Silly, but enjoyable Tarzan outing involves the well cast Tom Conway as a great white hunter tricking Tarzan, Jane, and Boy (Johnny Weissmuller, Maureen O'Sullivan, and Johnny Sheffield) into helping him find some hidden gold. The group, as usual, runs afoul angry natives, and Tarzan has to rescue all of the white people from the racist native stereotypes. Racist stereotypes of native people never come off well to modern eyes, but besides that ugliness, this remains an entertaining Tarzan adventure, particularly when you have George Sander's real-life sound-alike brother as one of the villains.

Weissmuller made a dozen Tarzan films over sixteen years. Tarzan's Secret Treasure is just about in the middle of that run, and Weissmuller is a bit older and "thicker" but still has the muscular look of Tarzan. I always liked the Tarzan films when I was young and regretted that Weissmuller never had the opportunity to become John Clayton, Lord Greystoke, but remained a monosyllabic Tarzan. I had read all of Burroughs' books and believe only John Carter and David Yates' The Legend of Tarzan capture Burroughs' characters.Regardless, Tarzan's Secret Treasure is an enjoyable Tarzan entry even though there is little new here; however, the rescue of Jane and boy and the fight with crocodiles is worth it at the film's end. Good film to kick back with on a winter weekend or rainy weekend and sofa down with popcorn and just go along for the fun.

Even though it recycles some footage from the earlier movies, Tarzan's Secret Treasure is one of the best of the Weissmuller Tarzan movies. It's exciting and entertaining from start to finish, funny, romantic and even heartwarming.The big action scene at the end, where Tarzan defeats the cruel natives and greedy white men by capsizing their boats is one of the most exciting action scenes I've seen in a movie, old or new. Watching Tarzan dodge spears under water made my heart race faster. The part where Tarzan's friends use a tree to catapult Cheeta from one part of the mountain to the other in order to save Tarzan is clever. And one of the best things about the movie is the funny Irish character called O'Doul. The movie wouldn't be the same without him.The Tarzan movies really improved under the production code. The racist content is toned way down (Boy even befriends a black boy), and there's no unnecessary sex or gruesome violence like in the crude Tarzan The Ape Man or the overrated Tarzan And His Mate.I watched it with my daughter and my mother last week, and they loved it too. I wish they made more movies like this today, action/adventure movies for the whole family. It's a good thing that the old Tarzan movies are available on DVD.

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.