Stanley and Livingstone (1939)

When American newspaperman and adventurer Henry M. Stanley comes back from the western Indian wars, his editor James Gordon Bennett sends him to Africa to find Dr. David Livingstone, the ... See full summary »

Directors:

Henry King, Otto Brower

Writers:

Philip Dunne (screen play), Julien Josephson (screen play)

Stars:

Spencer Tracy, Nancy Kelly, Richard Greene

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Spencer Tracy	...	Henry M. Stanley
Nancy Kelly	...	Eve Kingsley
Richard Greene	...	Gareth Tyce
Walter Brennan	...	Jeff Slocum
Charles Coburn	...	Lord Tyce
Cedric Hardwicke	...	Dr. David Livingstone (as Sir Cedric Hardwicke)
Henry Hull	...	James Gordon Bennett Jr.
Henry Travers	...	John Kingsley
Miles Mander	...	Sir John Gresham
David Torrence	...	Mr. Cranston
Holmes Herbert	...	Frederick Holcomb
C. Montague Shaw	...	Sir Oliver French (as Montague Shaw)
Brandon Hurst	...	Sir Henry Forrester
Hassan Said	...	Hassan
Paul Harvey	...	Colonel Grimes

Storyline

When American newspaperman and adventurer Henry M. Stanley comes back from the western Indian wars, his editor James Gordon Bennett sends him to Africa to find Dr. David Livingstone, the missing Scottish missionary. Stanley finds Livingstone ("Dr. Livingstone, I presume.") blissfully doling out medicine and religion to the happy natives. His story is at first disbelieved. When Livingstone later dies, Stanley returns to continue the good doctor's work (which, of course, never really happened).

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Plot Keywords:

henry m. stanley character | dr. david livingstone character | three word title | surnames as title | character names as title | 

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Taglines:

He succeeded in the maddest quest in History...because one girl believed in him!

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Genres:

Adventure | Drama | History

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

18 August 1939 (USA)

Also Known As:

Stanley et Livingstone

Filming Locations:

20th Century Fox Studios - 10201 Pico Blvd., Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$2,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox

Technical Specs

Runtime:

101 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The movie was dubbed into Spanish, Portuguese and Dutch.

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Goofs

Early in the film, Stanley's editor states he has arranged passage to London for Stanley on the steamer Great Eastern. The film at this point was set in 1870. The SS Great Eastern had ceased serving as a passenger ship well before 1870 and was just ending its service as a cable laying vessel.

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Quotes

Henry M. Stanley: Dr. Livingstone, I presume?
[Henry M. Stanley said this on Friday, October 27th 1871, in reality]
Dr. David Livingstone: Yes!
Henry M. Stanley: Thank God, Doctor, I have been permitted to see you.

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Crazy Credits

To the officials of His Majesty's government in British East Africa, the producers wish to express their appreciation for the cooperation that made possible the filming of the safari sequences in Kenya, Tanganyka and Uganda.

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Connections

Referenced in The Things of Love (1989)

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Soundtracks

Onward Christian Soldiers
(uncredited)
Music from "St. Gertrude" by Arthur Sullivan (1871)
Hymn by Sabine Baring-Gould (1865)
Played when Stanley finds Livingstone and often as background music
Sung a cappella by natives
Reprised at the end by offscreen chorus and orchestra

User Reviews

Exhilarating, Tender, Human, Awe-Inspiring, Wonderful, See It!

Hollywood brings us Uganda, Kenya and Tanganyika as it will never be seen again. The scenery is electrifyingly beautiful. But this is no story for the sake of a travelog...It is a beautiful account of the true historic struggles of newspaperman, Henry Stanley to find "lost" missionary, Dr. David Livingston.

Spencer Tracy, Cedric Hardwicke, Charles Coburn, Nancy Kelly and Walter Brennan bring us wonderful performances full of humanity and depth.

One fine scene in the movie when Stanley encounters extremely hostile adversaries on his way to find Livingston is just about one of the most exciting sequences I have seen on the screen and should there be only one reason to see this movie, then this is it. It is electrifying to see what certainly must have been true African citizens partake in such a very authentic looking ambush. No disrespectful depiction of Africans as seen so often in Tarzan movies will you see here.

Rarely does Hollywood brings us such respectful detail in its depiction of the African citizen as he was when they encountered outsiders. Also, the citizens do not have that awful spurious look that most depictions of Africans are so prone to have from Hollywood in its racism of the past. But then 1939 was a landmark year, wasn't it?

There is so much history that we are inclined to forget too easily and relegate to the dust of the shelves of history.

This is one story that must be heard - if not for anything else than for its sheer humanity.

Exhilarating, Tender, Human, Awe-Inspiring, Wonderful, See It!