I was looking forward to this collection from the time it was first announced by The Film Detective. I’m not a Tarzan fan but I am a silent movie enthusiast so I was very interested in the Elmo Lincoln silent Tarzans. I had tried to watch them before back in the VHS days but the prints were beyond terrible. They were public domain copies that carried the usual PD silent film drawbacks. They were projected at the wrong speed (too fast), had poor video quality (scratches and contrast issues), plus the sound consisted of samplings from 1920s dance tunes and faux KING KONG like jungle music.
That issue has carried over to this Blu-Ray as the copies used were the old Independent-International releases from 2012 which features the same soundtracks. They even throw in a little J.S. Bach and other classical music snippets for good measure. I was expecting a new restoration along with a soundtrack that matched what was going on visually. Minus 1 star for that. However, the video quality is greatly improved thanks to a 2K restoration that makes the movies look a lot cleaner. It would have been nice if the films had been more tightly edited as that would have improved the viewing experience.
No one would ever accuse the Elmo Lincoln movies of being top notch moviemaking but then they weren’t trying to be. They were serials (also known as Chapter Films) that were quickly and cheaply made to cash in on the success of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ TARZAN books which were then only a few years old. Lincoln looks like a 1918 version of Arnold Schwarzenegger with a comparable acting range and, let’s face it, for most people there will be only one Tarzan and that’s Johnny Weissmuller. I enjoyed these films but I can’t imagine 99% of a modern audience sticking with them for long.
The Herman Brix 12 chapter serial THE NEW ADVENTURES OF TARZAN (1935) is a different matter. Although produced by Burroughs and shot on location in Guatemala, it still looks and sounds like a low budget production. I very much wanted to see the edited feature length version, TARZAN AND THE GREEN GODDESS, and am sorry it wan’t included in this set. Minus 1 star for that. The interview with an elderly Brix, known as Bruce Bennett after 1938, is the best of the special features offered. There is a 26 page booklet and much needed subtitles but in the end, this set is for Tarzan afficiandos only.
The Capsule Critic 