Death Drums along the River [Sanders] ** (1963, Richard Todd, Marianne Koch, Albert Lieven, Walter Rilla) – Classic Movie Review 5821

Richard Todd gives a solid star turn as dogged British colonial district commissioner Inspector Harry Sanders in director Lawrence Huntington’s dully written, freely adapted 1963 remake of Edgar Wallace’s famous 1911 African adventure novel Sanders of the River.

They only use the characters from the novel and place them in a totally different story, a standard detective yarn involving murder and diamond smuggling, in which the usual African adventure excitements happen.

Todd’s Inspector Harry Sanders investigates a doctor smuggling diamonds at an African outpost hospital where there is soon a killing too.

It is a glum if acceptable potboiler, unenlivened by the performances or handling, as there is little flair in the acting or style in the direction, though Todd gives his usual reliable turn in the lead.

Also in the cast are Marianne Koch as Dr Inge Jung, Albert Lieven as Dr Franz Weiss, Walter Rilla as Dr Schneider, Vivi Bach as Nurse Marlene Dorfman, Jeremy Lloyd as Tom Hamilton, Robert Arden as Jim Hunter, Simon Sabela as Bosambo and Bill Brewer (dubbed by Francis De Wolff) as Jack Pearson.

Re-titled Sanders in the US, it is a 1963 British-German-South African international co-production, with British producer Harry Alan Towers gaining West German financing from Constantin Film and using a cast of West German actors as well as British and South African actors.

Death Drums along the River [aka Sanders] is written by Harry Alan Towers, Lawrence Huntington, Nicolas Roeg and Kevin Kavanagh, ‘suggested by’ Edgar Wallace’s famous story of African adventure Sanders of the River. It is shot in Technicolor and TechniScope by Robert Huke, scored by Sidney Torch and produced by Harry Alan Towers. It is filmed on location in South Africa, in Durban, Durban North, Zululand and Lake St Lucia, and on the backlot of Universal Studios, California, with stock scenes of big game and wild animals.

It is previously filmed as Sanders of the River (1935) with Paul Robeson and Leslie Banks.

There is a 1965 sequel: Coast of Skeletons, also with Todd.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 5821

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