Bwana le diable

Saw this for the first time as an 11 yr old at a matinee. Great movie but it scared me to death. I'm now 71 and it still remains the movie that I most remember as a child

Viewers: Hello. This movie does not show up on Cable very often. It reminds me of a much more recent movie, The Ghost and the Darkness. Similar plot...but has historical truth, of the two lions of "Ranchipour". The British colonel was building a bridge over the river, and some 150 workers were eaten by the two lions. He killed the lions. Those two lions , "taxidermied", are on display at the Chicago Field House,Chicago, IL.

The story is not unlike the story of Jaws. A tiny group of people is isolated and threatened by this horrible creature, cut off from the world. Experts are brought in to eliminate the menace and restore order.

The only reason I mention this is to show the difference between talent (Spielberg/Benchley) and zero talent (Obler/Clampett) for story telling and film making. This 79 minutes (plus the mandatory intermission early 3-D requires) seemed to stretch way beyond its length. Horrible film.

Quick notes: What year is this story set in? It sure seems like 1952 until Barbara Britton, in high-button shoes, steps off the train.

The highlight was when star Robert Stack took his shirt off. Maybe if he had done the entire thing shirtless I would raise the score a half a point.

This was seen at the Film Forum in Manhattan, struck from the camera negative. It made zero difference as it was still completely awful.

I will admit that "Bwana Devil" is not a great movie, but to compare this groundbreaking 3-D movie to "Plan 9 From Outer Space" is utterly ridiculous, as "Bwana Devil" is not bad--but it is slightly below average. The negatives are Robert Stack's overacting and forgetting his accent frequently as well as a few cheesy scenes (seeing a stuffed lion tossed on Nigel Bruce when he was supposedly being attacked was unintentionally funny). The HUGE plus is that this film was made mostly in Africa and looks so much better than the tons of schlocky African films of the 1930s-50s.

The story is a dramatization of a real story of a couple man-eating lions and the man who ultimately killed them. It's the same story you'll see in the newer and better "Ghost and the Darkness"--so my advice is see this film instead. But, if you don't, you'll essentially learn the same story...along with Stack's less than stellar performance. Not a bad film at all--just not one that will bowl you over, either.

Apparently this was the first "official" theatrical release in 3-D; without the glasses, pretty much the only eye-catching composition / depth of field comes at the very start, in the opening credits. Lots of uninteresting conversations serve as filler between the infrequent but reasonably well-done attack scenes - considering the era and the amount of blood that could (not) be shown (there is also some blatant use of stock footage). Second-billed Barbara Britton appears after half the movie is over but looks good, especially with sweat covering her neck. ** out of 4.