dbborroughs Fifth of the Johnny Weissmuller/ Maureen O'Sullivan Tarzans is a good if much too formulaic adventure. The plot has Boy discovering gold in a river. Tarzan and Jane of course don't need it but when a group of explorers come through on their way to a plague site their greed is brought out and all sorts of nastiness occurs. For me this film is a mixed bag with much of the first half repeating variations on things that have happened in the previous films (jungle romp, torture by natives, etc), though this time with Boy and Cheetah instead of Tarzan and Jane. The film perks up once the explorers come in and the villainous ones, led by the ever wonderful Tom Conway, begin to try and do away with everyone. The climatic battle on the river is high light to the film, though it weakly trots out the alligator fight that has been in least two other films in the series. A good film thats very middle of the pack as Tarzan films go. Worth a look on cable or with a second feature.

BA_Harrison This formulaic fifth outing for Weissmuller and O'Sullivan proves that the series' writers were already starting to struggle for fresh ideas, the film being not much more than a messy hodge-podge of themes and footage lifted from the previous four movies.This time around, Tarzan's idyllic jungle life comes under threat from a pair of greedy scientists, Medford (Tom Conway) and Vandermeer (Philip Dorn), who discover the existence of a rich vein of gold running through the escarpment on which the ape-man lives. Realising the villains' true intentions—to mine the region for its hidden wealth—Tarzan refuses to reveal the exact location of the main seam, but when the bad guys kidnap his woman, Jane (O'Sullivan), and adopted son, Boy (Johnny Sheffield), he has no option but to comply—at least until he gets the upper hand and once again calls his elephant pals for some help.It pains me to say it, because I love Weissmuller's Tarzan movies, but this particular adventure is fairly tiresome: Medford's villainy is patently obvious from the get-go (after all, he does wear a pencil-thin moustache and a slimy smirk on his face); Irish light relief O'Doul (Barry Fitzgerald) is fun, but is easily bested by Cheetah, the real comedian of the series (the hairy beast gets drunk this time and walks on her hands—priceless!); Boy's best friend Tumbo is a lame attempt at trying to add a new character to the franchise; and we get to see Weissmuller wrestle that damn croc yet again!On a more positive note, director Richard Thorpe does achieve a fair amount of tension, especially as Boy crosses a deep ravine on a fallen tree and when Tarzan launches an underwater attack on some nasty natives' canoes, and it's almost impossible not to enjoy Cheetah being catapulted over a gorge with a vine in order to rescue our hero from a precarious ledge.Oh, and that weird bird from Tarzan Escapes makes another appearance; I can't get enough of that guy!

Charles Delacroix I just saw this movie on DVD, and read comments about it in the IMDb comments section. I agree thoroughly with the comments by lovethoseclassics and lugonian, but wanted to add both my own enthusiastic thumbs up for this movie; and wanted to add a bit about my own reaction.First, the "basics" really are all there. I was delighted by the black-and-white cinematography. It is crisp and well-composed throughout this film. The pace is excellent and there is never a dull moment. The script provides a wonderful story with nothing wasted.I particularly liked the sequence in which we are given an opportunity to simply enjoy Tarzan and Jane and Boy and Cheetah in their life on the Escarpment, before the movie proceeds to a ripping classic adventure/action arrangement.There were some particular features of this movie that especially tickled me. For example, the persons composing the members of the expedition is something of a classic from Edgar Rice Burroughs and Rider Haggard. We have the South African Dutch Vandermeer: venal, cool, knowledgeable, experienced, dangerous; the Englishman Medford: wicked, sharp, greedy, ambitious, murderous; the Irish Dubliner O'Doul: funny, mordant, romantic, sentimental, alcoholic; and Professor Elliott: scientifically curious, generous, gentlemanly, respectful, naïve.The adventure scenes with Tarzan were provided with classic style and verve. Again in the grand tradition of Burroughs and Haggard, a typical scene combines the wonderful figure of Tarzan in action within the context of a delightful range of African venues. Consequently, we have: Tarzan facing savages and wild beasts in the depths of the lush jungle; Tarzan battling crocodiles and river-beasts and savages (again) in rivers teeming with dangers; Tarzan facing the wicked white men amid severe gorges and breathtaking drop-offs in the mountain fastnesses of the Escarpment. The pattern is dangerous micro-activity in the foreground, with breathtakingly scenic macro-landscapes in the background, and is to me wholly satisfying.Similarly, scenes like that of Tarzan swimming underwater, the river being punctured again and again by shafts of spears being cast at him, was to me gripping and scary and (again) wholly satisfying.And of course when Tarzan's elephants storm to his assistance, I felt once again that glorious sense of the Africa of Tarzan coming to the rescue in a mighty execution of justice that is (yes) wholly satisfying.All in all, this movie is such a delightful experience. I'm so grateful it was reissued, along with the other 5 Tarzan movies with classic Weismuller/O'Sullivan collaboration, in a DVD collection, which is the source from which I saw it this evening. I would recommend this movie to anyone.

haristas I love the old Johnny Weissmuller/MGM "Tarzan" movies of the 1930s and 40s. I have them all six of them on laserdisc from the 1990s, but I have to wonder in what form they will arrive on DVD -- if ever? Watching "Tarzan's Secret Treasure" (1941) today I was amazed to hear for the first time, after many viewings, Barry Fitzgerald's O'Doul character refer to a little black native boy as a "pickaninny." In the earlier Tarzan movies the blacks are constantly called "boy" and other derogatory terms and often casually shot by white men for disobeying orders. I'm not sure, but I think there may be a problem with this being released on DVD today, but my point is that I DON'T want to see these films edited in any way. They're time capsules of entertainment from an earlier era, and they should be preserved.