Beyond Mombasa

"Beyound Mombasa" is a very dated movie that won't play so well in the 21st century. This is because the film is set in Kenya and features a lot of white people who refer to the locals as 'boys' and they tend to be very paternalistic.

When the story begins, the ne'er do well, Matt Campbell (Cornel Wilde) arrives in Mombasa, Kenya, looking for his brother. However, he's told that the brother who sent for him has since been murdered! He also is told that the mine the brother referred to in his letters is worthless. But why would he call for his brother when the mine is worthless and who would kill the man if he had no assets? Clearly someone is lying....and claims that the Leopard Cult members killed him seem sketchy to say the least.

Up through the 1950s, it was common in American and British films to show colonialism is a very positive light. After many colonies became independent and others pushed for this as well, such films became unfashionable, as public opinion turned against the notion that white folks need to control various peoples of color about the globe. This, combined with an amazingly dull screenplay and second-tier acting make this an easy film to skip. Not terrible, but also not good either.

By the way, early in the film they are talking about some locals being head shrinkers. This is something that NEVER has been documented in Africa...only small portions of South America. Also, while not a goof like this one, the attacking crocodile is clearly a model and looks ridiculous.

Cornel Wilde is quite good in this colorful adventure movie, which though brings nothing exceptional in film history. The director George Marshall has always been a good chain film maker, showing a talent that never declined. If you like this kind of. Movies produced, shot on locations, and certainly not on a Hollywood lot, you won't be deceived. Donna Reed is flaming in this exotic plot, where action sequences and suspense are not absent, and neither drama elements. Christopher Lee's presence is quite surprising in this American movie; I did not expect that, but this picture is co produced between American and British.

Rough around the edges matt campbell (wilde) heads to africa to meet up with his brother, but finds out that the brother has already met a tragic end. At the hands of the locals. Maybe. And this is also during the mau mau rebellion, which was actually still going on while this film was being made. Check out the details on wikipedia dot org. Even more suspicious is that his brother had recently found a mine, and asked matt to help him process it. But there are two others in the partnership, and matt doesn't know who to trust. Co-stars donna reed as ann; reed had just won her oscar for "eternity", but this was still two years before her big television show. Whenever christopher lee is involved, we know there will be evil and tragedy somewhere in the film! Except for one little plothole near the end, it's mostly good. One has to wonder why ann didn't speak to the natives in their own tongue to explain what was going on. But otherwise, pretty good stuff. Directed by george marshall. He also did destry rides again and how the west was won.

As Hollywood produced films about Africa now had to be shot in Africa for realism's sake since King Solomon's Mines and The African Queen I suppose that Cornel Wilde and Donna Reed were grateful for the safari adventure they got courtesy of Columbia Pictures for filming Beyond Mombasa. The location shooting in Mombasa and in the rest of what was then Kenya colony is this film's biggest asset.

Wilde is in Africa having been sent for by his brother who even made hotel reservations in Mombasa for him. Upon arrival he finds kindly missionary Leo Genn and his anthropologist niece Reed breaking the bad news about his brother's death at the hands of a revived cult of the Leopard. Wilde thinks it might have been the very real Mau Maus, but Genn says it's the leopard crowd.

Determined to get to the bottom of things, Wilde goes with Genn and Reed into the interior of Kenya, Beyond Mombasa to find where his brother might have found uranium. Their guide is another partner of the brother Christopher Lee and they're to join yet a third partner Ron Randell near the mine.

I can't say any more lest I spoil a most ridiculous plot turn. All I can say is that one of the cast has truly gone native.

I suppose a good safari is a good enough reason to be in one stinker of a movie.

The same year and basically the same plot-line of Terence Young's SAFARI, where a scoundrel safari guide romances a lovely sophisticated woman by having nothing in common but both being attractive...

And the fact he also has a revenge-driven ulterior motive, in this case his brother having been murdered, BEYOND MOMBASA is slightly edgier since Cornel Wilde's overall rogue attitude are far more intriguing than Victor Mature's...

However, ingenue Donna Reed is so set in her upper-class ways, there's no real suspense to the polar opposites hooking up... and there's the far-too-friendly missionary Leo Genn with a predictably hidden agenda alongside a handsome throwaway British sidekick in Ron Randall, and future Hammer star Christopher Lee as Wilde's opposing hunter-maverick, who, sadly, doesn't come to much...

What really works is Cornell Wilde's performance despite otherwise adventurously famous director George Marshall... using plenty of superimposed wildlife footage while mostly filming in a British movie studio (same as DUEL IN THE JUNGLE)... never completely backing his effective (even when dead drunk) intensity throughout.