KILLERS OF KILIMANJARO

UK, 1959, 91 minutes, Colour.
Robert Taylor, Anne Aubrey, Gregoire Aslan, Anthony Newley.
Directed by Richard Thorpe.

Killers of Kilimanjaro is entertaining matinee nonsense, set in East Africa at the beginning of the century. It is a star vehicle for an ageing Robert Taylor (with his frequent director Richard Thorpe). The film was produced by Albert Broccoli, with a story by Richard Maibaum (both later to collaborate on the James Bond films). There is a score by William Alwyn. The film has lavish Cinemascope and colour, location settings with plenty of African flora and fauna.

1. Matinee entertainment? The historical background of railways in Africa? The colonial opening up of Africa?

2. Cinemascope photography, colour locations, the atmosphere of the ports, of the scenic beauty of Africa, the score?

3. East Africa and the railways? The tribes? The pioneers? The colonialising attitudes from Europe? Clashes and exploitation?

4. Robert Taylor, sturdy as Robert Adamson? His arrival, the difficulties in the port, clashes with Ben Ahmed? Friendship with Pasha? Jane Carlton and her going with him on the expedition? Hookey as the company clerk? The difficulties, the attacks on them in the city? The train journey and their in-genuity? The attack of Ahmed’s men? The trek, the animals, the tribesmen, Ahmed’s servants? The discovery of Jane’s father’s death? Her fiancé, alcoholic and delirious? Adamson in control? The building of the railway? The pitched battle with Ahmed’s men? Final heroics? Pasha imitating Adamson?

5. Jane as heroine, sturdy, participating in the adventures, her fiancé ill, her love for Adamson?

6. Anthony Newley’s comedy as Hookey, participation in the adventures, the light touch?

7. Ben Ahmed and his power, wanting to own the railway, the efforts at sabotage, his troops and ser-vants, the missions against Adamson, the pitched battles, his death – and his exhorting the white man’s way to Pasha?

8. Pasha and his following of Adamson, from the boat, hiding away, part of the expedition?

9. The various minor characters – the gallery from the matinee-style film: the captain of the ship and the crew, the thugs in the town, Ben Ahmed’s assistants, the people on the railway line, the tribe and its chief, the witchdoctor? Saxton and his alcoholism and delirium?

10. Perennial popularity of this kind of history-based action adventure? Echoes of the colonial period?