Pretty good second RKO Tarzan feature has the jungle man and his son Boy still going it alone in the absence of Jane, who remains in London nursing the wounded soldiers of WWII. Her most recent letter asks that Tarzan bring some jungle fever medicine to her, so he, Boy, and Cheeta travel across the desert to honor her request. Along the way, father and son meet a tough traveling lady magician named Connie (Nancy Kelly) who winds up tagging along with them and becomes the latest substitute for the missing Jane character. Though unlikable at first, she gradually settles in as a more amiable companion. Soon, the travelers become stranded in an Arab city where Tarzan gets jailed for stealing a stallion, and Connie becomes framed for murdering the son of a Shiek and is sentenced to death by hanging. In this film are more old familiar actors like Lloyd Corrigan (as the Sheik), Robert Lowery (the Prince), and Otto Kruger as another Nazi leader named Heinrich who is hiding out under the name of Hendrix. This entry also features giant jungle creatures, including a huge spider who snares Boy in its web, and man-eating plants. We're also treated to more of Cheeta's zany antics as well. **1/2 out of ****

Following the HUGE success of TARZAN TRIUMPHS, RKO released TARZAN'S DESERT MYSTERY, which again offered Nazi villains (Otto Kruger, who'd played a similar role in Hitchcock's SABOTEUR, a year earlier, and veteran screen baddie Joe Sawyer), an American girl magician (vivacious Nancy Kelly, who sings a mean "Boola Boola"), and a chance to combine Nazi duplicity with an 'Arabian'-themed adventure (which was popular escapism during the war years). Even a fantasy element was tossed in, as giant lizards and a mechanical spider 'passing' as 'prehistoric' appear in a 'lost jungle' climax.The plot is simple; Jane (at this point serving as a military nurse in London), sends Tarzan a letter, asking him to send his jungle fever remedy. The ingredients are in a 'lost' jungle, across a vast desert, leading Tarzan, Boy, and Cheeta into the adventure...Dated, certainly, but a very enjoyable RKO Tarzan entry!

Edger Rice Burrough's Tarzan was never meant to be muscular although as portrayed by Elmo Lincoln, Frank Merrill and Gordon Scott's Tarzan was indeed very much so. Young Johnny Weissmuller's Tarzan was lithe, strong and athletic with a beautiful manly body. In Tarzan and the Desert Mystery, Johnny Weissmuller looked big , strong and the way he lifted the Arabs --accompanying the American girl magician Nancy Kelly who was providing a free performance in the middle of a desert-- and threw them by mistake despite protests from Kelly was very impressive and entertaining. The second scene that was equally entertaining was the scene in which Tarzan was attacked after being falsely accused of stealing the stallion. Here we find Tarzan throwing the opponents about like little toys and fighting like a majestic lion. I think only Weissmuller could give such a splendid performance. He looked every inch a Tarzan and I should think he was much better built than perhaps Lincoln and Scott. Scott had weight lifter's build and became an extremely believable Tarzan in later films and Lincoln so long as he was in the jungle proved to be a very popular Tarzan with the moviegoers. Nancy Kelly's performance was very humorous and at times very very perceptive. Johnny Sheffield's performance as boy was as to expected , excellent. Cheeta was a great fun to watch and interestingly besides the usual quota of animal extras viz lions, elephants, wild horses, monkeys a number of mysterious prehistoric creatures were included and also a gigantic spider. The stallion that Tarzan rode added an extra element of interest and a novel feature and instead of stampeding wild elephants we have horses stampeding in this movie. The story is quite what one could expect if one is familiar with Newspaper Tarzan Comic Strips as drawn by Hogarth, Manning, Celardo and Foster. These news paper comic strips gave Tarzan a personality and ultimately made it popular enough to be made into movies. The story is a good change but what one could expect for a good Tarzan yarn. Another feature one notices in this film is instead of the " repetitious" vine swinging one finds in in some of excellent MGM films the vine swinging is a refreshing change in this RKO film. I enjoyed it very much and it is an excellent fare for the whole family. I have seen it several times.

Tarzan this time has to deal with scheming foreign nazis who are plotting against a local Sheik to takeover his land. They manage to have Tarzan put in jail and try to get his lady friend (as in only a friend) hanged. Finally Tarzan ends up in a mysterious jungle with some rather familiar slurpasaurs as well as giant venus flytraps and a giant spider. This Tarzan mixes in lost world elements which really don't work as well as the earlier Tarzan adventure. Also one really misses the lack of Jane's presence on screen. Sometimes enjoyable, sometimes not so much so.