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IMDbPro

West of Zanzibar

  • 1954
  • Approved
  • 1h 24m
IMDb RATING
5.7/10
193
YOUR RATING
Sheila Sim and Anthony Steel in West of Zanzibar (1954)
The story of native tribesmen who move towards Mombasa, getting drawn info the world of ivory smuggling.
Play trailer2:18
1 Video
12 Photos
AdventureDrama

The story of native tribesmen who move towards Mombasa, getting drawn info the world of ivory smuggling.The story of native tribesmen who move towards Mombasa, getting drawn info the world of ivory smuggling.The story of native tribesmen who move towards Mombasa, getting drawn info the world of ivory smuggling.

  • Director
    • Harry Watt
  • Writers
    • Max Catto
    • Jack Whittingham
    • Harry Watt
  • Stars
    • Anthony Steel
    • Sheila Sim
    • William Simons
  • See production, box office & company info
  • IMDb RATING
    5.7/10
    193
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Harry Watt
    • Writers
      • Max Catto
      • Jack Whittingham
      • Harry Watt
    • Stars
      • Anthony Steel
      • Sheila Sim
      • William Simons
    • 9User reviews
    • 4Critic reviews
  • See more at IMDbPro
  • Videos1

    Trailer
    Trailer 2:18
    Watch Trailer

    Photos12

    Sheila Sim in West of Zanzibar (1954)
    Orlando Martins, Sheila Sim, and Anthony Steel in West of Zanzibar (1954)
    Sheila Sim in West of Zanzibar (1954)
    Anthony Steel in West of Zanzibar (1954)
    William Simons in West of Zanzibar (1954)
    Sheila Sim in West of Zanzibar (1954)
    Sheila Sim and Anthony Steel in West of Zanzibar (1954)
    Sheila Sim in West of Zanzibar (1954)
    Sheila Sim in West of Zanzibar (1954)
    Sheila Sim in West of Zanzibar (1954)
    Sheila Sim and Anthony Steel in West of Zanzibar (1954)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Anthony Steel
    Anthony Steel
    • Bob Payton
    Sheila Sim
    Sheila Sim
    • Mary Payton
    William Simons
    William Simons
    • Tim Payton
    Orlando Martins
    Orlando Martins
    • M'Kwongwi
    Edric Connor
    • Ushingo
    David Osieli
    • Ambrose - Ushingo's Son
    Bethlehem Sketch
    • Bethlehem - Ushingo's Son
    Martin Benson
    Martin Benson
    • Lawyer Dhofar
    Peter Illing
    Peter Illing
    • Khingoni
    Edward Johnson
    • Half Breed
    Juma
    • Juma
    Howard Marion-Crawford
    Howard Marion-Crawford
    • Wood
    • (as Howard Marion Crawford)
    Stuart Lindsell
    • Colonel Ryan
    • (as R. Stuart Lindsell)
    Sheik Abdullah
    • Dhow Captain
    Joanna Kitau
    • Ketch African
    Roy Cable
    • Senior Official
    Fatuma
    • Tana
    Arabs and Africans of Kenya Tanganyika Uganda and Zanzibar
    • Director
      • Harry Watt
    • Writers
      • Max Catto
      • Jack Whittingham
      • Harry Watt
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

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    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Opening credits: The events and characters portrayed in this film are wholly fictitious.
    • Goofs
      When the poachers are hunting the elephants, a kookaburra call is clearly heard. Kookaburras are only found in Australia, a continent thousands of miles east of Zanzibar.
    • Quotes

      Mary Payton: Don't you understand what all this is doing to innocent African tribes?

      Lawyer Dhofar: Perhaps I do. Perhaps I do not. But, but Mrs. Payton don't you think you are being a little, to put it delicately, starry-eyed about these so-called innocent tribes? Oh. come, Mrs. Payton, we must be realists. The world cannot wait for civilisation to catch up with the primitive black man.

      Mary Payton: For one thing, this ivory business is destroying a fine, pastoral people, the Golanas; turning them into slum savages.

      Lawyer Dhofar: But Mrs. Payton, in Africa, that is what the black man is doomed to be - a slum savage. Oh, it is regrettable but inevitable. Perhaps you conveniently forget your Industrial Revolution and what it did to your people?

      Lawyer Dhofar: Africa, Mr Payton, is having its own industrial revolution. And no sentimental heart-burning is going to stop it.

      Lawyer Dhofar: But you, speaking as an African...

      Lawyer Dhofar: I am not an African. A Phoenician, perhaps; a Persian even - but not an African.

      Bob Payton: I'm proud to call myself an East African.

      Lawyer Dhofar: It is easy for a conqueror to be magnanimous. You are not an African, Mr. Payton. What are your inmost thoughts at this moment? Because I talk to you as man to man. Aren't they "I'd like to smack this little wog on the kisser?" Or something like that? I am a barrister-at-law, Mr Payton, a graduate of the Sorbonne but out here, my home, I am a wog. A munt. A nigger, even. And you ask me to sympathise with you in perpetuating that? I'm all for a change, Mr Payton, and if because of it the picturesque Golanas disappear, it's just too bad. That is the right expression, isn't it?

      Lawyer Dhofar: But please forgive me. You must have so many missionary activities to occupy you, I must not detain you any longer.

      Bob Payton: Now look here...

      Lawyer Dhofar: In this cynical world, it is indeed charming to meet an idealist. Best of luck to you, Mrs Payton. Mr Payton, may you cure the growing pains of Africa.

      Bob Payton: [now outside the office] Phew, that didn't go according to plan.

    • Connections
      Follows Ivory Hunter (1951)

    User reviews9

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    3/10
    Dull And Slow
    At times it is difficult to make out if this film is supposed to be a dramatic narrative film or a glorified travelogue.Since this was the pre jet age,not many people could journey to Africa and see these sights for themselves.They could view them in black and white on their 12 inch TV screens but that was it.So the antics of the dung beetle seem to supplant the importance of moving the plot onwards.In the cinema the audience had to suffer in silence whereas we can now happily fast forward.the plot is about ivory poaching,apparently as bad then as it is now.Anthony Steel plays the game warden and seems to be carved out of ivory himself.Sylvia Simm seems to have a different costume for every scene.Michael Balcon's Ealing only had 2 years remaining,and watching lame efforts like this ,it is not very surprising.
    helpful•3
    10
    • malcolmgsw
    • Mar 4, 2015

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • January 17, 1955 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United Kingdom
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Westlich Sansibar
    • Filming locations
      • Zanzibar, Tanzania
    • Production companies
      • Ealing Studios
      • Schlesinger Organization
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Technical specs

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    • Runtime
      1 hour 24 minutes
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.66 : 1

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