CORNEL WILDE, DONNA REED & CHRISTOPHER LEE 'BEYOND MOMBASA'

Title: BEYOND MOMBASA Year: 1956 Rating: ***

The same year and basically the same plot-line of Terence Young's SAFARI,, where a scoundrel safari guide romances a lovely sophisticated woman by having nothing in common but both being attractive...

And the fact he also has a revenge-driven ulterior motive, in this case his brother having been murdered, BEYOND MOMBASA is slightly edgier since Cornel Wilde's overall rogue attitude are far more intriguing than Victor Mature's... 

Cornel Wilde and Donna Reed in BEYOND MOMBASA

However, ingenue Donna Reed is so set in her upper-class ways, there's no real suspense to the polar opposites hooking up... and there's the far-too-friendly missionary Leo Genn with a predictably hidden agenda alongside a handsome throwaway British sidekick in Ron Randall, and future Hammer star Christopher Lee as Wilde's opposing hunter-maverick, who, sadly, doesn't come to much...

What really works is Cornell Wilde's performance despite otherwise adventurously famous director George Marshall... using plenty of superimposed wildlife footage while mostly filming in a British movie studio (same as DUEL IN THE JUNGLE))... never completely backing his effective (even when dead drunk) intensity throughout. 

Cornel Wilde and Christopher Lee in BEYOND MOMBASA with Donna Reed and Leo Genn

Cornel Wilde and Christopher Lee in BEYOND MOMBASA

Christopher Lee in BEYOND MOMBASA