There are two facts that if you know going in, might increase your appreciation of this film:1) Johnny Sheffield, who played Boy, loved Johnny Weissmuller like an uncle. Sheffield gave a little speech upon Weissmuller's death, and wrote a foreword to a Weissmuller biography, each glowing with praise and affection for the star. The two were in about 7 films together, spanning ages 7-16 for Sheffield...knowing that there was genuine friendship will help you appreciate their scenes together. 2) This film was originally conceived and scripted to be Jane's swansong in the series, due to Maureen O'Sullivan becoming discontented in the role. (Since the reader of this review likely knows that O'Sullivan starred in 2 more Tarzan pics after this, this is not too great a spoiler.) The script originally called for Jane to die near the end of this film, and knowing this will help you appreciate a speech she gives to Boy, and O'Sullivan's performance as well. Also, this knowledge will help you tolerate the fact that the producers added a kid sidekick to the Tarzan series...when this film was conceived, the producers believed Jane would be gone, and that Tarzan needed another person to talk with, to help with exposition, and to be captured so as to help make the plot more compelling. Modern viewers such as myself generally despise kid sidekicks, but in the 1930's they were an accepted convention...in the 1940, the greatest and worst of all kid sidekicks was introduced into the comic strips...Robin the Boy Wonder. Now, down to business. This film is something of a mixed bag, but does contain all the ingredients that make for an enjoyable and satisfying Tarzan film. It does suffer in the following respects: 1. A little too much of Boy laughing...probably this was due to the popularity of cute child actors in the 1930's, such as Shirely Temple, Our Gang, etc. But to a modern viewer, the laughing comes off as a somewhat cloying. 2. A bit too much of Boy getting himself into peril, requiring Tarzan's rescue. These vignettes do serve a plot purpose, in that they provide a rationalization for Jane's behavior, and also a key the resolution of the plot. But there are one or two too many, and so they start to seem tiresome. 3. Too much of the plot is recycled from 'Tarzan Escapes.' I guess this is somewhat excusable since TE was released in 1936, and this film in 1939...audiences in this pre-home video era had plenty of time to forget some of the previous film. And a brief note about racism: as is typical with films of this era, depictions of Africans are racist, showing them as savage, violent and sadistic. If it is tempting for a modern American to feel superior to the creators of this film, I advise watching some Fox News or CNN and taking note of how Muslims are depicted in a supposedly non-fictional medium. Now for the good: There is plenty of good Tarzanic stage business, vine swinging, running, wild beasts, etc. I found the underwater swimming scenes, shot at Silver Springs, in central Florida, to be particularly good...I used to live in that region and snorkeled in similar waters. And for a 7 year old, Johnny Sheffield's underwater swimming is amazing. Weissmuller and O'Sullivan are, as usual, absolutely terrific, and having the added element of a child to parent together, and all the accompanying parental emotions, raises their performances to a new level. The love of a parent for the child is the emotional heart of this movie...and the scene where Jane leaves Tarzan alone with the baby for the first time is priceless, and unique in the series. If one is inclined to like the Weissmuller Tarzans, and there are many reasons to be so inclined, and one keeps one's expectations in line, this film is both enjoyable and satisfying.

