Son of Tarzan (Silent)

Tarzan's reign as King of the Jungle is interrupted when he is identified as Lord Jonathon Greystone. He returns to his English estate with his bride, Jane, and the two are blessed with a son, Jack. Years later, the boy, who has jungle blood running in his veins, takes up an offer from scheming Ivan Paulovich to travel to Africa with him. The man's plan is kidnapping and ransom, but young Jack escapes and travels on alone to the Dark Continent, where he quickly picks up where his father left off - as the lord of the apes. He rescues a girl, Meriem, from abusive Sheik Amor Ben Khatour, and the two fall in love, growing to adulthood in the wild. But trouble erupts from the dangerous African landscape when vengeful Paulovich, angry Sheik Khatour, fierce native tribesmen and wild man-eating lions attack.

This action-packed, 15-chapter silent serial was based on a novel by the creator of Tarzan of the Apes, Edgar Rice Burroughs. In 1920, director Harry Revier (Lost City, Child Bride) had just completed production on The Revenge of Tarzan, and he collaborated with Arthur J. Flaven to bring this sprawling work to the screen. Kamuela C. Searle, with a sculpted muscular physique and graceful ease in the trees, is well-cast as the Son of Tarzan. He was seriously injured, though, while filming the exciting climax of this adventure serial, when he was mauled by an elephant.

• serial