A stirring movie set in South Africa in the turbulent late 19th century , this is an African colossal with top-drawer cast . Stars Susan Hayward that in ¨I Want to live¨ , ¨The Snows of Kilimanjaro¨ and Tyrone Power that in ¨King of the Khyber Rifles¨, ¨Witness for prosecution¨ both of whom caused sensation , here in their most exciting roles . The story of a love that was greater than honor and race ; and a courage that stood alone against the fury of native rebellion on the veldt . Set in South Africa , half-legend , half-land ...alive and wondrous thanks to spectacular outdoors through the magic of sterophonic sound , big screen , and anamorphic lens . The great African landscapes , thundering path of empire, the fanatic rebels and the hordes of hundreds of Zulus . And the crowning spectacle of the woman who carved a saga of battle and love across the impressive African savannah . In 1847, when the great potato famine hits Ireland , due to this an Irish diaspora takes place , as hundreds emigrate other countries as America and South Africa . That's why among those leaving the Emerald Isle are Katie O'Neill (Susan Hayward) and her husband (Jon Justin) forced to flee and deciding that the promised land is South Africa and make their way there . Once there, they aboard a wagon train with several travellers fighting to establish the Dutch Free State . Along the way , they find out the hardships that are the reality of the homesteader experience on the veldt .Things go wrong and to complicate matters , Katie meets up with the love of her life , her old flame called Paul van Riebeck (Tyrone Power) who results to be the leader of a Dutch commando group .
An overwhelming period adventure with a cast of thousands and breathtaking battles . It is a rousing , moving , romantic tale , but rough-edged fare in ¨soap opera¨ treatment . Dealing with interesting issues , such as emigration to the troubled South Africa , imperialism , colonialism , racism and a loving triangle among an intimate trio : Tyrone Power/SusanHayward/Richard Egan . In a way , the flick is similar in vein to a Western , but transplanted in a South Africa setting . Susan Hayward outstands in an overacting , as usual ; she excelled herself in all kinds of melodrama , here is outrageously superb as what one critic wrote : a kind of Scarlett O'Hara on the veldt . Co-starts Tyrone Power as her love interest , being one of Tyrone's later movies , a bit later on , he would die while shooting in Spain : ¨Salomon and Queen Sabah¨ directed by King Vidor , being replaced by Yul Brynner , but still within his tradition of making adventure movies which spanned around the world . Power plays with some sensitivity and bravura the tough captain who commands a group of rebel Dutch . Tyrone Power gives a nice acting , as always .Tyrone seems to be more serious than the Swashbucklers or pirate movies he played when his good looks and swordmanship were both at their peak and much competition with Errol Flynn in the adventure stakes , such as : ¨Black Swan , The Zorro , Prince of Foxes , Captain from Castile and The Black Rose¨ . These enjoyable films were all well played by Power who was nearly at his most agile and deft style , as he starred various ¨Sword and Swagger¨ films and was superstar of Hollywood swashbucklers . Main starring are well accompanied by a frankly good support cast giving strong but brief performances from : Richard Egan , John Justin , Agnes Moorehead , Rita Moreno , Hope Emerson, Brad Dexter, Henry O'Neill , Robert Adler , Kevin Corcoran , among others .
It packs a colorful photography in Technicolor , in color de Luxe. Lavishly produced by Twentieth Century Fox Film Company , being enhanced by brilliant and glimmer cinematography by Leo Tover . Thrilling as well as sensitive musical score by maestro Franz Waxman . The motion picture was well directed by Henry King who was for many years associated with 20th Century Fox . He was an expert on adventure genre , a really versatile and reliable filmmaker of general entertainment movies . As Henry made ¨Stanley and Livingstone¨ , assisted uncredited in ¨Son of Fury¨ , directed the masterpiece : ¨The black swan¨ , and ¨Prince of Foxes¨ , the Biblical : ¨David and Bathseba¨ , ¨The snows of Kilimanjaro¨ and ¨Untamed¨ . As well as ¨Lloyd's of London¨ and ¨In old Chicago¨ .Rating : Decent adventure 6,5/10 . The flick will appeal to Susan Hayward and Tyrone Power fans .
