In any other year, this well-made, if highly fictionalized bio-pic would be better known/more celebrated. But 1939 Hollywood was a tough year to stand out in.* So many good-to-great films to compete against. And now, changing views on the effects of Christian missionaries in ‘the Dark Continent’ (here, mid-19th Century notions refracted thru mid-20th Century) lend uncomfortable undercurrents to what was meant as triumphant storyline. Not so much on the good doctor, Livingstone quite the remarkable self-made man, explorer/geographer as much as religious proselytizer, but with newsman/exploiter Stanley whose hunt for the doctor in uncharted African territory shapes the narrative and sidesteps problematic areas. His token opposition to the slave trade mere cover. All-in-all a tough modern sell even if you don’t know much of the real man. That said, on its own terms this is quite impressive filmmaking; with second-unit African footage unusually well-integrated on process soundstages for L.A. stay-at-homes Spencer Tracy & Cedric Hardwicke. Scripter Philip Dunne finds workable story beats for Tracy in thwarted romance, tribal war, tropical diseases, and a big Science Academy showdown finale. (Very Warner Bros. bio-pic that.) All kept on the move by director Henry King who even had a Chief White Hunter credited as part of his African second-unit!
DOUBLE-BILL: *It was a crowded field in 1939. Hardwicke’s other two films just that year were ON BORROWED TIME (from Paul Osborn’s fine & clever play on the grim reaper) and William Dieterle’s stunning HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME. (Note Hardwicke in demand at M-G-M, R.K.O. and 20th/Fox.)
ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: They say it took twenty takes before Tracy (returning to Fox five years after he’d been kicked out) could say ‘Dr. Livingstone, I presume,’ without cracking up.
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