Trader Horn (1931)

Director:

W.S. Van Dyke

Writers:

Ethelreda Lewis (book) and
Dale Van Every (adaptation) ...

Release Date:

23 May 1931 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Romance

Tagline:

WHITE GODDESS OF THE PAGAN TRIBES. THE CRUELEST WOMAN IN ALL AFRICA !

Plot:

While on safari in an unexplored area of Africa, Trader Horn and Peru find missionary Edith Trent killed by natives...

Plot Keywords:

Trader | Africa | Missionary | Safari | Cannibalism

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar.

Cast

Harry Carey	...	Aloysius 'Trader' Horn
Edwina Booth	...	Nina Trent, the White Godess
Duncan Renaldo	...	Peru
Mutia Omoolu	...	Rencharo, Horn's Gun Bearer
Olive Carey	...	Edith Trent (as Olive Golden)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Bob Kortman	...	(scenes deleted)
Marjorie Rambeau	...	Edith Trent (scenes deleted)

Runtime:

122 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Swahili

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | USA:Approved (PCA #1987-R, 23 January 1936 for re-release)

Filming Locations:

Africa

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

Director W.S. Van Dyke and many of the crew contracted malaria and were treated with quinine. Two fatal mishaps occurred during the African filming: a native crewman fell into the river and was eaten by a crocodile, and a native boy was killed by a charging rhino (which was captured on film and is in the movie). Other misfortunes also plagued the production, including flash floods, sunstroke, swarming locusts, and tse-tse fly and ant attacks.

Quotes:

Peru: There are cannibals?
Aloysius 'Trader' Horn: Aye. A God-fearing race they are. Except, as you say, in the matter of diet.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Red-Headed Woman (1932)

Resonant 19th Century Boys' Adventure.

The comments of Ron Oliver and marcslope are interesting and informative and yet what occurs to me is that this antique with all its racist assumptions about the violence and mystery of 'the dark continent' is a relic of late 19th-century Boys' Adventure fiction. These stories by H. Rider Haggard and Edgar Rice Burroughs (as well as dozens of others now forgotten) seem to have had a surprising and lasting life in early talking pictures: TARZAN, THE GREEN GODDESS, SHE and countless serials all featured these mythic adventurers, forgotten white gods and goddesses and black 'savages,' both noble and blood-thirsty. Seeing TRADER HORN reveals that it was among the first and most influential of these movies, so it's unfortunate that it is so little known today.

That's no doubt due to its casual racism as well as the pre-code nudity on the part of the African women filmed on location. But TRADER HORN's naiveté and breath-taking political incorrectness make it a rather fascinating primitive. There are other marks against it: an overlong running time, too-leisurely pacing, wild-life photography that is often dull or (in the case of the slaughter of a rhino and a lion) sickening.

But on the plus side: Harry Carey's direct, natural and gruff performance has been noted by others. I was far more interested in Duncan Renaldo and Edwina Booth. Renaldo was so personable and extraordinarily handsome -- he looked like a prettier Don Ameche and from certain angles seems a dead ringer for a black-haired Brad Pitt -- that I was astonished to have never heard of him. He was certainly no great actor, and yet he had a definite physical presence and was highly photogenic. His Hispanic accent must have been the primary impediment to a career in 'A' pictures. The (in some ways) legendary Edwina Booth turns out to have had a strong facial resemblance to Marlene Dietrich, and like Dietrich she's not a very expressive actress. And yet she throws herself wholeheartedly into her portrait of a wild, willful and childish White Goddess, spitting out all of her dialog in unintelligible movie African. It's camp for sure, but also a gutsy performance.

And the scene in which Carey and Renaldo first meet Booth is memorable: after appearing in their hut wearing only a monkey fur bikini (and showing the kind of long, lean, cut body that contemporary taste demands) she proceeds to have a shrieking tantrum while flogging every African in sight. When confronted by the gorgeous Renaldo, she proceeds to whip him as well (in a scene that obviously inspired a similar one in Clara Bow's CALL HER SAVAGE a year later) while he simply smolders and hardens and she becomes aroused. It is a provocative scene of real sexual tension and something of a revelation.

A bigger one is the fact that in plot and iconography TRADER HORN was an obvious influence on the far more famous and evocative KING KONG. Having grown up with Kong and Fay Wray I was shocked to be watching TRADER HORN for the first time only to note that Carey begot Robert Armstrong as Booth begot Fay Wray and Renaldo begot Bruce Cabot. Such are the random ways that imitation can sometimes unintentionally inspire great folk art.