This is your typical adventure of the frontier with a rugged, stubborn hero (here Douglas Fairbanks Jr.), the person who employs him as an escort (Tullio Carminati), the employer's fiancee (Madeleine Carroll) and an assortment of either overly friendly or suspicious natives, as well as wise and comical supporting characters: the heavily Scottish accented Lynne Overman and the always ready with a long attempt at sneezing, Billy Gilbert. This plot has been done many times with the heroine falling in love with the guide and the husband or fiancee ending up a jealous psychotic.
In the case of this version of "Safari", the audience might find it hard to take the unnecessary shooting of various animals, but fortunately, that is very little of the plot. It takes time for the romantic triangle to build as the audience spends time watching Carroll trying to get used to being out in the open. A friendly native named Happy (black character actor Ben Carter) is picked out bu Carroll simply because he's the only one smiling of the offered servants, all named after the seven dwarfs. An amusing moment has Carroll getting to take an African plains version of a shower, basically with all seven passing buckets of water as Carter drenches her from a ladder above her.
A better version of the basic same story is the 1956 color film, also named "Safari", which features Victor Mature, Janet Leigh and Roland Culver going through pretty much the same situation. This film really lacks in decent direction, doesn't have much action, and the interspersed amounts of drama and comedy gives it a split personality. Fairbanks' character is far too moody to root for. It's not bad for the type of film it is. I've just seen much better.
In the case of this version of "Safari", the audience might find it hard to take the unnecessary shooting of various animals, but fortunately, that is very little of the plot. It takes time for the romantic triangle to build as the audience spends time watching Carroll trying to get used to being out in the open. A friendly native named Happy (black character actor Ben Carter) is picked out bu Carroll simply because he's the only one smiling of the offered servants, all named after the seven dwarfs. An amusing moment has Carroll getting to take an African plains version of a shower, basically with all seven passing buckets of water as Carter drenches her from a ladder above her.
A better version of the basic same story is the 1956 color film, also named "Safari", which features Victor Mature, Janet Leigh and Roland Culver going through pretty much the same situation. This film really lacks in decent direction, doesn't have much action, and the interspersed amounts of drama and comedy gives it a split personality. Fairbanks' character is far too moody to root for. It's not bad for the type of film it is. I've just seen much better.