''Tarzan's Secret Treasure'' is a 1941 American

adventure film The adventure film is a broad genre of film. Some early genre studies found it no different than the Western film or argued that adventure could encompass all Hollywood genres. Commonality was found among historians Brian Taves and Ian Cameron in ...

directed by

Richard Thorpe Richard Thorpe (born Rollo Smolt Thorpe; February 24, 1896 – May 1, 1991) was an American film director best known for his long career at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. His obituary called him "a capable and versatile director willing to take on any ass ...

and starring

Johnny Weissmuller Johnny Weissmuller ( ; born Johann Peter Weißmüller, ; June 2, 1904 – January 20, 1984) was a Hungarian-born German American Olympic swimmer, water polo player and actor. He was known for having one of the best competitive-swimming records o ...

Maureen O'Sullivan Maureen Paula O'Sullivan (May 17, 1911 – June 23, 1998) was an Irish actress who played Jane in the ''Tarzan'' series of films during the era of Johnny Weissmuller. She starred in dozens of feature films across a span of more than half a ...

and

Johnny Sheffield Johnny Sheffield (born John Matthew Sheffield Cassan, April 11, 1931 – October 15, 2010) was an American child actor who, between 1939 and 1947, portrayed Boy in the Tarzan film series and, between 1949 and 1955, played Bomba, the Jungle Boy. ...

. Based on the

Tarzan Tarzan (John Clayton, Viscount Greystoke) is a fictional character, a feral child raised in the African jungle by the Mangani great apes; he later experiences civilization, only to reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adventurer. Creat ...

character created by

Edgar Rice Burroughs Edgar Rice Burroughs (September 1, 1875 – March 19, 1950) was an American writer, best known for his prolific output in the adventure, science fiction, and fantasy genres. Best known for creating the characters Tarzan (who appeared in ...

, it is the fifth in the

MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, commonly shortened to MGM or MGM Studios) is an American Film production, film and television production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered ...

''Tarzan'' series to feature Weissmuller and O'Sullivan. Original prints of the film were processed in sepiatone. The next film in the series would be ''

Tarzan's New York Adventure ''Tarzan's New York Adventure'' (also known as ''Tarzan Against the World'') is a 1942 American adventure film from Metro Goldwyn Mayer, produced by Frederick Stephani, directed by Richard Thorpe, that stars Johnny Weissmuller and Maureen O'S ...

'' (1942), the last in the series to feature Maureen O'Sullivan, and the last before the series moved to

RKO RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, is an American film production and distribution company, historically one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Kei ...

Plot

An expedition team arrives on Tarzan's escarpment. By chance, the two villainous members Medford and Vandermeer find out that there is plenty of gold on the escarpment. They kidnap Jane and Boy in order to make Tarzan show them the location of the gold. After Tarzan complies, Medford shoots him and mistakenly presumes he is dead. Soon the group is captured by natives, whereupon Tarzan comes to their rescue.

Cast

as Tarzan *

as Jane Parker *

as Boy (as John Sheffield) *

Reginald Owen John Reginald Owen (5 August 1887 – 5 November 1972) was a British actor, known for his many roles in British and American films and television programmes. Career Owen was born to Joseph and Frances Owen in Wheathampstead, Hertfordshire, En ...

as Professor Elliott *

Barry Fitzgerald William Joseph Shields (10 March 1888 – 4 January 1961), known professionally as Barry Fitzgerald, was an Irish stage, film and television actor. In a career spanning almost forty years, he appeared in such notable films as ''Bringing Up Bab ...

as O'Doul *

Tom Conway Tom Conway (born Thomas Charles Sanders; 15 September 1904 – 22 April 1967) was a British film, television, and radio actor. He is remembered for playing suave adventurer The Falcon in a series of 1940s films; and his appearances in three h ...

as Medford *

Philip Dorn Philip Dorn (born Hein van der Niet; 30 September 1901 – 9 May 1975), sometimes billed as Frits van Dongen (his screen name for German films prior to World War II), was a Dutch American actor who had a career in Hollywood. He was best kno ...

as Vandermeer * Cordell Hickman as Tumbo * Johnny Eck as Bird (uncredited) * Everett Brown as Native (uncredited)

Critical response

Film critic

Bosley Crowther Francis Bosley Crowther Jr. (July 13, 1905 – March 7, 1981) was an American journalist, writer, and film critic for ''The New York Times'' for 27 years. His work helped shape the careers of many actors, directors and screenwriters, though some ...

wrote in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' that the film has "nothing about it which would distinguish it from other Tarzan films," that "the fanciful concept of the whole thing is, as usual, pleasantly lacking in guile," and "it concludes in the customary fashion with Tarzan conscripting his faithful friends, the beasts, to put the outsiders in their places and to save his African solitude." A review of the film in ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' reported that it "swings into straight meller for the second half," that "direction by Richard Thorpe injects a good pace to the script," and "Weissmuller adequately handles the Tarzan role in his usual style ..O’Sullivan carries quite an English accent into the jungle, which is apparent throughout." The film was described on

Turner Classic Movies Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie channel, movie-oriented pay television, pay-TV television network, network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcas ...

as "fast-moving," that "O'Sullivan is charming in her brief scenes, particularly in the opening sequence when she uses 'Jungle Modern' conveniences to prepare dinner," that it "sports an impressive array of reliable character actors," and that it "boasts some well-executed effects shots ndits fair share of stock footage."

References

Bibliography

* Fetrow, Alan G. ''Feature Films, 1940-1949: a United States Filmography''. McFarland, 1994.

External links

* * *
''Tarzan's Secret Treasure'' history
at ERBzine.com 1941 films 1940s fantasy adventure films American black-and-white films American fantasy adventure films American sequel films 1940s English-language films Films directed by Richard Thorpe Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films Tarzan films 1940s American films Films scored by David L. Snell English-language fantasy adventure films {{1940s-adventure-film-stub