate producer under Robert Sherwood, and as a director and then as an associate producer for Gregory Ratoff Productions.
In 1941, Griffith became production manager at Columbia Pictures, and later served as an associate producer for RKO, eventually becoming a producer for films such as 1956's Alexander the Great.

His fillmography is-
Little Billy's Triumph (1914)
Little Billy's Strategy (1914)
Little Billy's City Cousin (1914)
Chicken Chaser (1914)
Those Country Kids (1914)
Tillie's Punctured Romance (1914)
Kid Auto Races at Venice (1914)
Little Sunset (1915)
Billy's Cupidity (1915)
If My Country Should Call (1916)
Tarzan of the Apes (1918)
The Romance of Tarzan (1918)
Cupid Forecloses (1919)
The Son of Tarzan (1920)
Huckleberry Finn (1920)
The Adventures of Tarzan (1921)
Penrod (1922)
The Village Blacksmith (1922)
Little Annie Rooney (1925)
The Cat's Pajamas (1926)
Bars of Hate (1936)

The sound track came with the movie and sounds as old as the film.
I have no idea what it is called.
The text frames were removed to shorten the clip and the sound may be a little jerky in the edits.
Turn the sound off for full historical effects of silent film.

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• Tarzan
• Apes
• First
• Film
• 1918
• Gordon
• Griffith
• Choowbz

[rudedogii]

Running around naked in the jungle looks like fun!

[snoglobe68]

Incredible. Nice post K.

Not to cast a negative light on your post but one thought came to mind watching the opening scene. An artistic cinematic jewel such as this would be blasted as child pornography. What a small minded world we live in today. They always seem to pervert everything innocent nowadays.

Awesome post, thnks for taking the time to share this masterpiece.

[NoirFan01]

I saw a screening of "Huckleberry Finn" the other day in which Gordon Griffith plays the role of Tom Sawyer.

[gregorkrause]

0:06 "Raymond overture"

[Praveenk902]

Tarazan

[msilva1957]

I have this movie on DVD . Elmo Linkenhelt played in 3 or 4, but I've never seen the others.

[tabrizkeshan]

Thanks for sharing this great piece of historical film.

[xXOminousBlueXx]

wow, interesting for being a 1918 movie!

must've took forever

[dearmalika]

Is so interesting! Thanks for sharing!

[rubroxato88]

I have read the 4 first books of the 27 Tarzan written by Borroughs. And this one seems to be faithful to "Tarzan of the apes" the number 1, in witch he is described as a 10 y/o boy strong as a 30 y/o man! Also the part in witch Tarzan discovers his parents books and studies them!

[JanVernerC]

Thank you for uploading this little jewel!