World Safari

Not a comment or message in site, but back in the late 70's this no budget randomly planned adventure odyssey that straddled most of the globe captured the attention of an entire nation. Alby Mangels was shot to a celebrity status and was in the public eye for the next decade or so.

"World Safari The Adventure of a Lifetime Volume 01", was a magic blend of naive film making and accessibility mixed with just the right amount of corny humour to push it outside the typical travel log funded by some faceless educational body.

Memorable moments are a stop on the deserted Palmyra Atoll where the ghostly remains of a once massive WWII American military base are fossiced though and salvaged. With remarkable resourcefulness, engines and vehicles are brought back to life and actually used as transport during a stay on the island that lasted for months.

Then there was the endearing feather weight DAF panel van with a rubber band drive train that seemed to be unstoppable in the face of some of the roughest and dangerous parts that Africa had on offer.

His numerous escapades and television shows to follow where ultimately pale echos of this first documentary and public interest wained. The Alby Mangels/World Safari myth dissolved away with disputed claims of animal cruelty, deceptive documentary making and law suites.

Regardless, The drama and story of World safari is as engaging today as when first released and it may be fair to say that such a journey could never be made again. In all of human history there appears to be only a small window of time where travelling the globe was relatively easy for average man. This window opened after the industrial boom following WWII in the late fifty's where appropriate, affordable traveling infrastructure was in place and there was enough political stability to cross international boundaries with a minimum of fuss. The window began closing in the eighties with the height of the cold war combined with the escalating cost and red tape of traveling. Aggravating the mix further is an ever tightening of security due to illegal trades and growing international terrorism. While globalisation and high speed communication is making the world smaller everday, physically getting around it appears to be getting harder to do. The World Safari journey, like other journeys of the period, appears to be a product of its time, the significant thing about Alby Mangel's adventure was a decision to film and record it.

Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman's "long way round" travel series gives a very good insite into the vast logistics and cost of conducting what was was ultimately a much simpler journey in contemporary times.

World Safari's low budget charm is possibly also it's curse, the production qualities and obvious post synchronization make this film from the late 70's film look like its from the 1950's. This may have damaged the chances of it ever being broadcast widely, and appreciated, again.

Alby would have been fun but dangerous to know. I have no idea where or how to see this film these days. Maybe a bootleg is on youtube somewhere?

Its a raw, simple adventure film which captures your imagination because it was so nuts, mostly real and uncontrived. He basically sets off on a wild world trip with a camera and no budget. Surviving on whits, some survival skills, charm and swagger and the willingness to rough it and face pretty much any danger.

There was no original audio, so he dubbed a narration track onto it, which is where we get a little sense of willingness to stretch a story at times. As I recall, we didn't see these films in cinemas, there were somehow screened cheaply at local town halls, YMCAs etc . This seemed to raise enough cash and exposure that he set off for 2 further adventures (which lacked the niavity and authentic audacity and spirit of adventure which lent viewers of this larrikin film a certain incredulity. Whats films 2&3 needed was actual directorial and production values, which he didn't really have enough of).

Saw this movie with a friend about 30 years ago as a teenager, and it has stuck with me all my life. It's probably responsible for much of my wanderlust and sense of adventure.

The film is compelling mostly because of the chutzpah of the filmmaker, and the utterly unplanned, continent-spanning trek around the globe. Mangels, the filmmaker, seems to live a charmed life. Despite the danger all around him, nothing touches him.

The only other filmmaker I can think of that comes close to matching the sheer balls of Magels is H.B. Halicki who directed the original (1974) version of Gone in 60 Seconds.

Every kid should see a film like this.