''Killers of Kilimanjaro'' is a 1959 British CinemaScope adventure film directed by Richard Thorpe and starring Robert Taylor,

Anthony Newley Anthony Newley (24 September 1931 – 14 April 1999) was an English actor, singer, songwriter, and filmmaker. A "latter-day British Al Jolson", he achieved widespread success in song, and on stage and screen. "One of Broadway's greatest leadin ...

Anne Aubrey Anne Aubrey (born 1 January 1937) is a retired English film actress. She was mainly active in Warwick Films in the 1950s and 1960s. She worked with Anthony Newley in such films as '' Idol on Parade'', '' Killers of Kilimanjaro'', '' The Bandit ...

and

Donald Pleasence Donald Henry Pleasence (; 5 October 1919 – 2 February 1995) was an English actor. He began his career on stage in the West End before transitioning into a screen career, where he played numerous supporting and character roles including RAF ...

for

Warwick Films Warwick Films was a film company founded by film producers Irving Allen and Albert R. Broccoli in London in 1951. The name was taken from the Warwick Hotel in London.Broccoli, Albert R., Zec Donald. ''When the Snow Melts''. Boxtree. 1998 Their f ...

. The film was originally known as ''Adamson of Africa''.

Main cast

* Robert Taylor as Robert Adamson *

as Hooky Hook *

as Jane Carlton *

as Captain *

Grégoire Aslan Grégoire Aslan (born Krikor Kaloust Aslanian; 28 March 1908 – 8 January 1982) was a Swiss-Armenian actor and musician. Early life Krikor Kaloust Aslanian ( hy, Գրիգոր Գալուստի Ասլանյան) was born in Switzerland or in Co ...

as Ben Ahmed *

Allan Cuthbertson Allan Darling Cuthbertson (7 April 1920 – 8 February 1988) was an Australian-born British actor. He was best known for playing stern-faced military officers in British films of the 1950s and 1960s. Early life Cuthbertson was born in Perth, ...

as Saxton * Martin Benson as Ali *

Orlando Martins Orlando Martins (8 December 1899 – 25 September 1985) was a pioneering Yoruba Nigerian film and stage actor. In the late 1940s, he was one of Britain's most prominent and leading black actors, and in a poll conducted in 1947, he was listed a ...

as Chief * John Dimech as Pasha *

Martin Boddey Albert Martin Boddey (16 April 1907 – 24 October 1975) was a British film and television actor. He was a founder member of the Lord's Taverners charity. Boddey started acting when he was nearly 40, often portraying irritable authority fig ...

as Gunther

Production

Warwick Films had made three films in Africa, ''Safari'', ''Zarak'' and ''Odongo''. The movie was announced in July 1956 and inspired by the story of the Tsavo maneaters recounted in the 1954 book ''African Bush Adventures'' by

J.A. Hunter John Alexander Hunter (30 May 1887 – 29 March 1963) was a white hunter in Africa from the early 1900s through the 1950s who led many notable safaris. Biography John Alexander Hunter was born on 30 May 1887 near Shearington, Dumfries-shi ...

and Daniel P. Mannix. It was based on a story by Richard Maibaum and Cyril Hume. (Warwick also announced they would make a second African film, the musical ''The Golden Fiddle'', which would ultimately not be made.) A screenplay was done by

Peter Viertel Peter Viertel (16 November 1920 – 4 November 2007) was an author and screenwriter. Biography Viertel was born to Jewish parents in Dresden, Germany, the writer and actress Salka Viertel and the writer Berthold Viertel. In 1928, his parents mov ...

, who had worked on ''The African Queen'', and written a novel of the experiences called '' White Hunter, Black Heart''. In September 1957 Alan Ladd, who had made three films for Warwick, was the announced as male lead – it was meant to be part of a six-picture deal between Ladd and Warwick worth $2 million that also included '' The Man Inside'' and ''It's Always Four O'Clock''. In the final event Ladd made no further films for Warwick - the lead role went to Robert Taylor. Taylor signed in January 1959 at which time the film was called ''African Bush''. Co-stars Anthony Newley and Anne Aubrey were under contract to Warwick, and had just made ''

Idol on Parade ''Idol on Parade'' is a 1959 British comedy movie produced by Warwick Films, directed by John Gilling and featuring William Bendix, Anthony Newley, Sid James and Lionel Jeffries. It was based on John Antrobus' first screenplay. p. 44 The movie ...

'' for the company. In February 1959 Taylor left for Moshi, Tanganyika. That was the same location used for ''Mogambo'' and ''Tarzan's Greatest Adventure''. Filming was completed by April.

Release

The film's title was changed to ''Killers of Kilimanjaro''. This upset Chief

Thomas Marealle Chief Thomas Lenana Marealle II OBE (June 15, 1915 – February 14, 2007) was the Paramount Chief ( Mangi Mkuu) of the Chagga people of Tanzania and a politician. After winning a paramount chieftainship election, which he ran against Abdi Shan ...

of the

Chagga The Chaga or Chagga (Swahili language: WaChaga) are Bantu-speaking indigenous Africans and the third-largest ethnic group in Tanzania. They traditionally live on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro and eastern Mount Meru in both Kilimanjaro Regi ...

tribe, on whose lands the film was shot, and he made an official complaint. Mount Kilimanjaro lies about west of

Tsavo Tsavo is a region of Kenya located at the crossing of the Uganda Railway over the Tsavo River, close to where it meets the Athi-Galana-Sabaki River. Two national parks, Tsavo East and Tsavo West are located in the area. The meaning of the w ...

in Tanzania. The Monthly Film Bulletin said "enthusiasts for screen slaughter should be amply entertained." The ''New York Times'' called it "a compendium of jungle cliches". According to Jeffrey Richards, movies such as ''Killers of Kilimanjaro'' pushed the narrative that the British were not in East Africa to further their own ends, but instead perpetuated the myth that they were there to protect the natives from the evil Arab slavers.Jeffrey Richards, ''Visions of Yesterday'' (London: Routledge, 1973), p. 149.

References

External links

*
''Killers of Kilimanjaro''
at Colonial Film {{DEFAULTSORT:Killers Of Kilimanjaro 1959 films 1959 adventure films British adventure films Columbia Pictures films CinemaScope films 1950s English-language films Films based on non-fiction books Films directed by Richard Thorpe Films set in Kenya Films set in Tanzania Films set in the 1890s Films shot in Kenya Films about lions Films scored by William Alwyn Films with screenplays by Richard Maibaum 1950s British films

Main cast

Production

Release

See also

References

External links