Mariette Hartley deserved better than to be cast in this mistake of a movie which supposedly takes place in 1883. Frankie Avalon is groomed like a 1960s guy, talks like a 1960s guy ("Terrific!") and likewise deserved better. Torin Thatcher does a nice performance however, he was quite the trouper, and is very believable. Lloyd Bochner is right about where he belonged in this type of movie, but the entire leading and supporting cast members all seem to be embarrassed by what they know will be a terrible movie. The cuts to wildlife action are really poor, totally unrealistic and embarrassingly obviously faked. At the end of the opening credits, where the date of production appears in Roman numerals, they even got that wrong MCMXLIII which means 1943 it should have been MCMLXIII for 1963. I half-expected Frankie to all of a sudden appear driving a 1962 Thunderbird through the bush.
Review of Drums of Africa
