The Revenge of Tarzan (1920) is a silent adventure film, originally advertised as The Return of Tarzan, and the third Tarzan film produced. The film was produced by the Great Western Film Producing Company, a subsidiary of the Numa Pictures Corporation. The film was sold to Goldwyn Pictures for distribution.
| The Revenge of Tarzan | |
|---|---|
 Movie poster | |
| Directed by | Harry Revier George M. Merrick |
| Written by | Robert Saxmar |
| Based on | The Return of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs |
| Produced by | Samuel Goldwyn Edgar Rice Burroughs |
| Starring | Gene Pollar Karla Schramm Estelle Taylor Armand Cortes Franklin B. Coates |
Production company | Numa Pictures Corporation |
| Distributed by | Goldwyn Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 90 minutes |
| Language | Silent (English intertitles) |
The film was written by Robert Saxmar, based on the 1915 novel The Return of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs, and directed by Harry Revier and George M. Merrick. It was released on May 30, 1920.
Plot
editTarzan and Jane are traveling to Paris to help his old friend Countess de Coude, who is being threatened by her brother, Nikolas Rokoff. Rokoff has Tarzan tossed overboard. He survives, comes ashore in North Africa, and goes to Paris to search for Jane.
In Paris, Tarzan reunites with his old friend Paul D'Arnot, who informs him that Jane was taken to Africa.
Tarzan returns just in time to save Jane from a lion attack, and soon defeats Rokoff and his henchmen.
Cast
edit- Gene Pollar as Tarzan
- Karla Schramm as Jane
- Estelle Taylor as Countess de Coude, Tarzan's ally
- Armand Cortes as Nikolas Rokoff, a villain
- Franklin B. Coates as Paul D'Arnot, Tarzan's old friend
- George Romain as Count de Coude
- Walter Miller as Henchman to Rokoff
- Louis Stern as Polawitch
- Betty Turner as Marie
Production notes
editThe production filmed on location in New York, Florida, and Balboa, California.
Karla Schramm returned to portray Jane in The Son of Tarzan (opposite P. Dempsey Tabler as Tarzan), also released in 1920. She and Brenda Joyce are the only two actresses who have portrayed Jane opposite two different Tarzans.
Gene Pollar, a former firefighter, made no other films, and returned to his old job after the film was completed.
Outside the United States, the film is known by its working title, The Return of Tarzan. The title was changed for its American release in July 1920.[1] A previously known print was destroyed in the 1965 MGM vault fire. While usually reported as a lost film, a complete print exists under the title The Return of Tarzan in the BFI/National Film And Television Archive in London, England.[2] Preservation status of the print is unknown.
References
edit- ^ Progressive Silent Film List: The Return of Tarzan at silentera.com
- ^ "Return of Tarzan, The". American Silent Feature Film Database. Library of Congress. September 14, 2016. Retrieved September 20, 2016.
Bibliography
edit- Essoe, Gabe. Tarzan of the Movies (Citadel Press, 1968)