Trader Horn (1931) – full review!

Dated with a razor thin plot and definitely NOT politically correct this pre-code film initially makes one feel as if they’re looking through a National Geographic magazine. Plus one sees real animals being shot dead and hears some less than complimentary references about the “people of color”. Nominated for a Best Picture Oscar and starring Harry Carey it was directed by W. S. Van Dyke. I finally got to see this one to compare it with that year’s Oscar winner Cimarron (1931).

Carey plays the title character and leads the son (Duncan Renaldo) of a dear departed friend and fellow trader on an African safari with his native guide & gun bearer Rencharo (Mutia Omoolu in his only film). After a native tribe of “killers” dissuades them from a trade of salt for elephant tusks with another native tribe they next meet a brave missionary woman (Olive Carey Harry’s real life wife who replaced Marjorie Rambeau) along the way who’s looking for the daughter she believes is still alive; her husband was killed 20 years ago but her daughter was never found. They later find her dead by a spectacular waterfall.

After then venturing (for more than half the film) deep into the jungle with Carey introducing “us” to (what seems like) every animal known to inhabit the wilds of Africa they are ambushed by a notorious native tribe who takes their guns and escorts them to a hostile camp. Brought before the “leader” Carey is unable to appease him and they are imprisoned. Carey then identifies that the camp appears to be a meeting place for members from many different native tribes from across the continent. They also discover that the missing daughter (Edwina Booth looking a lot like Fay Wray) is a White Jungle goddess a leader respected by the other tribes who (obviously) speaks only native language(s). As Carey et al are mounted on crosses and placed upside down in what will become an execution pyre she is literally stared down & convinced by her fellow white people to save their lives. After much native language haranguing & protesting she convinces the other tribe leaders to allow the four of them to leave unmolested. However they evidently agreed only to give the whites & their bearer a head start.

The rest of the film (45 minutes?) follows their journey out of the jungle running from the pursuing tribes battling the elements hunger and thirst. There’s even a minor love triangle complication;-) C. Aubrey Smith appears uncredited at the very end of the film.