MovieChat Forums > Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes (1984) Discussion > Razor... mirror

Razor... mirror

posted 11 years ago by dagr317
2 replies | jump to latest

I haven't seen this movie for years but I've watched it several times and the mimicking scene always bothered me. Phillippe calls John Clayton an incredible mimic but when trying to get John to say the words "razor" and "mirror", Phillippe actually says "Ra... razor" and "Ma... mirror" so why doesn't John say them exactly like that instead of just saying "razor" and "mirror"? John has no idea what those words mean or what those items are; he should have just repeated the words exactly as Phillippe spoke them to him.

[–] Etherdave 10 years ago

It's not simply a question of mimicking D'Arnot's words. At the very same time John is attempting to understand their meaning. Him finally repeating them tells us he has grasped the rudiments of the language.

[–] SueDeeNim 9 years ago

There is also the issue of physically forming the sounds. Mimicry is one thing, but the consonants were alien to him, and he had to figure out how to position his teeth, tongue and lips correctly in order to make the sound he wanted. I imagine it took him a few tries to get the many different bird and animal sounds down pat; we just don't see that.