bkoganbing In this first Tarzan film made at RKO, Johnny Weissmuller gets an assignment from Jane to get some plant vines whereby medicine can be extracted. It's for her nursing work in London with the troops. The only place to get it is across a desert near a city called Bin Harreri. So Weissmuller, Johnny Sheffield as Boy and the ever present,annoying, but resourceful Cheetah set out on Tarzan's Desert Mystery.The film should have been called Tarzan's Desert Intrigue because while there's no mystery involved there's a lot of intrigue. Along the way Tarzan and his gang pick up stranded vaudeville entertainer Nancy Kelly who's got a mission of her own from a sheik, a secret message to deliver to the sheik in Bin Harreri, Lloyd Corrigan. Pretty soon everybody's involved in the Bin Harreri political situation.Which includes a couple of white outsiders played by Otto Kruger and Joe Sawyer. They're agents for the Nazis and plan to stir up trouble that the Reich can take advantage of. When Kelly is framed for the murder of Robert Lowery, Corrigan's son, everybody flees with the sheik and the Nazis after them.Of course both missions are accomplished. The change from the Tiffany Studio MGM to RKO which was the lowest rank of the A studios is quite apparent in production values. Also I'm not quite sure why all those prehistoric monster footage from One Million BC was included except that it did provide a dandy end for one of the villains.Tarzan's Desert Mystery is nice entertainment for the Saturday afternoon crowd back in the day. It's kind of dated for today's taste though.

wes-connors A letter from his still absent mate "Jane" requests hefty jungle king Johnny Weissmuller (as Tarzan) go on a mission through Arabian desert sand to deliver some "fever medicine" needed by Allied troops. Adopted son Johnny Sheffield (as Boy) and pet chimp "Cheeta" tag along. Along the way, the trio team-up with adventurous Nancy Kelly (as Connie Bryce), a lady magician who loses her entourage. Arab-tinged Nazis and giant dinosaur-type animals cause trouble for the quartet. Watch out for the spider. It's all very silly, but with some nicely edited and photographed scenes.***** Tarzan's Desert Mystery (12/26/43) Wilhelm Thiele ~ Johnny Weissmuller, Johnny Sheffield, Nancy Kelly, Otto Kruger

BA_Harrison Jane, who is away nursing troops in war-torn Europe, sends a letter to Tarzan (Johnny Weissmuller) requesting some of his amazing healing jungle juice, which she believes will help cure soldiers who have contracted tropical diseases.In order to obtain the plants necessary for the marvellous medicine, Tarzan, Boy (Johnny Sheffield) and Cheetah must travel beyond the desert town of Birherari to a perilous patch of jungle full of bizarre and deadly creatures. During their journey, the threesome team up with fast talking and feisty magician Connie Bryce (Nancy Kelly) who is on a covert mission to deliver a message to Prince Saleem of Birherari, warning him that his father's business associate Paul Hendrix (Otto Kruger) has been secretly plotting to take over the country by force.A change of scenery injected a little life back into the Tarzan series when the ape-man went to New York, but here the new locale doesn't work so well: seemingly influenced by his arid and barren surroundings, Wilhelm Thiele's direction for his desert based action—which takes up the majority of the running time—is pretty dry and lifeless, and the film only flourishes when the movie finally moves to the lush jungle setting. Here, we are treated some of the most enjoyably daft moments of the series so far, with the brave ape man and his pals confronting prehistoric creatures (real lizards with 'sails' glued to their backs), a man eating plant, and a massive, thoroughly unconvincing spider that traps Boy in its over-sized web (made from rope); it's just a shame that the good stuff is so brief, and that it's such an arduous trek to get there.I rate Tarzan's Desert Mystery a rather disappointing 5 out of 10 (the hilarious shonky spider almost earned the film another point, but Connie's continuous use of irritating '40s slang stopped me from being so generous).

Petri Pelkonen The world is still at war.Jane, who is nursing British troops, sends a letter where she asks Tarzan to send malaria serum extractable from jungle plants.Tarzan travels across the desert with Boy and Cheeta as his companions.They see some Germans trying to capture a wild horse.The horse is so grateful at his saviors he doesn't want to leave them.So the horse, they call Jaynar, comes along.And so does an American lady magician called Connie Bryce.They're all heading for Birherari.Connie is delivering a message, hidden into her bracelet, to the sheik's palace.There is also Paul Hendrix, a Nazi.The sheik's son is killed by the Germans after Connie has delivered the message there.But the message can't be found from him, since Cheeta has taken it.Now Connie is accused of murdering Prince Selim.And Tarzan is in prison for stealing sheik's stallion.Tarzan's Desert Mystery is from 1943 and it's directed by Wilhelm Thiele.Former swimmer Johnny Weissmuller proves once again that he was born to play this role.Johnny Sheffield and Cheeta the chimpanzee make a great team also in this movie. Nancy Kelly is amazing as Connie.She's real pretty, and can also be very funny.Otto Kruger makes a great villain as Hendrix.And so does Joe Sawyer as Karl Straeder.Lloyd Corrigan is terrific as Sheik Abdul El Khim.As is Robert Lowery as Prince Selim.This Tarzan movie is quite funny from time to time.We see Cheeta walking and doing tricks on a high wire.Or stealing turbans from men so that Tarzan can build a robe in order to escape from prison.And the first time Tarzan and Connie meet is quite funny.He "rescues" her from sawing in half.And then there are the thrilling moments.One of them is when Tarzan has to safe the woman from the hanging and he calls the horses to help him.Those who suffer from arachnophobia might be freaked out by the scene where Boy gets caught in a spider web.And that spider is HUGE.And there are some prehistoric creatures involved.Most enjoyable Tarzan adventure.