Safari

A man who poses as a safari leader in order to seek revenge against the Mau Mau rebels who murdered his son. Hired to guide a jungle expedition by an eccentric millionaire, he finds himself drawn in to a romantic relationship with his client's beautiful fiancee. Cecil B. DeMille called Mature "100% yellow - the greatest coward ever born," and even in this colourful action-adventure film he was reluctant to go into the water due to crocodiles, which is strange as filming in Kenya back then with a Mau Mau uprising was dangerous. He, along with other Sterling cast, were taking a risk. Basking in Technicolor, Safari is a solid jungle film, the kind they don't make anymore. The action is quite gritty and exciting. There's some good tension and good characters like the one played by Ronald Culver, a cold-blooded rich man intent to notch a big lion kill as his trophy. But it's Victor Mature who really impresses as the safari leader with an modi operandi to lead an entourage in to an area where Mau Mau terrorists are around. The reason are explained in the first twenty minutes - far from wooden, Mature expresses anguish just by that look in his eyes. He was always better actor than he has been made out. There's a 007 connection as Terence Young directed it and Albert Broccolli co-produced.

source: Safari

This has all the familiar tropes as any other safari film (compare with Stewart Granger's version of King Solomon's Mines 6 years previously), but also works in contemporary history, as the Mau Mau uprising was a real event in Kenyan history. Obviously this was before CGI, so the animal effects are crude, but the 1950's colors are vibrant, and they featured a lot of different firearms probably not often seen on a real safari, like the Thompson, a pump action shotgun, and a Winchester 1892.

at the first sigh, nothing different by many adventure films from the same period. the love story, the animals, the Manichean distinction between characters, all is well known. but the difference is made by a lot of details. one - Victor Mature , who did a good job in a role who seems be perfect for him. in same measure, Janet Leigh in a fragile, delicate and powerful young woman portrait. and, sure, Mau Mau attacks, Earl Cameron giving a splendid portrait of the general. in rest - animals and lovely characters and the portrait of Africa , seductive and full of childhood references for the generations behind smartphone era.