Tarzan film’s Algerian roots remain unproven
Summary and headline written by AI from the source article. How we work
Ali Farid Belkadi examines claims that scenes from the 1932 film Tarzan the Ape Man were shot at the Jardin d’Essai in Algiers, Algeria, despite a lack of evidence in MGM archives.
The film’s production details place exterior shots in Mexico and California, but popular Algerian memory insists on a connection to the Hamma garden.
Belkadi investigates this enduring belief, noting the garden’s colonial history as a site for botanical collection and acclimatization, which ironically mirrors Hollywood’s construction of an imagined Africa. The film’s star, Johnny Weissmuller, was a celebrated athlete before becoming an actor, winning five Olympic gold medals in swimming in the 1920s. MGM chose him for his physique and physical prowess, seeking a body that needed little dialogue or character development.
The story of Tarzan itself predates the 1932 film, originating in a 1912 novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs. However, the MGM adaptation solidified a popular image of the character, a nearly silent hero, a fascinated Jane, and a recognizable cry, that eclipsed the earlier literary versions. Belkadi contrasts the manufactured world of the film with the life of Himoud Brahimi, a local Algiers resident and accomplished swimmer.
Brahimi, unlike the fictional Tarzan, did not rule over a fabricated jungle but mastered his own body and breath in the waters of his homeland. Brahimi also became a poet and actor, using his art to reclaim Algerian representation. Belkadi concludes that while Tarzan represents a colonial fantasy, figures like Brahimi demonstrate a form of freedom rooted in self-mastery and local identity.
