Men Against the Sun (1953)

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

I was looking forward to this British B-movie as it offered something different: an adventure flick shot on location in Kenya, no less, back when it was still a British colony. Sadly, the film is saddled with the most routine storyline ever, with one inept action scene after another failing to ignite the passions in any way, shape, or form.John Bentley gives a stolid turn as a railway surveyor, attempting to build a railway line through an inhospitable mountain range in Kenya. There are a few problems with the natives to contend with, although some man-eating lions are the chief opponents here. Expect some stock footage of African game, some listless romance with starlet Zena Marshall, and not a whole lot else. The ending is as abrupt as can be and looks like they ran out of either money or film in the camera. I'd recommend skipping this one in favour of something better.

John Bentley was perhaps Britain's most prolific B feature romantic leading actor in the late 40s and 50s. Never ever a baddie, never* a cop but out to do right (notably as Paul Temple) handsome, well dressed, well-spoken, smooth, charming but rather self deprecating and humorous, he usually got the good-looking girl (in one case a young Dinah Sheridan) however remained at all times a perfect gentleman and decent chap. A man who could be thoroughly relied on to have a light mac - or smart overcoat - he forsakes these and the 20th Century for safari gear, and his London haunts including the inevitable nightclub in furtherance of his enquiries, for an action man role in the 1890s "Colony of Kenya" bush. His challenge is to build the colony's first railway but firstly to deal with the baddies human and animal with the aid of a rifle and decent trusty locals. More challenging perhaps is winning the heart of the young English female doctor he is thrown together with. It is very much in the mould of his London-set quota quickies but very nicely shot on location, terrain and people.*In 1958/59, obviously prompted by this film, Bentley did a 30 episode TV series "African Patrol", set in Kenya playing a police Inspector. In 1958 he successfully starred as the Captain in a minor American film "Submarine Seahawk"