Tarzan's Secret Treasure

Wow! I really enjoyed this one even if the formula at work here had gotten a little predictable...this still has fantastic action, great animal chase scenes(who knew a Rhino could be so mean and deadly?) and an entertaining supporting character in Barry Fitzgerald's O'Doul. Great fun!

Favorite scenes: O'Doul outsmarts a crocodile ...

Nasty, great white hunters trick Boy and Jane into helping them steal Tarzan's secret cache of gold. During the getaway, they're captured by the even nastier Gaboni tribe who have some rather unpleasant activities planned for their captives. Tarzan to the rescue with the help of his elephant friends. This is one of my favorite Tarzan movies. Tom Conway is the epitome of debonair sleaziness and Barry Fitzgerald is great as a lovable Irishman who refers to the Ape Man as Mr. Tarzan.

In Tarzan's Secret Treasure Johnny Sheffield finds gold at the bottom of the river where he and the family are out for their morning dip. The Boy knows nothing of what the yellow stuff is and Tarzan could care less as it doesn't effect his style of living, but Jane knows and wants it kept secret for all concerned.

A scientific expedition saves young Sheffield from the clutches of a savage tribe and Johnny Weissmuller is naturally grateful. But when the kid gives away the secret of the gold two of the white men, Tom Conway and Phillip Dorn get real greedy as Maureen O'Sullivan knew they would. Not even the protestations of the expedition leader Reginald Owen dissuades the other two, in fact they withhold fever medicine from him so Owen dies.

This episode of the Tarzan saga is nicely done and contains every kind of jungle peril out there, savage native tribes, attacking rhinoceros, lions, elephants and crocodiles. The last two figure in a very exciting climax when Tarzan puts things right in his jungle paradise.

Tarzan's Secret Treasure also features a very droll performance by Barry Fitzgerald as a most lucky Irishman who was along on the expedition. Fitzgerald's character has a good heart and does earn Tarzan's gratitude for services above and beyond. But as the film ends I believe Weissmuller and O'Sullivan are trusting a bit much to man's better nature in regard to him.

All in all, not too bad a Tarzan film.

Tarzan's secret treasure is not the gold they find in the water.In "Tarzan escapes" we had already seen Jane meeting her English cousins and displaying no interest in the rich inheritance .The beginning of the movie displays a true garden of Eden ,where you can have what you want for nothing ,so why bother to make money or use gold? This Rousseauesque side is all that makes these Tarzan movies (with Weissmuller) so endearing ;all the other ones are mediocre adventures flicks ,without heart and without emotion.It's only natural that Boy wants to know what civilization is.The movies the men from the cities show is good propaganda.This scene takes us back to the prehistory of cinema ,when the Lumiere bros' shorts used to scare the crowds who were afraid to get run over by a train.the rest of the plot is more conventional,but the scene on the river with hungry crocodiles is still impressive today.It seems that some scenes (the first victims of the nasty tribe) were taken from "Tarzan escapes" .

These black and white Tarzan movies have no contender ,with the possible exception of "Greystoke:the legend of Tarzan" (1982)

Curly-haired Johnny Sheffield (as Boy) and chimp "Cheeta" are the main attractions in this fifth MGM "Tarzan" adventure. Beautiful jungle mate Maureen O'Sullivan (as Jane), who wanted to leave the film series after "Tarzan Finds a Son!" (1939), still tends the tree-house. The plot gets going when a swimming Sheffield finds gold in the jungle king's pool. Greedy white people and spear-chucking natives threaten young Sheffield, bringing Johnny Weissmuller (as Tarzan) into action. Whisky-soaked Barry Fitzgerald (as O'Doul) swings ahead of the guest stars. Watch "Cheeta" get drunk on Mr. Fitzgerald's Irish blend. Yes, a drunken monkey can walk a straight line on his hands. This one's nicely photographed, but obviously heavy on borrowed plots, reaction shots and stock footage.

***** Tarzan's Secret Treasure (12/1/41) Richard Thorpe ~ Johnny Weissmuller, Maureen O'Sullivan, Johnny Sheffield, Barry Fitzgerald