In 1903 in the British colonial region adjoining German East Africa (a portion of which was referenced as Tanganyika), tough American colonist John Gale is leading a safari to capture escaped murderer Abel McCracken, who is inciting the Nukumbi tribe and endangering Gale's holdings.[5]
En route, Gale rescues four survivors of a Nukumbi raid: Dan Harder (who is secretly McCracken's brother), former teacher Peggy and the two orphaned children of her brother who was killed in the raid. Gale hopes to stake a claim on a valuable piece of land. The Nukumbi are lying in wait and eventually Gale and McCracken meet in man-to-man combat.[6]
In a contemporary review for The New York Times, critic Howard Thompson called Tanganyika a "standard safari exercise" and wrote: "These glimpses of animal and tribal behavior and the lush horizons superimposed on the Universal back lot only stress the cardboard nature of the scenario credited to William Sackheim and Richard Alan Simmons, and a story which William R. Cox obviously didn't get from Dr. Livingstone. The savage-beast encounters occur right on schedule, and in the absurd climax, dynamite, no less, saves the day. And director Andre de Toth, usually alert, allows the pace to lag continually."[1]
References
1 2 Thompson, Howard (1954-06-19). "The Screen: Demetrius Returns". The New York Times. p.9.
↑ "1954 Box Office Champs". Variety Weekly. January 5, 1955. p.59. - figures are rentals in the US and Canada
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