Beyond Mombasa (1957)

I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place

A Major Disappointment

It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

The characters are cardboard : the rough rider ,who has been through it all ,the beautiful heroine who cannot stand this rude guy,her wise uncle, and two sinister-looking guys ,plus the leopard men in the background.At first sight, the principal is a cynical guy who does not even want to attend his own brother's funeral ,but is only in it for the money;of course,as expected , further acquaintance shows actually a brave guy the reluctant heroine will become little by little mad about (and the other way about).Although it's labelled "adventures movie" ,it is actually a whodunit : who killed the unfortunate brother who discovered uranium in his mine?Every member of the expedition is a suspect .The stupefied expression on the last victim's face is pure thriller.Spoiler: The most interesting side of this story is religious fanatism :how a man who thinks he serves as the instrument of the wrathful petulant Jehovah of Victorian Sunday schools can awaken the old superstitions of the natives and use their own creed . However,as there are absolutely no clues, no forerunner, whilst the identity of the culprit is unexpected,it is a rather implausible.Cornell Wilde's African adventures are best appreciated in his own " Naked prey"(1966) ,his extraordinary "most dangerous game" .

It is not clear exactly who this film was aimed at.Filmed in technicolour in Africa,with interiors in the UK with a largely British cast.The two main leads are American.So maybe this was made for the American as well as the British market.The story is rather strange.It seems to be utilising elements of the then current Mau mau uprising in Kenya and renaming them the Leopard people.Instead of seeking independence they are being led by a dotty English missionary,played by Leo Genn in a very unsatisfactory wig,to protect a uranium mine.In the meantime Wilde and Reed are having a truly tiresome romance.Some good location scenes but that is about all of interest.

George Marshall directs this Columbia Pictures East African travelogue. Matt Campbell(Cornell Wilde) makes the trip to Mombasa, Kenya too late for his brother's funeral. He discovers his brother did not die of natural causes, but murdered. Matt would like to know who murdered him; but unsympathetically would like to know more about the location of a mine that his sibling wrote him about. Early on arrival, Mr. Campbell meets with a missionary, Ralph Hoyt(Leo Genn)and Hoyt's niece Ann Wilson(Donna Reed)and joins them on safari and search for the valuable mine. This is not a gold mine, nor diamond mine; but a uranium mine. Several attempts are made on Matt's life and he knows someone seriously does not want him to locate the mine. As the safari travels beyond Mombasa, natives speak of a white man being killed by a legendary tribe of "leopard men". This action adventure seems a bit longer than the quoted running time of an hour and thirty minutes. Sure some scenes may have been drawn out a bit; and any violence is not very shocking. Banter between Wilde and Reed at times is playfully humorous. Horror film veteran Christopher Lee plays a shady Frenchman. Also supporting are Ron Randall and Dan Jackson. This film was indeed filmed in Mombasa, Kenya.

African adventures were constant entertainment fodder throughout the 1950s and beyond, where many a popular star took on the jungle with its wild animals and (often) equally hostile natives; in this case, it was strapping Cornel Wilde – rather ill-at-ease, however, playing a hard-drinking womanizer (especially given the various attempts made on his life by "Leopard Men" already responsible for his brother's death after having stumbled upon a deposit of uranium)! This British-made production (albeit helmed by an American) features yet another stalwart cast – which also includes leading lady Donna Reed (who, as a bookish anthropologist, naturally starts by resenting Wilde's boorishness but eventually cannot resist his directness and obvious virility), Leo Genn (the outwardly benign missionary eventually revealed to be the mastermind behind the Mau Mau-inspired 'reign of terror', driven by a misguided sense of religious and civic duty), Ron Randell (who, as Wilde's brother's business partner, logically has the finger of suspicion pointing at him from the outset) and, in one of his more prominent pre-stardom roles, Christopher Lee (a big-game hunter of Italian descent who, even more unlikely, is played up to be the hero's romantic rival!). The exotic locale supplies characteristic thrills (such as the inevitable cobra attack) and excessive (i.e. mostly irrelevant) local color but, shot by the redoubtable Freddie Young, it invariably pleases the eye (despite the panning-and-scanning involved in the TV-sourced copy I acquired). The obligatory peril-fraught-trek-through-the-jungle (with tension among the protagonists palpable as they seek the lost mine) takes up the latter half of the narrative, culminating in Genn's going berserk and unleashing the "Leopard Men" on his trapped 'companions'…until the other natives rise up against these clandestine forces, since they find their activities giving them a bad name!