Edgar Rice Burroughs first brought his Tarzan character to print in 1912. This property quickly hit the silver screen, with silent adaptations that began in 1918.

However, the role’s most enduring series arrived in 1932 with Tarzan, The Ape Man. This became the first effort with Johnny Weissmuller in the lead and led to 11 more Weissmuller-starring films through 1948.

James Parker (C. Aubrey Smith) runs a trading post in Africa, and his daughter Jane (Maureen O’Sullivan) comes from England to visit. Along with explorer partner Harry Holt (Neil Hamilton), the Parkers go on an expedition to find a fabled Elephant’s Graveyard, a supposed repository of valuable ivory.

Along the way, they encounter a mix of dangers, and a mysterious white man named Tarzan (Weissmuller) who lives with the apes. Tarzan abducts Jane, an action that launches an improbable relationship.

As during the Weissmuller years, Tarzan remains an evergreen property. Granted, the franchise’s depiction of Africans creates potential issues in the 21st century, but the character continues to get adaptations like 2016’s Legend of Tarzan.

The 1932 film opens with a disclaimer that warns viewers of its various “ethic, racial, gender and other stereotypes and biases”. This seems to relate to at least part of the reason Tarzan no longer occupies the same place in culture he did decades ago.

Oh, the character definitely can work within modern concepts, of course. The 2016 Legend and 1999’s Disney version managed to avoid the various cultural and social pitfalls that can seem borderline inherent to the property.

But still, given Tarzan’s “white man in deepest darkest Africa” concept, it practically begs to become offensive to modern eyes. To put it mildly, audiences of 90-plus years ago viewed these domains differently than we do now.

That said, Ape Man falls short of the racist horror show it could’ve become. The movie treats Africans more as quaint novelties or second-class servants than actual humans, though it does lean into “brutal savages” late in the film.

In any case, it doesn’t seem to go to the extremes that we find in some other work of the era. This means it lacks the over the top offensiveness I feared I’d find.

Unfortunately, the movie also fails to deliver much real excitement. Admittedly, some of this stems to the film’s age, as what passed for thrilling in 1932 struggles to hold up in 2023.

However, other work from the era remains gripping. For instance, 1933’s King Kong still delivers a wild ride.

Ape Man just seems stuck in mud too much of the time. It feels like the filmmakers expect the exotic settings and general themes to carry the day, so they don’t bother with much real action.

I won’t fault the movie’s effects. They don’t hold up well, but they sometimes seem ambitious for their era, so I give them credit.

Unfortunately, the ample use of rear projection makes it abundantly obvious that the film’s cast never set foot in Africa. Director WS Van Dyck previously directed 1931’s Trader Horn, which did shoot on that continent.

Ape Man recycles plenty of footage from that production in an attempt to convince viewers the film takes place in Africa. It doesn’t work, as the Trader Horn material sticks out like a sore thumb.

Perhaps these issues wouldn’t impact my viewing if I found more actual excitement or drama here. Again, I can’t deny that my “2023 eyes” likely make it more difficult to get into a movie from so long ago.

Though also as previously noted, I can find other 1930s movies that hold up swimmingly. Ape Man just feels slow and dated.

Tarzan, The Ape Man appears in an aspect ratio of 1.37:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. Because I trust Warner Archives, I suspect the BD made the movie look about as good as it could, but the end result nonetheless seemed erratic.

Sharpness became an issue, as definition lacked consistency. While a good chunk of the film looked fairly accurate, more than a few shots seemed mushy and soft.

No issues with jagged edges or moiré effects arose, and I saw no edge haloes. We got a decent layer of grain, and I witnessed no print concerns.

Blacks varied from “pretty deep” to “somewhat inky”, and the film occasionally looked too bright. Contrast varied more than expected.

Still, I admit I might hold the image to an unfairly high standard, mainly because the consistent quality of Warner Archive releases trained me that way. Ape Man offered perfectly acceptable visuals for a 1932 movie but it still comes with more variation than I anticipated.

Similar comments applied to the decent but spotty DTS-HD MA monaural soundtrack. Unsurprisingly, it failed to boast much range, so effects came across as thin, tinny, and a little rough upon louder elements.

Like many films of the early “talkie” era, Ape Man lacked score outside of the opening and closing sequences. On those occasions, the music sounded on the shrill side.

Dialogue appeared flat and without natural qualities, though the lines always remained intelligible. Some hiss and noise cropped up, though not to a problematic degree. Nothing here excelled, but the audio seemed adequate for its extreme age.

A documentary entitled Tarzan: Silver Screen King of the Jungle runs one hour, 19 minutes, 59 seconds and delivers notes from actor’s son Johnny Weissmuller, Olympic swimmer John Naber, actor Maureen O’Sullivan, Cheeta Primate Foundation’s Dan Westfall, and historians Rudy Behlmer, Scott Tracy Griffin, Geoff St. Andrews, and Robert Osborne.

“King” covers the origins of the character as well as the property’s move to silent films, the development of the 1932 flick and production notes, subsequent Weissmuller films and other Tarzan films. Mostly we cover the Weissmuller run, and “King” does so in an engaging and informative manner.

In addition to the film’s trailer we get two circa 1932 vintage Merrie Melodies cartoons: I Wish I Had Wings (7:03) and Moonlight for Two (6:54). Set on a farm, Wings focuses on a baby bird who wants to fly, while Moonlight concentrates on romance between a couple of rural dogs.

Moonlight brings a dud, as it lacks real humor. However, Wings offers a pretty good short that goes wacky enough to feel like a precursor of where Looney Tunes would eventually go.

As arguably the most famous adaptation of the Edgar Rice Burroughs story, Tarzan, The Ape Man deserves a look. However, outside of its place in history, the movie feels dated and less than enthralling. The Blu-ray comes with erratic but generally positive picture and audio as well as bonus materials highlighted by a good documentary. I’m glad I saw this seminal film but I can’t claim it did much for me.