La route de l'ivoire

After receiving some information from a dying explorer. Two brothers set off in the search of an elephant graveyard for its highly priced ivory, but along the way they stumble by a small band of English settlers planning to farm and settle somewhere in the East Africa plains. They hire the two hunters as their guides, and unknowingly to the settlers, they secretly lead them in the dangerous direction (which is filled with deadly wildlife and unwelcoming natives) to eventually get their wealthy payout. However could a woman come between the goals of the brothers?

A Tarzan movie without Tarzan? Where's the man when you need him. Well it might have been far more interesting if he did appear, than the lacklustre and very sluggish effort we got here. Everything about it is misleading. Namely the film's eye-catching tag line; "White woman vs. deadly python." Where was my lady vs. snake sequence? Oh there was something along those lines, but really was that it. Talk about lousy. Not that I think this was a bad movie, but instead a frustrating one that promises something it didn't deliver. Forget about that tempting cover-artwork too. Director George P. Breakston goes onto fulfil a technically flat (just look at the attack sequences involving snakes and "blood-thirsty" natives) and fundamental job without the slightest sense of energy or inspiration. What seem like it was going to be some tacky, cheap fun became a drawn-out, colourless and polite jungle adventure. Chuck in for good measure is the usual animal stock footage one sees in these early safari presentations. Writer Dermot Quinn predictably pens a rather limp script of little surprises and scrap together a basic plot that equals a terribly bumpy trek. The performances don't hurt, but no one really stands out and everyone basically gets lost in not very well presented background features. The African setting is far from enticing, and unattractively framed, but I found the wildlife captivating enough. Maybe they should have centred on it and turned into a documentary. Some odd scenes are played for a comical effect, with lesser results and the more serious moments is where I found myself snickering.

Quick and colourful African western concerning English settlers getting to grips with the perils of native Kenya. Essentially a glorified faunalogue in which reluctant hunters on horseback stalk the savanna in search of game, whilst mild romantic undertones simmer in the background.

Urquhart is the more amiable of the contracted hunters, trying his best to manage his alcoholic brother (Dobson) and the attentions of a nubile female passenger (Stephen, whose rather revealing moment bathing in a river late in the movie appears to have been missed in the editing room). Local beauty Maureen Connell also appears in her film debut before becoming an occasional female lead in Britain in the late 50s.

Tussles with leopards, lions and snakes offset by lighthearted moments admiring giraffe and tree monkeys, but there's tension on the horizon as the intrepid adventurers attempt to cross a treacherous river and must survive local tribes unhappy with colonialist encroachment.

Economical British safari is generally well acted standard fare, akin to any number of traditional second-bill westerns of the 50s, although there's an unexpected twist at the climax before justice is served. No frills, just the usual threats punctuated by inert-looking wildlife and tepid romance.

While by no means the cream of the crop of safari adventure flicks such as the earlier Weissmuller Tarzan pictures or Hatari, "White Huntress" has its share of thrills and intrigue with a healthy amount of snake attacks and tribal warfare thrown in. The only real trouble one is bound to run into with this film is its curious lack of anything even remotely resembling a white huntress - no such character or plot twist exists in the film. I rented the DVD expected a jungle girl flick along the lines of the Nyoka vein, and although I was not terribly disappointed by the film I ended up watching, I cannot for the life of me figure out how it ended up with such a ridiculously misleading title. 7/10

"The White Huntress" (original British title "Golden Ivory") was shot on location in Kenya in 1954, and first released in the US in 1957. While it is true that the American ad campaign was misleading, there is a brief (one minute) sequence which features a huge python crawling across the neck of our sleeping heroine (Susan Stephan), who calmly reaches for her knife and stabs the reptile to death. I went in expecting little, but I must say that it didn't bore me, simply accepting it for what it is. Scriptwise, there's nothing we haven't seen before, but the location shooting makes for a more authentic African adventure than Hollywood could ever muster, and there appears to be no stock footage that's been seen in countless cheapies before or since. The two brothers do lead the settlers into danger, but only the good one (Robert Urquhart) falls for the heroine, the other too preoccupied with booze and greed to notice much beyond fool's gold. I would surmise that most viewers may wish that the filmmakers had concentrated on the behind-the-scenes action that resulted in a movie that few people would have wanted to see. This appears to be one of those color films that saw TV exposure only in cheaply done black and white prints, until the advent of full time color resulted in these titles falling into even greater obscurity. That is also the reason why this, and other color films like "Manfish" (1955), are only available today in B/W. "The White Huntress" aired just once on Pittsburgh's Chiller Theater, as the first feature on November 14 1964 (paired with 1957's "Blood of Dracula").

British western set in Kenya in 1890. Two brothers who are hunters join a caravan inland to Masai country looking for the legendary meeting place of elephants.

It follows the normal western storyline, that is, of a group in search of something (in this case ivory), betrayal and intrigue, a few encounters with animals, someone important dies unexpectedly, and a romance with a young ingenue.

Susan Stephen has a bit of a surprise for the boys in the cinema.