A colourful adventure film set in Africa
I am reminded of another film I really like set in Africa which was ‘Tanganyika’ 1954 with Van Heflin and Ruth Roman. It doesn’t seem to get good reviews but is certainly does from me – although filmed entirely in and around Hollywood it has that African feel.
‘Beyond Mombasa’ in truth I have not yet seen but it gets some poor reviews but I have a feeling that I will like it – in fact it is just they type of film that I enjoy – with Adventure, Glamour, African locations, Technicolor and Action.
Cornel Wilde is in Africa having been sent for by his brother who even made hotel reservations in Mombasa for him. Upon arrival he finds kindly missionary Leo Genn and his anthropologist niece Donna Reed breaking the bad news about his brother’s death at the hands of a revived cult of the Leopard.
Determined to get to the bottom of things, Wilde goes with Genn and Reed into the interior of Kenya, Beyond Mombasa to find where his brother might have found uranium. Their guide is another partner of the brother Christopher Lee and they’re to join yet a third partner Ron Randell near the mine.
Probably an attempt to copy the 1950 “King Solomon’s Mines” and the success that film had – in Columbia’s “Beyond Mombasa,” . The story is notably similar—an expedition goes into the African veld to solve the mystery of the death of an explorer who had discovered a valuable mine. A good deal of African fauna and flora is observed en route, and the picture is photographed in colour so that it captures and entertains the eye. “Beyond Mombasa” is a colourful African adventure film made on location – however many of the scenes were shot on stages in London –
The cast has Cornel Wilde playing the leader of the expedition, Donna Reed as the pretty lady who goes along, Leo Genn as her seemingly gentle uncle and Ron Randell as the white hunter
Christopher Lee is excellent as the only elegant member of the party, a dashing French hunter in Africa leading the others into the depths of the jungle to solve the mystery of Cornel Wilde’s brother’s mysterious death.
Eddie Calvert – ‘The Man with the Golden Trumpet’ – has a guest performance in this colourful safari film.
There is excitement and charm to the film, the jungle environments are terrific with their hidden dangers. It’s an entertainment with a fresh and nice dialogue, that at least should leave you happy and content afterwards when the curtain has fallen on this exotic drama
ABOVE – Donna Reed takes a shower
Eddie Calvert plays the theme from the film – released on record
I went to see this on a Sunday show in 1961, five years after its original release and thought it was quite good. It was only a programmer, of course, like most cinema films of its day, designed to keep the cinemas supplied with product in between the bigger, more important pictures. No, it wasn’t high art, but it was entertaining. I bought it on a Sony DVD some years ago.
David, Thanks for your comment. I liked most of these African adventure films – big screen, Technicolor and Adventure – what more could you want plus a lovely girl in this case Donna Reed. Cornel Wilde later starred in another African adventure which he made and starred in called ‘The Naked Prey’ with almost no dialogue but it was good. I will purchase ‘Beyond Mombasa’ and watch it, as I have a feeling it is one I will enjoy.
It’s an American Region 1 disc, Neil, so make sure your DVD player can play it before you order it. However, you should be able to play it on your computer or Laptop if it has VLC Player installed.