I find that the character of Grant, Casey's paid companion, to be the singular most annoying and detracting element of this film. She appears in the first 1/2 of this picture and her smug, hip- swinging, one-dimensional portrait of a mixed-race paid companion is amateurish at its best, almost unbearable at its worst. One wonders why millionaire Casey couldn't find someone much nicer. The second half is when the picture picks up. We leave the sobbing, overacting Grant behind and venture into the savanna with two men intent on conquering their separate obsessions. I have always thought Stewart Granger was an underrated actor. Previous reviews had criticized his performance in this picture as sleepwalking, or barely there. My opinion is different. I feel that his characterization is spot on -- he is portraying a man who fancies himself in total control over all he surveys -- the animals, "his" natives, and himself most of all. Thus, the one thing in his past that he could not control is the one thing he has to kill. Then, of all things, he could not do it. It was a moment of more than just self- awareness -- it was self-acceptance.
BTW, Granger only made three "great white hunter" pictures -- King Solomon's Mines (the main plot of which has him hunting treasure, not animals), Harry Black and the Tiger (obsessively hunting one tiger and one ex-wife), and this film. Also, The Last Safari is not a "jungle" picture as has been stated. It takes place on the East African savannas.
BTW, Granger only made three "great white hunter" pictures -- King Solomon's Mines (the main plot of which has him hunting treasure, not animals), Harry Black and the Tiger (obsessively hunting one tiger and one ex-wife), and this film. Also, The Last Safari is not a "jungle" picture as has been stated. It takes place on the East African savannas.