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Friday, January 4, 2013

Safari (1956)


Set in Kenya during the Mau Mau rebellion, a hunter (Victor Mature) returns home to find his home burned out and his child (Christopher Warbey) killed by a family servant (Earl Cameron, SAPPHIRE), who in actuality is a leader in the Mau Mau rebellion. When a wealthy English adventurer (Roland Culver), accompanied by his chorus girl fiancee (Janet Leigh), hires the hunter to help him track down a dangerous lion, he accepts but his real mission to get revenge on his son's murderer. "Exotic" African adventures were a staple in 1950s cinema and this one, though ultimately routine, manages to stand out a bit more though the film's finale seems confused and abrupt. The Mau Mau rebellion was still very much in force when the film's exteriors were shot in Kenya. It's the usual "Bwana" stuff but despite some crude rear projection shots, it's nicely shot in CinemaScope by John Wilcox (THE MOUSE THAT ROARED). Directed by Terence Young (THUNDERBALL). With John Justin (THIEF OF BAGDAD), Liam Redmond and Juma as Odongo, a character he would reprise in ODONGO the same year.

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