''Diamond Safari'' is a 1958 American

crime film Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine ...

directed by

Gerald Mayer Gerald is a male Germanic given name meaning "rule of the spear" from the prefix ''ger-'' ("spear") and suffix ''-wald'' ("rule"). Variants include the English given name Jerrold, the feminine nickname Jeri and the Welsh language Gerallt and Iris ...

and starring

Kevin McCarthy Kevin Owen McCarthy (born January 26, 1965) is an American politician, serving as House Minority Leader in the United States House of Representatives since 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he served as House Majority Leader under spea ...

Betty McDowall Betty McDowall (1924 – 1993) was an Australian stage, film and television actress. She was born in Sydney, New South Wales in 1924. Her television appearances include episodes of ''Z-Cars'', ''The Saint'' and ''The Prisoner''. On stage, sh ...

and

André Morell Cecil André Mesritz (20 August 1909 – 28 November 1978), known professionally as André Morell, was an English actor. He appeared frequently in theatre, film and on television from the 1930s to the 1970s. His best known screen roles were as ...

. Its plot involves an American who battles

diamond Diamond is a Allotropes of carbon, solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Another solid form of carbon known as graphite is the Chemical stability, chemically stable form of car ...

smugglers in Africa. Filmed in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

in 1955, the film features the first (and only) two 30-minute episodes of a television series called ''African Drumbeat''.

Cast

– Harry Jordan *

Robert Bice Robert Bice (March 14, 1914 – January 8, 1968), was an American television and film actor. Biography He was born on March 14, 1914, in Dallas, Texas. He died on January 8, 1968, in Los Angeles, California. Career Bice appeared in 199 films an ...

– Reubens * Tommy Buson – Medicine Man * John Clifford – Doc * Joanna Douglas – Petey * Frances Driver – Glass Blower's Wife * Joel Herholdt – Sergeant van der Cliffe *

Hanna Landy Hanna Hertelendy (born Taylor Silami; October 5, 1919 – May 15, 2008), also known as Hanna Landy, was a Hungarian-American film and television actress. Early years She was born as Taylor Silami near Miramichi. She married Bryce Hertelendy in 1 ...

– Wanda *

– Louise Saunders * Michael McNeile – Phillips * Harry Mekela – Police Boy *

– Williamson * Patrick Simpson – Carlton * Geoffrey Tsobe – Stephen Timbu * Gert Van den Bergh – Compound Manager

Production

''African Drumbeat'' is a TV series produced by Gerard Mayer for Edward Dukoff, personal manager of

Danny Kaye Danny Kaye (born David Daniel Kaminsky; yi, דוד־דניאל קאַמינסקי; January 18, 1911 – March 3, 1987) was an American actor, comedian, singer and dancer. His performances featured physical comedy, idiosyncratic pantomimes, and ...

. It was done in partnership with the Schlesinger Organization of South Africa and Great Britain. Larry Marcus wrote three scripts for the series which focused on Harry Jordan, an American soldier of fortune in South Africa. Kevin McCarthy was cast in this role. Filming began in South Africa on 1 July 1955. There was location filming in Krueger National Park. Filming was completed by October 1955. No TV series resulted. The episodes were cut together and released as a feature film.

References

External links

* 1958 films 1958 crime films Films set in South Africa Films shot in South Africa Television pilots not picked up as a series 20th Century Fox films Television films as pilots 1950s English-language films American crime films 1950s American films {{1950s-crime-film-stub