In 1903, John Gale(Van Heflin) has a timber concession in British East Africa. near the border with German East Africa (Tanganyka). but the Nukumbi natives have been on the warpath recently, raiding and killing whites. Reportedly, they were induced by a white man who was an escaped murderer: Abel McCracken(Jeff Morrow). Thus, Gale's present goal is to capture or kill this renegade, leading a safari to do so. During his travels, Gale comes across a prostrate white man with an arrow in his back. His said name is Dale Harder, and he is nursed back to health, and joins the safari, Soon, they come across a cabin being attacked by a small force of natives. They are soon scared off, leaving Peggy Marion(Ruth Roman) and 2 orphaned children. She says the natives killed the father, who was her brother. Reluctantly, they are added to the safari.
During the trek, Dan occasionally argues with Gale about strategy or about how sure he is that McCracken was proved guilty. They encounter Gale's cabin on his timber concession, and find his partner dead. They take the hidden dynamite with them. Natives later attack the safari, but are driven off, mostly by Gale, who purposely merely wounds one, who he hopes will serve as a guide to McCracken. But during the night, Dan steals the captive and makes him lead him to McCracken. There, the 2 brothers renew their acquaintance, after a 9 year separation. But, Abel says he plans to continue inciting raids, and that his natives captured the 2 children, out looking for their runaway donkey.
Dan returns to the safari, admitting that he is Abel's brother, but saying that he agrees that Abel needs to be captured or killed. Gale's plan is to use the dynamite they had scavenged to simulate a bunch of artillery near the village, using delay fuses, then set off the remaining dynamite within the village to simulate exploding artillery shells. I will end my review here.
This is a short second feature Technicolor film, one of many adventure or western films produced by Universal during the late '40s and early-to- mid '50s. Since the credits don't mention any on site shooting, I assume the 'natives' were actually trained African Americans: a common ploy in African 'jungle' films during this period. They did an excellent job of standing in for the real thing, being much more convincing than the frequent use of Europeans as stand ins for Native Americans.
See it at YouTube
During the trek, Dan occasionally argues with Gale about strategy or about how sure he is that McCracken was proved guilty. They encounter Gale's cabin on his timber concession, and find his partner dead. They take the hidden dynamite with them. Natives later attack the safari, but are driven off, mostly by Gale, who purposely merely wounds one, who he hopes will serve as a guide to McCracken. But during the night, Dan steals the captive and makes him lead him to McCracken. There, the 2 brothers renew their acquaintance, after a 9 year separation. But, Abel says he plans to continue inciting raids, and that his natives captured the 2 children, out looking for their runaway donkey.
Dan returns to the safari, admitting that he is Abel's brother, but saying that he agrees that Abel needs to be captured or killed. Gale's plan is to use the dynamite they had scavenged to simulate a bunch of artillery near the village, using delay fuses, then set off the remaining dynamite within the village to simulate exploding artillery shells. I will end my review here.
This is a short second feature Technicolor film, one of many adventure or western films produced by Universal during the late '40s and early-to- mid '50s. Since the credits don't mention any on site shooting, I assume the 'natives' were actually trained African Americans: a common ploy in African 'jungle' films during this period. They did an excellent job of standing in for the real thing, being much more convincing than the frequent use of Europeans as stand ins for Native Americans.
See it at YouTube