Tam tam mayumbe

A Franco-Italian co-production for Franco London films (sic).

Thus helped by a comfortable budget ,the film has assets : technicolor, filming on location in Africa , nice cinematography and a good cast :French veteran Charles Vanel(at the time of his triumphs "le salaire de la peur " and "les diaboliques" ) , Pedro Armendariz and Marcello Mastroiannni (credited as M. Mastroianni) .The natives use their langage and some of their customs are well depicted .The primitive way of communication (check the title ) is effective .But the " natives are grown-up kids;fortunately ,we (the white men) are here " side remains.

On the other hand ,the screenplay is disjointed and muddled :it involves the sleep sickness , alcohol and ivory trafficking , and a native woman who uses her charms to reign over the place ,

Sadism ( the Portugese has the natives flogged ),eroticism (the calculating woman sleeps with all the important men around) ,and a man hunt which is the highlight of the movie (and has an interesting doc side ) , but the ending is entirely preposterous. A curio.