Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes (1984)
A shipping disaster in the 19th Century has stranded a man and woman in the wilds of Africa. The lady is pregnant, and gives birth to a son in their tree house. Soon after, a family of apes stumble across the house and in the ensuing panic, both parents are killed. A female ape takes the tiny boy as a replacement for her own dead infant, and raises him as her son. Twenty years later, Captain Phillippe D'Arnot discovers the man who thinks he is an ape. Evidence in the tree house leads him to believe that he is the direct descendant of the Earl of Greystoke, and thus takes it upon himself to return the man to civilization.
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Some things I liked some I did not.
good back-story, and good acting
The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.
This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.
Plot; After being shipwrecked off the coast of Africa, a young aristocratic couple must survive in their harsh new environment. When the wife dies and the husband is killed, their young infant son is adopted into a community of apes and raised as one of them. But when, as a young man, he is found by the survivor of a doomed British expedition and learns of his true lineage, he is forced to make a choice between the comforts of a home he's never known and the savage jungles where he was raised.Tries to rise above the pulp roots of its progenitor and the B-movie muck of its siblings in a way that often parallels that of its fish out of water title character. It's a well made film backed by strong performances and a sincere attempt to tell an interesting and dramatic (at times melodramatic) story. If the victim is fun, then so be it, but you'll forgive me if I have been conditioned to expect at least a *little* action from the Lord of the jungle.Moving at the speed of cold molasses uphill, it still managed to hold my interest for the bulk of its 2+ hour runtime.
Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes (1984): Dir: Hugh Hudson / Cast: Christopher Lambert, Ralph Richardson, Ian Holm, Andie MacDowell, James Fox: Another attempt at a Tarzan adaptation although it might appeal better without its cheesecake title. It stars Christopher Lambert as Tarzan who grew up in the jungle and raised by apes. Ian Holm shipwrecks onto the island and is founded by Tarzan. Holm studies him closely and observes his authority amongst the apes. Soon he is shipped to England where he meets his grandfather at the Greystoke manor. Directed by Hugh Hudson whom gives the story an artistic approached never seen before but its more adult appeal strikes against the very audience it should fancy too. Hudson previously made the acclaim Chariots of Fire. The screenplay is predictable but detailed with terrific art direction. Lambert does a tremendous job with the mannerisms of Tarzan but his concluding decision is somewhat hopeless. Ralph Richardson as Tarzan's grandfather provides wisdom. Holm steals scenes early on with his introductory to Tarzan. Only Andie MacDowell as Jane is subdued in predictable drivel that render her more as a romantic fling than a personality. More adult oriented than fantasy adventure and that greatly works against it but it is unique in its presentation nonetheless. Score: 5 ½ / 10
Coming off his best picture-winning Chariots of Fire, I have to imagine director Hugh Hudson thought to himself, "Hmm, how could I make Tarzan as boring as possible?" Whatever the answer to that question, Hudson succeeded with flying colors. This is about as boring as the story can get. 90% of it takes place in England and the 10% that takes place in the jungle is only marginally more interesting. Christopher Lambert plays Tarzan (never called that) and is silly. I mean, the story's always going to be silly, but Hudson wants this to be played seriously, and he failed by casting Lambert. Sir Ralph Richardson died shortly after production wrapped and scored a posthumous Oscar nom for his role, but I barely remember him in the film. Ian Holm is a little more memorable as the Frenchman who discovers Tarzan on his jungle exposition. Andie MacDowell, playing Jane in her film debut, was apparently so awful they had to hire Glenn Close to dub her voice. The ape costumes aren't bad considering. I would have been much better off throwing in the first two Weismuller Tarzans, which combined would have run about the same length.
This film is the perfect example of a film that relied a lot in the build up then turned to be a monotonous bore until its very last 15 minutes or so. Nothing really happens in this vacuum of almost one hour, and it clearly prejudiced the film. In the start, we have all the stuff about the accident of 'Tarzan's parents, and then ahead we watch Tarzan's growing up and supposedly conquering the forest?, i guess? This part in the film is carefully treated, but still does not explain, or a least i didn't get, how Tarzan becomes the king of the apes. It suddenly shows him already as the king 30 minutes after his 'growing', but it not shows how he earn that title.And anyways, the acting by the lead actor is not at all that convincing. He is either sad or raging, but it never impacts the viewer in the way it is supposed to do. I missed a bit the Tarzan, in fact.The soundtrack is indeed good, love classical music, but in this film it was misused. I say that because it don't fitted the scenes, therefore it wasn't even necessary to this film. Not saying that a film don't needs music, but if the music is not at all put in a way that it will add something to it, it is just pointless.The cinematography is good i guess, good use of lightning in the interiors scenes of the Greystoke castle. The panoramic vision of the forest was good, but it was way too quickly exposed and also too generic.In a quick resume, Greystoke is a film that loses his breath in half the way, and just recovers it when it's too late. 5.7/10