An agreeable , though mediocre adventure/wartime movie because of it contains action , sensational outdoors and outlandish exciting situations abound ; besides there is too much use of stock footage . This story of smuggling and war begins when a shipment of Vickers machine guns is robbed from a British warship in Bombasa Harbor , Africa , Spring 1914 . The high command orders the dangerous mission to Denham (Louis Hayward) and posing as an animal hunter is assigned to track them down , before rifles to be sold the German army . Denham follows a clue that leads him to Cunningham (Michael Pate) , a gunrunner , who intends to sell the machine guns to the Germans . Trader Cunningham escapes with the stolen machine guns , being relentlessly pursued by Denham across the lush jungle . But problems grow when Denham falls in love for Jennifer (Veronica Hurst) who results to be Cunningham's daughter .
It's a quickie with lack luster and short budget but it manages to be at least an enjoyable adventures movie because packs thrills , evocative landscapes and an exciting finale when takes place a spectacular confrontation among contending groups using machine guns . It's made on the sets and leftover from previous movies , using stocks originally shot since former films . As we are watching several African animals though the most seem to be taken from an excessive utilization of stock-shots , thus : Gnus , Elephants, Thomson Gazelle , Crocodiles , Snakes , lions , Buffalos and a stampede . The starring is Louis Hayward , a famous actor of B movies though at the beginning his career the played A films . His first American film role was in The Flame Within (1935) . After several supporting roles in 1936 , he got his real break starring in the extended romantic prologue of Warner Bros.' ¨Anthony Adverse¨ (1936) . Through the remainder of the 1930s he would have ample opportunities to vary that class of character, starting with some early "B"-tier efforts . The familiar British Simon Templar character was brought to the screen by Hayward in ¨The Saint in Nueva York¨ (1938) to cap his "B" picture career . He was destined for plenty of sword point adventure . The stylish ¨Iron mask¨ (1939), the third volume in the Alexandre Dumas musketeer trilogy , gave Hayward the opportunity to play the good and evil royal twins, which he did with impressive flair . However, his swashbuckling efforts did not pan out as well as they did for Errol Flynn . ¨The torch¨ (1940), with Hayward paired with Joan Bennett again , as they were in "Iron Mask" ; in addition , ¨The prisoner of Zenda¨ (1937) rip-off that fell flat . Another sort of bad break was his 1941 casting in a pivotal role in Orson Welles' ¨The magnificent Amberson¨ (1942), his part was edited out of the final print .
The movie is well set in Africa , though being shot in Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden , Arcadia, California . Cinematography is evocative but worn-out , as a perfect remastering being necessary . The picture obtained limited successful but turns to be enough agreeable . It's a passable stuff for young people and exotic adventures lovers who enjoy with the extraordinary danger in the dangerous jungle . This quickie was produced by the same Louis Hayward and middlingly directed by Lesley Selander , a craftsman working from the 30s . Selander is generally considered to be the most prolific director of feature Westerns of all time, with at least 107 to his credit between 1935 and 1967 . He realized his first feature in 1936, a horse opera , genre in which he would not only excel but one where he would spent much of the rest of his career . He began in this genre with series starred by Buck Jones and ¨Hopalong Cassidy¨ series starred by William Boyd such as ¨Silver on the sage¨ , ¨Three men from Texas¨ and ¨Wide open town¨. In Republic production he directed his better movies such as ¨Panhandle¨and ¨Stampede¨ starred by Rod Cameron and in RKO he directed Tim Holt in 20 films such as ¨Rio Grande patrol¨ and ¨Overland telegraph¨. He subsequently shot B-movies such as ¨Fort Vengeance¨, ¨Arrow in the desert¨, Shotgun¨, ¨Town tamer¨ and his last picture ¨Texas Kid¨. Although Selander couldn't be deemed an "A"-list director, his movies had a professionalism and a verve that many of those made by his fellow B directors lacked . He also filmed detective thrillers , action/adventure motion pictures and even a horror film or two . Rating : 5 . Acceptable and passable .
