Greystoke:
The Legend of Tarzan,
Lord of the Apes
For pictures from this movie,
click here
Jon's Review   10.3.03
Let me begin by saying that I've never read the novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs. In fact, Christophe's one turn at the role is the only Tarzan I've ever seen. But he's pretty damn convincing, and has written himself into the history books.
Following the progression of the Lord of the apes from a baby struggling to survive in the jungle, to the full grown 'man' as he tries to adapt into the world of 'stiff upper lip' aristocrats and all there pomp and ceremony is never less then absorbing, particularly first time round.

Ralph Richardson shines as the benign grandfather of John Clayton, appearing in his last film, completed just before his death.
His death scene and then Christophe leaning over him is wonderfully touching stuff.
Andie MacDowelll looks dazzling but fairs a lot more poorly. Her character isn't fleshed out enough, and her sudden love for John kinda comes out of nowhere. The ending, with the narration by D'Arnot including lines like 'he begged her to go with him but it was impossible" or something to that effect, really fails to satisfy. Pity MacDowell had to be dubbed as well, but at least it's fairly convincing (we can thank Glenn Close for that).

Greystoke has been accused of aging quite badly, which would be a main reason why it's not available on DVD, and it has aged somewhat.
It moves along at a very leisurely pace, and after the first viewing can be a little dull, particularly the first half, taking place in the jungle.
Christophe hasn't done a hell of a lot of flicks you'd really called story-based movies, if you know what I mean but this is one of them for sure.
I mean, movies that you can watch over and over like Mortal Kombat, it's not because of the storyline, is it? ;)

What I'm tyring to say is that Greystoke is definatly worth a viewing, but I think those who are very enthused about anything Tarzan (particularly the novel, which I've heard Greystoke is very true to), are going to get a lot more out of watching it then your casual thrill-seeking move watcher such as yours truly. There's a few different length versions of the movie running around, and I think mine is one of the shorter ones, which doesn't help when writing a review.
Also Starring:

Ralph Richardson

Ian Holm

Andie MacDowell

James Fox
Directed By:

Hugh Hudson
(If you would like to comment on this review, or submit one of your own, please email me, and I will gladly put it up for you)
Ratings
Links
Greystoke at IMDB.com Greystoke at thespinningimage.co.uk
The Man:
Buying Greystoke on Video
Supporting Cast:
Please click on your location. I only link to sites I have
bought from successfully in the past, unless otherwise stated.
Fun:
Rewatch Ability:
This one also claims added footage. There was a widescreen version available but has now been deleted.
You can however have them do a 'video hunt' to find a copy of it for you (for a price)
This is an 'expanded edition.' If you can tell me what the added scenes are, I would appreciate it There Can Be Only One overall rating of:
I'm not sure how 'complete' this version is, it doesn't mention the running time
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