Killers of Kilimanjaro

Robert Taylor is in Africa to build a railroad to Lake Tanganyika. Problems arise when a group of Germans also arrive to build a railroad and a local baddie decides to do what he can to sabotage Taylor's efforts.

"Killers of Kilamanjaro" is not a bad film at all. It has some handsome cinematography that is far better than the average Tarzan film. However, it also is amazingly ordinary despite this--and features characters that are pretty bland and one-dimensional.

You know the film will have problems when you see that Robert Taylor is cast in the lead. Now he was a fine actor and I like his films (that's why I watched it) BUT it's all about him trying to build a railroad for the British in Africa and Taylor is about as British as Bratwurst! This casting just didn't make sense to me--and I am sure the audiences felt the same. As for the rest, they weren't bad but had an amazing capacity for ordinariness--most likely because the script was just okay. Films like "King Solomon's Mines" (not the abomination with Richard Chamberlain) make this look pretty dull by comparison.

ROBERT TAYLOR nearing the end of his career was still making robust adventure films and fitting the roles as well as he did earlier in time. Here he's the safari leader assigned to building a railroad and dealing with treacherous convicts and restless natives while venturing to take a trip through dangerous Watusha territory.

There's plenty of colorful location scenery to create a vivid picture of the long trek and the usual number of obstacles thrown into his path before he and his group reach their destination. It's a story that borrows heavily from the outline of "King Solomon's Mines" without delving into the background of its characters but just directed in routine adventure style by director Richard Thorpe, who had once guided Taylor through several of his MGM films in the old days.

ANTHONY NEWLEY lends breezy support as Taylor's bumbling assistant but the accent is not on the supporting cast of humans but the many African animals that are viewed along the way. Along for the search for her father is pretty ANNE AUBREY in a purely decorative role.

Summing up: Routine safari adventure is enhanced by some handsome location photography and the many wild animals spotted during the trek.

Taylor leads safari to finish railway line through hostile African tribal region, dangerous animal encounters and saboteurs. Action is at a premium till last 15mins which is a free for all battle (pretty entertaining) but what goes before is some fairly yawnsome fish out of water comedy relief with Anthony Hawley as Taylor's sidekick, and no chemistry (blink and you miss it) romance between Taylor and leading lady. Lots of animal wildlife stock footage and lots and lots of walking about. Taylor is a bit one note but ok as ex-army type who is unfazed by anything that crosses his path.

He's a man of action who doesn't flinch even when spears are thrown between his legs!😂. Not a badly made film , but just with a mechanical script, and cardboard characters.

In a word DULL.🤔😀

This is a clicked version of all the African adventure films that came out in the fifties.It might have had a chance with a youthful leading man.Robert Taylor looks an old man at 48 though it does not seem slightly risible to the writers that a romance with a 21 year old Anne Aubrey is somewhat unlikely.Well photographed scenery is about the only bright spot.Assuming it is not stock shots.

Taylor, an engineer, has been nominated for completing the first African railroad, to run from Mombasa to Lake Victoria in East Africa...

Taylor ends his journey with his sidekick, Anthony Newley (providing a sort of Sancho Panza character) and comes up with a young English girl (the red-haired Anne Aubrey) who is attempting to find her lost father and her fiancé who have disappeared in the jungle...

Though warned of the obstacles of the journey, Aubrey insists on going along, and soon falls in love with Taylor... Aubrey discovers that her father is dead and that her fiancé has become an alcoholic, but, of course, Taylor repays the two losses...

Gregoire Aslan portrays the magnificent enemy, an Arab slaver who wants to get the railroad to make easier the transportation of his slaves...

Photographed in Tanganyka and England with fascinating shots of a variety of wildlife, "Killers of Kilimanjaro" is an old-fashioned safari adventure full of action and wild animals...