''For the 1928 film starring

Lon Chaney Leonidas Frank "Lon" Chaney (April 1, 1883 – August 26, 1930) was an American actor. He is regarded as one of the most versatile and powerful actors of cinema, renowned for his characterizations of tortured, often grotesque and affli ...

Lionel Barrymore Lionel Barrymore (born Lionel Herbert Blythe; April 28, 1878 – November 15, 1954) was an American actor of stage, screen and radio as well as a film director. He won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in ''A Free Soul'' (1931) ...

and

Warner Baxter Warner Leroy Baxter (March 29, 1889 – May 7, 1951) was an American film actor from the 1910s to the 1940s. Baxter is known for his role as the Cisco Kid in the 1928 film ''In Old Arizona'', for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor at ...

, see

West of Zanzibar (1928 film) ''West of Zanzibar'' is a 1928 American silent film directed by Tod Browning. The screenplay concerns a vengeful stage magician named Phroso (Lon Chaney) who becomes paralyzed in a brawl with a rival ( Lionel Barrymore). The supporting cast inclu ...

'' ''West of Zanzibar'' is a 1954 British

adventure film An adventure film is a form of adventure fiction, and is a genre of film. Subgenres of adventure films include swashbuckler films, pirate films, and survival films. Adventure films may also be combined with other film genres such as action, an ...

directed by

Harry Watt Harry Watt (18 October 19062 April 1987) was a Scottish documentary and feature film director, who began his career working for John Grierson and Robert Flaherty. His 1959 film ''The Siege of Pinchgut'' was entered into the 9th Berlin Inter ...

and starring Anthony Steel,

Sheila Sim Sheila Beryl Grant Sim, Baroness Attenborough (5 June 1922 – 19 January 2016) was an English film and theatre actress. She was also the wife of the actor, director and peer Richard Attenborough. Career Sheila Beryl Grant Sim was born in L ...

and

Edric Connor Edric Esclus Connor (2 August 1913 – 13 October 1968) was a Caribbean singer, folklorist and actor who was born in Trinidad and Tobago. He was a performer of calypso in the United Kingdom, where he migrated in 1944 and chiefly lived and wor ...

. It is a sequel to ''

Where No Vultures Fly ''Where No Vultures Fly'' is a 1951 British adventure film directed by Harry Watt and starring Anthony Steel and Dinah Sheridan. It was released under the title ''Ivory Hunter'' in the United States. The film was inspired by the work of the co ...

'' (1951), from the same director and producer, and continues the adventures of game warden Bob Payton, played again by Anthony Steel. The subject of the film is ivory smuggling, and although the film appears to side with the African natives against economic exploitation, it was banned by the government of Kenya, which considered its approach too paternalistic.

Plot

The rural African Galana tribe move to

Mombasa Mombasa ( ; ) is a coastal city in southeastern Kenya along the Indian Ocean. It was the first capital of the British East Africa, before Nairobi was elevated to capital city status. It now serves as the capital of Mombasa County. The town is ...

following a drought. The tribe's peaceful ways are destroyed by the influence of illegal

ivory trade The ivory trade is the commercial, often illegal trade in the ivory tusks of the hippopotamus, walrus, narwhal, mammoth, and most commonly, African and Asian elephants. Ivory has been traded for hundreds of years by people in Africa and Asia, ...

rs.

Game warden A conservation officer is a law enforcement officer who protects wildlife and the environment. A conservation officer may also be referred to as an environmental technician or technologist, game warden, forest ranger, forest watcher, forest gu ...

Bob Payton turns detective, travelling to

Zanzibar Zanzibar (; ; ) is an insular semi-autonomous province which united with Tanganyika in 1964 to form the United Republic of Tanzania. It is an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of the mainland, and consists of many small islands ...

to discover the ringleader behind the ivory smuggling. Payton tracks his quarry through some of the most treacherous passages of the Zanzibar territory. Despite obstacles which include crocodiles and rhinos, Payton finally corners the villain. The gang's ringleader has given an African tribe land in return for ivory tusks, but he is repaid for his scheming when the tribe turns on him.

Cast

* Anthony Steel as Bob Payton *

as Mary Payton *

as Ushington *

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 ...

as M'Kwongi *

William Simons Clifford William Cumberbatch Simons (17 November 1940 – 21 June 2019) was a Welsh-born actor best known for his role as PC Alf Ventress in '' Heartbeat'', a role he played for 18 years, from 1992 to 2010. Early life Simons was born on 17 Novem ...

as Tim Payton * Martin Benson as Dhofar * David Osieli as Ambrose * Bethlehem Sketch as Bethlehem *

Peter Illing Peter Illing (4 March 1899 – 29 October 1966) was an Austrian-born British film and television actor. Selected TV series * ''Deadline Midnight'' (1961) as Captain Dnieprovsky * ''The Saint'' (1962) as Inspector Buono Filmography * ''The Silv ...

as Yhingoni * Edward Johnson as Halfbreed * Juma as Juma *

Howard Marion-Crawford Howard Marion-Crawford (17 January 1914 – 24 November 1969), the grandson of writer F. Marion Crawford, was an English character actor, best known for his portrayal of Dr. Watson in the 1954 television adaptation of Sherlock Holmes. In 19 ...

