Film Review: Tarzan's Secret Treasure (1941)

The grass might indeed be greener on the other side, but if you believe in that too much, you might get yourself and your loved ones in trouble. That belief launches events that would serve as the plot of Tarzan’s Secret Treasure, 1941 adventure film directed by Richard Thorpe and the fifth instalment of the series starring Johnny Weissmuller. While Tarzan (played by Weissmuller) and his companion Jane Parker (played by Maureen O’Sullivan) are happy living in jungle where Tarzan rules as king of apes and other animals, their young adoptive son Boy (played by John Sheffield) gets restless after hearing his mother’s stories about civilisation. Intrigued by concept of aeroplane, he leaves their home and seeks civilisation in order to buy it with gold nuggets he had found at the bottom of river. Along the way he rescues native boy Tumbo (played by Cordell Hickman) who brings him to his village, which is struck by deadly plague. Villagers try to appease their gods by sacrificing Boy, but he gets rescued by timely arrival of scientific expedition led by Professor Elliott (played by Reginald Owen). He brings Boy and Tumbo to Tarzan who agrees to help the expedition. Elliott’s assistants Medford (played by Tom Conway) and Vandermeer (played by Philip Dorn), however, hear from Boy about the gold and suddenly their interest for scientific exploration gets replaced by greed that would take them into collision course with Tarzan and his family.

Tarzan’s Secret Treasure looks refreshing and original, at least compared with previous two instalments - Tarzan Escapes and Tarzan Finds a Son!. This is mostly due to script by Myles Connelly and Paul Gangelin that, unlike four earlier films, doesn’t start with outsiders coming to Tarzan’s jungle but instead has someone from jungle trying to explore outside world. Although this plot isn’t used for all of its potential, Tarzan’s Secret Treasure with its early emphasis on Boy’s character was quite appealing to broad audience and proved to be one of the most popular entries of the long series. It is also quite enlightened and progressive for its time, with Boy befriending a native boy, which was quite rare sight on big screens in still racially segregated America.

Important social issues weren’t much of concern to director Richard Thorpe, efficient craftsman who finished production for two months instead of years, as it was the norm with earlier films. He directs film confidently and, although there is still plenty of recycling of scenes from previous films, final showdown looks spectacular and exciting. But the most attractive component of Tarzan’s Secret Treasure is its emphasis on humour. It is provided by great Irish character actor Barry Fitzgerald who provides wonderful comic relief as Professor Elliott’s whiskey-drinking photographer O’Doul, as well as chimpanzee Cheeta who gets involved in long and rather destructive pranks. Tarzan’s Secret Treasure is hardly a classic, but it is well-made piece of Hollywood craftsmanship that should be appreciated by anyone who likes light family-oriented entertainment.

RATING: 6/10 (++)

Blog in Croatian https://draxblog.com
Blog in English https://draxreview.wordpress.com/
Leofinance blog https://leofinance.io/@drax.leo

Unstoppable Domains: https://unstoppabledomains.com/?ref=3fc23fc42c1b417
Hiveonboard: https://hiveonboard.com?ref=drax
Bitcoin Lightning HIVE donations: https://v4v.app/v1/lnurlp/qrcode/drax
Rising Star game: https://www.risingstargame.com?referrer=drax
1Inch: https://1inch.exchange/#/r/0x83823d8CCB74F828148258BB4457642124b1328e

BTC donations: 1EWxiMiP6iiG9rger3NuUSd6HByaxQWafG
ETH donations: 0xB305F144323b99e6f8b1d66f5D7DE78B498C32A7