The first and most faithful Tarzan adaptation, this silent film introduced cinema audiences to the vine-swinging hero, but was subject to the rigorous censorship of the era. Cut scenes included "woman standing over kettle showing breasts" and "first two scenes of maid on man's lap in closet." Little room for anything too risqué then, and out-of-shape Tarzan actor Elmo Lincoln was unlikely to inspire many erotic fantasies.
1932: Tarzan, the Ape Man
The most enduring and archetypal Tarzan incarnation came in 1932 with five-time Olympic medallist Johnny Weissmuller. The buff swimmer was extremely popular among female audiences, and paired with Maureen O'Sullivan for six films during the 30s and 40s, with the most memorable being the pre-code Tarzan and His Mate, which features a nude underwater dance. This controversial film marked the last Tarzan film aimed at an adult audience.
1938: Tarzan's Revenge
Two more Olympic athletes led the cast of the low-budget standalone Tarzan's Revenge, decathlete Glenn Morris and backstroker/party girl Eleanor Holm. While both were slammed for their lack of acting talent, they were praised for looking fabulous in their loincloths. Apparently with little respect for women, Morris fell in love with Leni Riefenstahl, Hitler's famous propaganda film-maker, at the Berlin Olympics. After he was awarded his medal in the stadium he apparently grabbed her, tore open her blouse and kissed her breasts in front of the stadium spectators.
1984: Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes
A more inspired film than its predecessors, this clumsily titled reboot features over five minutes of full-frontal male nudity, but is largely aimed at the male action movie market. Nevertheless, the second half of the film, which tracks Tarzan as he attempts to adjust to his new civilised life, has little in the way of action, and its emotional core may appeal to women more than men.
1999: Walt Disney's Tarzan
This beloved animated film takes Tarzan's origin story and simplifies it to an uplifting tale about wilderness adventures and what it means to be different. However, beneath the Disney innocence some have recognised a lustful undercurrent that has caused the film to be labelled by Buzzfeed as the thirstiest Disney movie ever. It is true that the repressed Victorian Jane all but drools over the untamed Tarzan in several scenes. However, the film's U rating prevents anything too suggestive, and it is romance, rather than sex, that is the focus here.
2016: The Legend of Tarzan
The marketing campaign for the ape-man's latest screen outing has been dominated largely by high-res stills of star Alexander Skarsgård posing shirtless in the jungle, all the better to show off his chiselled abs. In a cinematic world in which exposure of women's bodies has become the norm, director David Yates has cleverly tapped into the movie industry's dearth of male nudity to the delight of many female cinema-goers. We as an audience join Margot Robbie's Jane in lusting after her husband, with Tarzan as the object of desire. Despite this obvious reversal of roles, however, their relationship is an equal one, with respect and power equal on both sides. Here, as it should be, female sexuality is celebrated, not condemned.
