American insurance investigator Scott Walters is sent to London to interview businessman Perry Henderson about his US$2 million insurance policy leaving his elderly mother as sole beneficiary. Walters meets and is taken with Perry's personal secretary Marian Taylor but wishes to speak to Perry. His cousin Arthur Henderson explains that Perry is deep sea diving off the coast of Portuguese East Africa but doesn't tell Walters he is after deposits of diamonds on the sea bed. Alarmed by the danger, Walters tells Arthur to make Perry stop all dangerous activities or he will forfeit his policy. Walters attempts to romance Marian, but when he is rebuffed he returns to America. Boarding the plane, he sees a newspaper headline that Perry was swept overboard off the SS Nigeria during a storm when the ship was off Lourenço Marques. Walters leaves the plane to inform Marian but her landlady is cleaning her recently vacated flat saying that Marian flew off to South Africa. His suspicions aroused, Walters flies to South Africa where he attempts to book passage on the SS Nigeria, a coastal tramp steamer. Walters finds the ship has departed, but he flies to Beira to board her there where he books accommodation sharing a compartment with Pitt, an English salesman. During a storm Pitt and Walters are the only passengers well enough to leave their cabin to dine with the ship's captain. Keeping his occupation a secret, Walters infuriates the captain by attempting to question him about Perry's death. Walters’s suspicions are further aroused when he discovers that the only witnesses to Perry's death were employees of his firm, which also owned the SS Nigeria. The next day Walters finds a secret compartment on the ship and finds a cigarette butt on the compartment's floor bearing the markings of Perry's bespoke cigarettes. Walters also discovers Marian is a passenger aboard. Marian informs the captain that she does not want Walters to bother her. During a storm the next night, Pitt borrows Walters's trench coat to go outside. One of the crew coshes Pitt and attempts to throw him overboard but his efforts are stopped when Marian screams. Walters deduces the crewman mistook Pitt for himself and wanted him dead. When Marian goes ashore the crew attempt to keep Walters on board but he literally jumps ship and tracks Marian to Northern Rhodesia. A safari is taking her into the jungle where she supposedly is going to meet Perry's mother. With the help of a police superintendent, Walters tracks down Perry's mother. Walters pursues Marian to discover the truth about Perry's whereabouts, with Marian being increasingly attracted to him. Walters and Marian find Perry, but they have to flee, taking with them Vincent, an African who was Perry's right hand man, and pursued by Perry and his African helpers. The fugitives are in danger of death by water, gunshot and wild beasts, but are rescued in the nick of time by the police superintendent. The film ends with Walters and Marian embracing.
Cast
Production notes
It was the first production from Todon, a company of Tony Owens and his wife Donna Reed.
Production Dates: 24 Aug-early Dec 1953
Although the copyright states that the screenplay was based on an original story by S. K. Kennedy, a July 1953 Variety article reports that screenwriters Samuel Marx and Tommy Morrison used a German novel originally published in 1942 as its source.
During production, this was the last film for assistant director Anthony Kelly. He died when he was thrown from his overturned canoe into a whirlpool on the Zambesi River and then into the jaws of crocodiles
The Hollywood Reporter review noted that after audiences at a 29 July 1954 Los Angeles preview jeered at the film's ending, Warner Bros. re-edited the final scenes. The Variety review lists the running time of the British release as 105 minutes; reviews of the American version list the running time as 98 min
Michael Mataka who sings the song The Night Belongs to Me became the first native African to become commissioner of the Zambian Police.
Reception
According to Owen the film made $3 million. It launched Todon on a series of films set in Africa with American leads. In 1954 it was expected the film would earn $2 million in the US, returning $1.2 million to Britain.
