AdventureDramaActionRomance

Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes

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.

Release Date : 1984-03-30

Language :English

Adult : false

Status : Released

Production Company : Edgar Rice Burroughs Inc.Warner Bros. PicturesWEA Records

Production Country : United KingdomUnited States of America

Alternative Titles :

Cast

Character Name : John Clayton / Tarzan, Lord of the Apes

Original Name : Christopher Lambert

Gender : Male

Character Name : Miss Jane Porter

Original Name : Andie MacDowell

Gender : Female

Character Name : The Sixth Earl of Greystoke

Original Name : Ralph Richardson

Gender : Male

Character Name : Capitaine Phillippe D'Arnot

Original Name : Ian Holm

Gender : Male

Character Name : Lord Charles Esker

Original Name : James Fox

Gender : Male

Character Name : Lady Alice Clayton

Original Name : Cheryl Campbell

Gender : Female

Character Name : Jeffson Brown

Original Name : Ian Charleson

Gender : Male

Character Name : Major Jack Downing

Original Name : Nigel Davenport

Gender : Male

Character Name : Sir Hugh Belcher

Original Name : Nicholas Farrell

Gender : Male

Character Name : Captain Billings

Original Name : Richard Griffiths

Gender : Male

Character Name : Lord John Clayton

Original Name : Paul Geoffrey

Gender : Male

Character Name : Willy

Original Name : Hilton McRae

Gender : Male

Character Name : Buller

Original Name : David Suchet

Gender : Male

Character Name : Dean

Original Name : Ravinder

Gender : Male

Character Name : Sir Evelyn Blount

Original Name : John Wells

Gender : Male

Character Name : Rev Stimson

Original Name : Paul Brooke

Gender : Male

Character Name : Chalky White

Original Name : Tristram Jellinek

Gender : Male

Character Name : Olivestone

Original Name : Roddy Maude-Roxby

Gender : Male

Character Name : Tarzan aged 12

Original Name : Eric Langlois

Gender : Male

Character Name : Tarzan Aged 5

Original Name : Danny Potts

Gender : Male

Character Name : Tarzan aged 1

Original Name : Peter Kyriakou

Gender : Male

Character Name : Infant Tarzan

Original Name : Tali McGregor

Gender : Female

Character Name : Silverbeard, Primate Father

Original Name : Peter Elliott

Gender : Male

Character Name : Kala, Primate Mother

Original Name : Ailsa Berk

Gender : Male

Character Name : White Eyes, Primate Leader

Original Name : John Alexander

Gender : Male

Character Name : Droopy Ears, Tarzan's Childhood Friend

Original Name : Christopher Beck

Gender : Male

Character Name : Figs, Tarzan's Follower

Original Name : Mak Wilson

Gender : Male

Character Name : Primate

Original Name : Deep Roy

Gender : Male

Character Name : Primate

Original Name : Kiran Shah

Gender : Male

Character Name : Primate

Original Name : Philip Tan

Gender : Male

Character Name : Primate

Original Name : Tina Maskell

Gender : Female

Character Name : Primate

Original Name : David Forman

Gender : Male

Character Name : Primate

Original Name : Martin Pallot

Gender : Male

Character Name : Primate

Original Name : Douglas Mann

Gender : Male

Character Name : Primate

Original Name : George Antoni

Gender : Male

Character Name : Iris (uncredited)

Original Name : Harriet Thorpe

Gender : Female

Reviews

John Chard

@John Chard

2024-05-16

John, John, John of the jungle. Upon release mixed notices greeted this attempt to get to the crux of Edgar Rice Burroughs' jungle man creation, The Lord of the Apes, Tarzan. It's a bold movie in many ways, one of those occasions when a fondly thought of character from days of yore is given the serious make - over treatment. Which as film history tells us is often very tricky. Plot trajectory has a lost child of the British aristocracy reared by apes in the African jungle after his parents were shipwrecked there. Feral but wonderfully skilled with it, the child becomes a feral man of some substance, but when he is discovered by explorers he is taken to Britain and his ancestral home. Lord Greystoke becomes his title, but his loyalties, confusion and emotions continue to pull him in two directions. The story as written obviously becomes a two-parter. The first part is the best as Greystoke is born into the jungle and we are up close and personal with the ape community. The action is very well marshalled, the effects work of a high quality, and the realisation of the situational dynamics is superb. Not forgetting, either, some mighty emotional thumps as the dangers of mother nature's creatures tugs away at the old heart strings, the rules and brutality of the jungle given weighty filmic thrust. Shifting gear to the "jungle man in aristocracy Britain" thread, the pace slows down considerably as Greystoke dons a tux and gets the hots for Miss Jane Potter. It's this section of film that proves problematic. Narrative is bogged down by philosophical brain farts, further compounded by Andie MacDowell's (Jane) voice being dubbed by Glenn Close and the fake noises coming out of Christopher Lambert's (Greystoke) mouth, they are both very disconcerting issues. Thankfully Ralph Richardson (in his last film before he passed away) is on hand as Grandfather Greystoke to give the pic a warm and tender center. Tech credits are a mixed bag, with John Alcott's photography impressive on both continents and Rick Baker & Paul Engelen's makeup work is from the high end. Sadly, John Scott's musical score is not nearly epic enough, while director Hugh Hudson is guilty as charged when it comes to not keeping seamless the transitional change over from jungle to mainland, more so as the great Ian Holm gets short shrift here. What a waste! Yet it's a film that's easy to warm too. Stirring and touching in equal measure, it has enough qualities to off-set the flaws. 7/10