Miraculous Journey

On board a plane flying over an African jungle are Mary, a blind girl on her way to have an operation to restore her sight, Kendricks, a pompous businessman, Patricia, an obnoxious heiress, René La Cour, a performer, Nick Travelli, a gangster and Jane Mason, the stewardess. René recognizes Nick as a racketeer who used to frequent the club where she worked and has fled the U.S., but when he rejects her advances, she tells pilot Larry Burke to send a radio message to have Nick arrested at their next stop. Nick kills the co-pilot, disables the radio and orders Larry to head for the coast. Before they get there, however, the plane runs out of fuel, and Larry is forced to make a crash landing in the jungle. Nick is knocked out in the crash and Larry takes his gun. The other passengers survive but are hysterical. Larry calms them a bit by telling them that, during the war, he was shot down in the South Pacific and therefore knows something about surviving in the jungle. After declaring that the best plan is to stay where they are until a search plane finds them, Larry looks for a suitable site in which to build a camp. Nick decides to leave, but returns after Larry saves him from a leopard attack. At night, around the camp fire, an old hermit suddenly appears, accompanied by a dog. He tells them that they are in the middle of the biggest swamp in the world and that he is the only inhabitant, as the native guide he hired to help him search for diamonds was eaten by a crocodile and he has not been able to find his way out. The hermit offers to help them find food, and later, Kendricks visits the hermit's hut. When he asks to see a sample diamond, the hermit's crow, Jim, brings him one. After Kendricks leaves, Nick tries to make a deal with the hermit and threatens him when he chooses not to cooperate. However, Flame, the hermit's dog, comes to his rescue. Larry who has become romantically involved with Mary, announces that they may be able to escape if they make a canoe. Kendricks, a power in the financial world, is humiliated by all the manual labor he has to do. Later, when René is attacked by a gorilla, Jane, who has been helping Mary, goes to her rescue but is attacked and killed. René then asks Mary to let her take Jane's place. After Larry and Nick finish the canoe, Larry reveals that he intends to leave alone and guide a rescue plane back to the others. Nick persuades René to help him take the canoe himself, and she tells him that his gun is hidden somewhere on the plane. As a storm approaches, Larry finds Nick in the plane, and they fight, until Larry subdues Nick. The next day, Patricia, annoyed by Larry's indifference to her, leads Mary into some quicksand. Flame hears her cries and summons help, and Larry pulls her out just in time. Shamed, Patricia then begs for, and receives, Mary's forgiveness. After René ties up Flame, Nick tells the hermit that he intends to take him and his diamonds with him when he leaves in the canoe. Jim, the crow, however unpicks the knot restraining Flame, and the dog chases after Nick, and the hermit and pushes Nick into the swamp, where he falls victim to a crocodile. Larry sets off in the canoe while the others wait and worry. Some time later, a helicopter carrying Larry lands at the camp. Larry and Mary embrace and he assures her that her operation is still on. Kendricks, with a new perspective on life, states that he intends to use his money for good causes, and they all bid farewell to the hermit, who has decided to remain where he is.