Odongo

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Odongo
Odongo Poster.jpg
Original film poster
Directed by John Gilling
Screenplay by John Gilling
Islin Auster (story)
Produced by Irving Allen
Albert R. Broccoli
Starring Rhonda Fleming
Juma
Macdonald Carey
Earl Cameron
Cinematography Ted Moore
Music by George Melachrino
Production
company
Distributed by Columbia Pictures
Release date
  • November 1956 (1956-11)(US)
Running time
85 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Budget£121,093 [1]

Odongo or Odongo Adventure on the African Frontier is a 1956 British Warwick Films CinemaScope African adventure drama film directed by John Gilling and starring Rhonda Fleming, Macdonald Carey and Juma. [2] The screenplay concerns a white hunter who falls in love with a vet in Kenya.

Contents

Plot

Pamela, a veterinarian from Pittsburgh, comes to Kenya to work on big-game hunter Steve Stratton's farm. He was expecting a man and doesn't want her there.

The exotic animals Steve hunts and collects are precious to young native Odongo, who is employed by him. When another worker, Walla, is fired, he attacks Odongo, whose pet chimp comes to his rescue. Steve threatens to send the chimp to a zoo.

Odongo misses on purpose during a safari when Steve orders him to shoot an impala. Steve also saves Pam from a charging rhino and hopes she will leave. But his attitude softens after Pam delivers a native's baby and is given a rare animal as a reward.

The angry Walla frees all of the animals from their pens and starts a fire. Odongo is accused by Steve, then is taken hostage by Walla and pushed from a cliff into crocodile-filled waters. Steve jumps in to save him, while Walla fatally encounters one of Odongo's animals while trying to escape. Pamela agrees to stay.

Cast

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References

  1. Chapman, J. (2022). The Money Behind the Screen: A History of British Film Finance, 1945-1985. Edinburgh University Press p 359
  2. BFI.org