I confess to having never read Edgar Rice Burroughs novel that GREYSTOKE: THE LEGEND OF TARZAN LORD OF THE APES is based upon but I got the impression it stuck to the original very closely . Too closely perhaps since much of the first half of the film is taken up with Lord Jack Clayton relating events in a diary and then there`s no dialogue except for the grunts of apes for a while . In other words much of what worked in a literary novel is obviously unfilmable and has been translated poorly to screen . But stay with GREYSTOKE because it really does pick up with the arrival of a British zoological party and the film turns into an innocent abroad type film as John Clayton ( Tarzan ) arrives back at his ancestral home.
There`s a lot to recommend about this movie . It makes some very stinging criticisms on the British class systems and mans contempt of nature , and is very well acted by all the cast especially Ralph Richardson in his last screen appearance and Christopher Lambert who unfortunately only seems to appear in straight to video films nowadays . It`s also worth watching for the final scene of a landscape with a volcano in the distance which reminded me of a recent film featuring Ian Holm which ended on an indentical scene . Can you guess what film I mean ?
There`s a lot to recommend about this movie . It makes some very stinging criticisms on the British class systems and mans contempt of nature , and is very well acted by all the cast especially Ralph Richardson in his last screen appearance and Christopher Lambert who unfortunately only seems to appear in straight to video films nowadays . It`s also worth watching for the final scene of a landscape with a volcano in the distance which reminded me of a recent film featuring Ian Holm which ended on an indentical scene . Can you guess what film I mean ?