Snazzy independent producer Walter Wanger culled A-listers from all over Hollywood* for this nifty African adventure, released via United Artists, just before Pearl Harbor pulled America into the war. It opens as Gene Tierney deplanes in the middle of Nowhere Kenya, only to be met by a caravan of goods and locals (men, mammals, merchandise) who welcome her like some sort of mercantile queen. Not so far off the mark as her late caravan king father left her the family biz which sees her running multiple bazaars servicing rival tribes in the Kenyan interior. Meanwhile, territory administrator Bruce Cabot (very winning here) coaxes peaceful tribal relations with a gentle touch that balances conflicting traditions. But the current threat is something new, as one belligerent tribe, backed by the Nazis, threatens to take over the land using vast quantities of smuggled guns & ammo entering the country via caravan, including Tierney’s outfit. At least that’s what by-the-book British Officer George Sanders thinks. And because of the war, he has authority over Cabot. War inflected international roundelays popular at the time, from IDIOT’S DELIGHT/’39 to next year’s CASABLANCA, and they all work to some extent. Here, director Henry Hathaway does what he can to keep all the tangents clear; and when motivation sags, you simply put nationality to the fore as here with Joseph Calleia’s anti-fascist Italian or Carl Esmond’s faux Hollander patriot. It’s all a bit hokey-pokey, but Tierney is ravishing enough to overlook many absurdities.
ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: *Nice to see a high class indie get three Oscar noms (D.P. Charles Lang; Interior Art Direction; Miklós Rózsa score). If only a good print were around to show them off properly.
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