Dark Of The Sun is one superior action film showing the difficulties of the African liberation period of the 50s and 60s. A whole continent of nations gained their independence from European powers no longer able to govern. In many places the struggle goes on with different players and different issues. No place was more bloody than the Congo now renamed as the Republic of Zaire.
The mineral riches of Africa however are still controlled by the west and nobody wants to lose their investment. Rod Taylor and Jim Brown are a couple of mercenary soldiers who are asked by diamond merchants to retrieve a cache of diamonds from a small town and by the way rescue the people there if you can.
The conflict of Taylor and Brown and their motivations are what sets the story going. Taylor is strictly for hire on a cash basis. Brown likes money, but he's from Africa, got a scholarship for an education in the USA and wants to see democracy and stability in his country. They like, but don't quite get the other.
Into the mix comes Peter Karsten a former Nazi who proudly wears a swastika necklace that Taylor orders him to can. He's absorbed all the values of the country he formerly served.
All of them have to face the rebels who are a bloodthirsty lot. Of all the places that was exploited the former Belgian Congo was far and away the worst. A lot of rage is fueling these people as you'll see in this film.
Yvette Mimieux is one of the rescued people and she ignites a lot of sexual tension between all three men. There's also a nice performance from Kenneth More who is an alcoholic doctor in the John Ford tradition.
Something Jack Cardiff picked up no doubt from Ford when he took over direction of Young Cassidy. The whole espirit de corps notions among the mercenaries is pure Ford and Taylor's breach of that is also dealt with in the film. What the breach is I won't say, but Taylor had just provocation.
Dark Of The Sun holds up well as a portrait of Africa in turmoil in the Sixties. As for the diamond connection, that's still alive and thriving as a viewing of Leonardo DiCaprio's Blood Diamond will show.
In fact they really ought to be viewed back to back. Was Jim Brown a bit too optimistic?
The mineral riches of Africa however are still controlled by the west and nobody wants to lose their investment. Rod Taylor and Jim Brown are a couple of mercenary soldiers who are asked by diamond merchants to retrieve a cache of diamonds from a small town and by the way rescue the people there if you can.
The conflict of Taylor and Brown and their motivations are what sets the story going. Taylor is strictly for hire on a cash basis. Brown likes money, but he's from Africa, got a scholarship for an education in the USA and wants to see democracy and stability in his country. They like, but don't quite get the other.
Into the mix comes Peter Karsten a former Nazi who proudly wears a swastika necklace that Taylor orders him to can. He's absorbed all the values of the country he formerly served.
All of them have to face the rebels who are a bloodthirsty lot. Of all the places that was exploited the former Belgian Congo was far and away the worst. A lot of rage is fueling these people as you'll see in this film.
Yvette Mimieux is one of the rescued people and she ignites a lot of sexual tension between all three men. There's also a nice performance from Kenneth More who is an alcoholic doctor in the John Ford tradition.
Something Jack Cardiff picked up no doubt from Ford when he took over direction of Young Cassidy. The whole espirit de corps notions among the mercenaries is pure Ford and Taylor's breach of that is also dealt with in the film. What the breach is I won't say, but Taylor had just provocation.
Dark Of The Sun holds up well as a portrait of Africa in turmoil in the Sixties. As for the diamond connection, that's still alive and thriving as a viewing of Leonardo DiCaprio's Blood Diamond will show.
In fact they really ought to be viewed back to back. Was Jim Brown a bit too optimistic?