Wakamba
Cast & Crew
Edgar M. Queeny
Paul E. Prentiss
Richard E. Bishop
E. G. S. Blanckart
Jack J. Clink
S. B. Eckert
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
In Kenya, Bantu native and hunter Tandu decides to marry the village's most prized young woman. Her father, a shrewd trader, agrees to the match if Tandu can provide an offering of ivory from the largest elephant tusks he can find. Tandu accepts the challenge, knowing he will have to hunt and kill the elephant herd's leader, a large, powerful rogue bull. Tracking the herd leads Tandu into a previously unknown area of the jungle where he encounters a vast variety of jungle life including leopards, lions, hippos, rhinos, falcons, gazelles, basket birds, buffalo and wild dogs. After a series of adventures, Tandu corners the fierce bull elephant and succeeds in killing the animal with a poison arrow. Returning to his village with the tusks, Tandu is married in a traditional ceremony.
Director
Edgar M. Queeny
Crew
Richard E. Bishop
E. G. S. Blanckart
Jack J. Clink
S. B. Eckert
Fort B. Guerin Jr.
Howard Jackson
Donald I. Ker
V. C. Lewis
Edgar M. Queeny
Edgar M. Queeny
Charles L. Tedford
Fred Wardenburg
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The brief November 1952 Motion Picture Herald review of the film at its premiere lists the running time as 82 minutes. The film was picked up for distribution by RKO in March 1955, and the reviews upon its release give a 65 minute running time. The SAB lists the production companies as Jarville Studios and American Museum of National History. Wakamba was a "follow-up" to industrialist Edgar M. Queeny's 1952 travelogue documentary Latuko, which was compiled from footage shot by Queeny over a four month period in Kenya in 1950. The Variety review of Latuko indicated that three more films would be made with the Kenyan footage, but Wakamba was the only additional film produced. Unlike the earlier film, Wakamba creates a narrative story around the substantial footage of African wild life.
