Reading the Tarzan books

I’ve almost always known that the stories in books are always better than the way they are presented in their movies where they literally change the story and leave out what I consider important information. This is to me especially true with the Tarzan books or at least the first two that I’ve finished reading and nearly finished with the third, reading from the Kindle version of the first 6 Tarzan books by Edgar Rice Burroughs in the anthology titled Tarzan Super Pack Book:

  • Tarzan of the Apes
  • The Return Of Tarzan
  • The Beasts of Tarzan
  • The Son of Tarzan
  • Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar
  • Jungle Tales of Tarzan
  • All for just 99¢ on Kindle!   🙂
Original printed book’s cover art

I’ve  suddenly learned that Edgar Rice Burroughs was a very good writer with much more involved  and interesting stories, plots and characters than any of the movies I’ve seen over the years, from those old Johnny Weissmuller  black and whites to the many modern live-action and even Disney animated versions. So I’m glad I’m reading the books, the “real” original stories!  🙂

Comparing Books & Movies

The first book, Tarzan of the Apes, is included in pretty much all the series of Tarzan movies and NONE include all of the stories, details and excitement of the book. Some literally change the story! The 1984 Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan even has Tarzan and Jane meeting in London at the Greystoke Manor! At least most of the others got that part right with their chance meeting in West Africa on her father’s scientific safari. After that, none of them follow the books and many, if not most, of the movie stories are made up for the movies. So I am enjoying the reading of the original stories which would have made better movies!  🙂

Movies I’m Watching Parallel to the Books

Several years ago I got the collection of “The Six Original Classic Feature Films” titled “The Tarzan Collection” featuring Johnny Weismuller and Maureen O’Sullivan with these titles that came out in this order:

  1. Tarzan the Ape Man (1932)
  2. Tarzan and His Mate (1934)
  3. Tarzan Escapes (1936)
  4. Tarzan Finds A Son! (1939)
  5. Tarzan’s Secret Treasure (1941)
  6. Tarzan’s New York Adventure (1942)
The first 6 original Tarzan movies.

Having been born in 1940, I think I saw some of these as reruns while still a younger child, but as I got older there were a lot more newer Tarzan movies, first with Weissmuller and then with other actors, all in color by or before 1950. I haven’t tried to research how many or anything else about them, but remember that they were popular with most kids in the 40’s and 50’s! And I remember one of my youth in a church in Dallas in the 1960’s being a fan of Tarzan, watching all the old movies on TV then.

I don’t know how many of the available Tarzan movies I will watch before I tire of them, but I will definitely read all 6 original books that motivated movie producers to write their own Tarzan stories.  🙂

¡Pura Vida!

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