Trader Horn (DVD)

Hollywood's first sound-era nondocumentary feature shot on the Dark Continent, Trader Horn is director W.S. Van Dyke's wonder-filled window on an unspoiled African landscape and a rugged adventure that set the bar for decades of exciting safari sagas to come, from the Tarzan tales to Hatari! and The Naked Prey. From the best-selling real-life exploits of explorer Alfred Aloysius "Trader" Horn (played here by rough-and-ready Western star Harry Carey), the journey follows Horn and his partner Peru (future Cisco Kid Duncan Renaldo) on an upriver trading expedition. En route, they meet missionary Edith Trent (Olive Golden, aka Mrs. Harry Carey) and, after a tragic discovery, take up the search for Edith's long-missing daughter. Much to their peril, they encounter a hostile tribe led by a wild-eyed "white goddess" (Edwina Booth). Put yourself in the seats of moviegoers marveling at this 1930-31 Best Picture Academy Award nominee's sights and sounds of exotic African peoples and wildlife for the first time - and be enthralled.

• action
• adventure
• drama