This is the fourth MGM Tarzan film starring Johnny Weismuller and Maureen O'Sullivan. The film begins with a plane crashing in Africa. All but a boy die in the crash and the child is rescued--much like Tarzan was saved years ago. The boy is taken to Tarzan and Jane's jungle condo and they adopt the child.Five years have passed and the family is deliriously happy. However, their idyllic family life is disrupted when a search party arrives. They are relatives of the boy and indicate he is the heir to the Greystoke fortune*--and want to take him back to England to claim his inheritance. But what this jungle family does not know is that all but nice Henry Stephenson from this rescue party are jerks and they plan on using the child to claim the fortune and then dispose of him! Tarzan isn't sure of their plan--he just wants to keep Boy, as he loves him like his very own son. But Jane is tricked into believing that sending the boy with these people is in his best interest, so she tricks Tarzan and helps the group escape with Boy. Only then does she learn that they are a bunch of wicked jerks--and by then it appears too late. Can Tarzan somehow escape and rescue his family or are they fated to be killed? Tune in and see.This is another well-made Tarzan film from MGM--and not to be confused with the many, many badly made Tarzan films made by lesser production companies. While it's not nearly as good as the earlier Tarzan films, it still is quite entertaining and well-acted.By the way, unlike the early films in this series, the studio appeared to real African elephants in some scenes. Training this variety of pachyderm was much tougher than the Asian elephants used previously but it did make the film look more accurate. So how did they manage to do it? Well, they were Asian ones fitted with prosthetic ears! While they did this also in "Tarzan and His Mate", it looked really bad. Here, however, it's harder to recognize the clever deception. Too bad they still used a few guys in ape costumes here and there! Otherwise, a very good production. And, if it seems a bit familiar, the plot for this film was awfully similar to the earlier Weissmuller film "Tarzan Escapes".By the way, was it just me or did Boy seem a bit stupid?! It seemed like every five minutes the kid was nearly getting himself killed! In one scene he messes with a rhino and with another he nearly gets swept down a waterfall. But, like Kenny, the kid seems to somehow survive.*This is a weird plot element, as in the original Edgar Rice Burroughs story, it was Tarzan himself that was the heir to this Greystoke fortune. Why this was changed in this film is odd. Perhaps this would make Boy one of Tarzan's close biological relatives.

With Tarzan (Johnny Weissmuller) and Jane (Maureen O'Sullivan) nicely settled into their treetop des-res (complete with all mod cons), it was only going to be a matter of time before we heard the pitter patter of little footsteps (other than Cheetah's, of course). However, with the Hays Code in full effect, and our arboreal lovebirds not actually wed, they sure weren't going to be permitted to have a child of their own via the normal method.The writers of the Tarzan series get around this problem by having a child delivered from the sky by 'the great metal stork'—a plane that crashes in the jungle with a baby boy as the only survivor. Cheetah finds the wailing bundle of joy and whisks him off to Tarzan and Jane, who decide to adopt the lad, naming him Boy (Tarzan's second choice, after having Elephant rejected by Jane).Five years of blissful family life later, and an expedition turns up at the escarpment searching for the plane and any possible survivors. But Tarzan and Jane have become rather attached to their little tyke, and aren't about to give him up, especially when they discover that two of the visitors only want Boy for his vast inheritance.Aimed at the matinée crowd, this particular instalment features none of the graphic nastiness or raciness that can be found in the first two Tarzan films (the obligatory native killing at the end of the film—via a huge skull-cracking device—is brief and non-explicit); instead, we get mild peril as Boy is attacked by pipe-cleaner tarantulas and a back-projected rhino, comic relief courtesy of Cheetah the chimp, and a lot of fun interplay between Tarzan and his 'son', the best scene being an impressively shot moment of underwater horseplay.6.5 out of 10, happily rounded up to 7 for the bit where Cheetah turns her lips inside-out to amuse the new arrival (which makes me laugh just thinking about it).

Tarzan and Jane adopt a baby boy, the sole survivor of a plane crash. The boy's parents perished and so Tarzan and Jane adopt the little tyke. A few years later and he's a boy grown into the guise of Tarzan...complete with Tarzan's abilities to swing vines and talk to jungle animals. Only unknown to Tarzan and Jane, this "Boy" they made their son is actually a wealthy heir and his relatives have come to their jungle hideaway searching for him. Now Tarzan and Jane are faced with a most difficult choice..let "Boy" return to civilization and lose him forever or hold on to him themselves and have him remain in the jungle at all costs and despite the many dangers. This one is powerful and moves the viewer through a wide range of emotions as the plight of Tarzan and Jane over Boy really puts one through the wringer. Suitable for family viewing for the most part although a scene or two may disturb more impressionable kids.