as Wood *

Stuart Lindsell Reginald Stuart Lindsell (18 July 1892, Biggleswade, Bedfordshire – 9 July 1969, London) was a British actor, often seen in upper-class roles. He was sometimes credited as R. Stuart Lindsell. He also served as an officer in the Middlesex R ...

as Colonel Ryan * Sheik Abdullah as

Dhow Dhow ( ar, داو, translit=dāwa; mr, script=Latn, dāw) is the generic name of a number of traditional sailing vessels with one or more masts with settee or sometimes lateen sails, used in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean region. Typically spor ...

captain *

Alan Webb Alan Webb may refer to: * Alan Webb (actor) (1906–1982), English actor * Alan Webb (runner) (born 1983), American track athlete * Alan Webb (footballer) (born 1963), retired English association football player See also

* Allan Webb (disambigu ...

as Senior official

Production

''Where No Vultures Fly'' had been one of the biggest hits at the British box office in 1951 so Ealing Studios decided to make a sequel with the same star, director and producer, and again in association with the Schlesinger Organisation. Dinah Shearing was replaced by Sheila Sim. At one stage it was planned for the film to be shot in 3-D but this did not happen. Like the first film, it was shot on location in Africa. The unit arrived in Nairobi in January 1953. It was one of the few films Steel made at his peak where he was not in support of an older male actor.

Soundtrack

A popular local dance song during the shoot was a Swahili folk song called "Jambo Sigara Baridl". The filmmakers liked the melody so much they decided to include it as background music. Then it was decided to prepare an English version of the song, with Anthony Steel singing lead vocals, along with a band, the Radio Revellers. When asked if he could sing, Steel replied, "Apart from making gurgling noises in the bath, I've never tried." Steel recorded the song anyway and it was a success on the charts.

Release

Kenya's film censors banned the film on the grounds it would hurt race relations in the country. The film was also banned in India after the protests of African students in that country.

Reception

Box office

Universal distributed the film in the US. They opened it at the World Theatre in New York, which tended to show

exploitation film An exploitation film is a film that tries to succeed financially by exploiting current trends, niche genres, or lurid content. Exploitation films are generally low-quality "B movies", though some set trends, attract critical attention, become hi ...

s – it was an experiment to have the film considered as an exploitation one as opposed to something arthouse, which was the traditional market for British movies in America. The experiment was not a success. The film still ended up taking $400,000 in the US with over 10,000 bookings. In 1957, the film was listed as among the seventeen most popular movies the Rank Organisation ever released in the US.

Critical reception

''Variety'' said "The yarn is developed as a strong adventure meller in which native customs and rivalries play an important part. There is a brief attempt to point a moral which, well-meaning though it may be, appears a little fatuous on the screen. "

Bosley Crowther Francis Bosley Crowther Jr. (July 13, 1905 – March 7, 1981) was an American journalist, writer, and film critic for ''The New York Times'' for 27 years. His work helped shape the careers of many actors, directors and screenwriters, though his ...

wrote in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', "it is an exciting and generally creditable picture of a contemporary aspect of East Africa." BFI Screenonline later wrote:

''West of Zanzibar'' was designed to capitalise on itsesigned to capitalise on its predecessor's success but the actual film, and its history with audiences, couldn't be more different. Harry Watt... managed to maintain the fun pace, beautiful cinematography and focus on wildlife that made the first film so popular, but ''West of Zanzibar'' has one key difference: its subject. It replaces the worthy concerns for animal welfare in Where No Vultures Fly with a more contentious humanitarian question – the displacement of rural African tribes and their participation in ivory poaching. But it completely fudges the answer... Watt was reportedly taken aback, but the Kenyan Board's decision made explicit the film's problematic depictions of racial politics. West of Zanzibar has since disappeared from public view, and remains one of the least known Ealing titles.

Sky Movies Sky Cinema is a British subscription film service owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). In the United Kingdom, Sky Cinema channels currently broadcast on the Sky satellite and Virgin Media cable platforms, and in addition Sky Cinema ...

noted: "Anthony Steel once again as the game warden Bob Payton. He shares the Hollywood hero's ability to come through the most vicious fight with no more than a spotless handkerchief tied around one bulging bicep." ''

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or t ...

'' wrote, "relying too much on its scenic African location, this British adventure moves along slowly."

References

External links

*
''West of Zanzibar''
at

BFI Screenonline Screenonline is a website about the history of British film, television and social history as documented by film and television. The project has been developed by the British Film Institute and funded by a £1.2 million grant from the National Lot ...

West of Zanzibar
at Letterbox DVD
West of Zanzibar
at Colonial Film
West of Zanzibar
at BFI

at

TCMDB Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie-oriented pay-TV network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasting campus in the Midtown business district of Atl ...

Review of film
at ''Variety'' {{Harry Watt 1954 films British adventure films Ealing Studios films 1954 adventure films Films directed by Harry Watt Films about hunters Films set in Kenya Films shot in Kenya Films shot in Tanzania British sequel films Films with screenplays by Jack Whittingham 1950s English-language films 1950s British films