FirstWitch A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Lollivan It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Nayan Gough A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Jenni Devyn Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

flapdoodle64 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.

Neil Doyle When a young couple (MORTON LOWRY and LARAINE DAY) are killed in a plane crash over the jungle, only their infant son survives. Cheetah rescues the baby from the plane and brings it to the jungle hideout of Tarzan and Jane (JOHNNY WEISSMULLER and MAUREEN O'SULLIVAN). Sullivan decides the boy's name will be simply "Boy" because that's what Tarzan wants.So begins this formulaic fourth in the series from MGM, given a bigger budget than usual but still lacking Technicolor for all of the great location photography and underwater scenes. It's good looking in B&W thanks to the glossy MGM photography and Richard Thorpe manages to keep things moving busily enough despite his reputation for being a slow paced director.A search party looking for the boy is headed by HENRY STEPHENSON, HENRY WILCOXON, IAN HUNTER and FRIEDA INESCORT, their mission being to find the boy and profit from his having inherited quite a bit of wealth. It's up to Tarzan and Jane to decide whether to hand over the boy or not. Things get a bit complicated from that point on, but the predictable happy ending is never too far out of sight--even though it was changed to have Maureen O'Sullivan survive her wounds when the original ending met with a platoon of negative protests. And incidentally, she looks lovelier than ever.It's a well-produced jungle film with all the familiar ingredients tacked together neatly enough to please Tarzan's fans. The water sport playfulness between father and son is nicely filmed in a series of underwater segments.Only drawback: Boy's laughter seems artificial and forced every time he thinks a situation is hilariously funny.

MartinHafer 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.

Space_Mafune 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.