Although "Drums of Africa" was bankrolled by a major Hollywood studio (Metro Goldwyn Mayer), it seems that the studio executives decided for this particular production to cut costs where possible. This can be seen with the "outdoor" scenes obviously filmed on indoor stages, outdoor locations that look suspiciously like southern California, but most of all with the use of stock footage - a TON of stock footage. In fact, I suspect that the screenwriter was shown this stock footage before starting on his typewriter and was told, "Write a story that uses all of this stock footage." It would explain why there is barely a plot on display. Most of the movie consists of the characters wandering around the jungle and African plains with little to nothing of consequence happening. In the end, this is far from Frankie's finest hour... that is, if he ever had a fine hour.
Review of Drums of Africa
