everything you have heard about this movie is true.

Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

I agree with the other reviewers that this is not one of the better Tarzan movies. But about three quarters of the way through, I began to ask myself "where have I seen this before?" Then it struck me. This movie introduces three creatures that later appeared in Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings." TDM first presents a wild-spirited horse that cannot be tamed but will allow a person to ride it if asked. And Tarzan can summon this wild horse by whistling. Sounds a lot like Shadowfax. Then we have a dangerous multi-tentacled creature at the entrance to the jungle which later entraps Tarzan. This seems quite similar to the Watcher in the Water by the gates of Moria. Finally there is the huge cave-dwelling spider. As soon as I saw Boy caught in the spider's web, I remembered the image of Frodo caught by Shelob. Now, one coincidence I can dismiss. But three imaginary creatures in one movie that later appear in a different book? TDM came out in 1943, and according to Wiki Tolkien resumed writing LOTR in 1944. Coincidence? Watch TDM and decide.

When Johnny Weissmuller made the Tarzan films for MGM, they were amazingly good for what they were. They had decent stories and production values and were quite enjoyable. However, in the 1940s the series moved to RKO--a much lower-budget and lower-status studio. Weissmuller made this move, but poor old Maureen O'Sullivan was still under contract with MGM and was forced to remain behind and make GOOD movies (poor Maureen!). To explain her absence, the films made lots of lame excuses until several films later when they re-cast the Jane role--in the meantime, she was said to either be visiting family or helping out in the war effort! To put it quite bluntly, when "Tarzan Triumphs" (the previous film for RKO) debuted, it was obvious the series had peaked and was in a fast decline. After all, this previous film had the man of the jungle fighting Nazis!!! Here in "Tarzan's Desert Mystery", Tarzan helps a condemned lady prove her innocence and prevent the usurpation of the throne in a desert nation. I think the "Desert Mystery" from the title was actually referring to why Tarzan was in the desert in the first place AND why the film switched abruptly from jungle to desert scenes again and again (like an Ed Wood production). Overall, the film makes no sense and truly looks like a bad B-movie where, at the last minute, they just inserted Tarzan as a supporting character! And, they didn't really bother re-writing the film to explain any of this! Too bad, as the film did have Otto Kruger--a decent actor who should have been above making this sort of mess. Truly an awful Tarzan film--mostly because it never makes any sense.

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 ****

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.