"Tanganyika" is an adventure movie in which one finds two plots:
All that concerns John and Peggy is derivative to a fault : the grumpy rugged adventurer and the brave gorgeous girl ,how many times has one seen them? As soon as they appear ,one knows what lays in store for them .One unusual thing just the same : the children who have lost their daddy do not shed a tear ,and as they ride their pet donkeys ,they seem to have completely forgotten him .Afterward ,no hint at this tragic loss ,life goes on ,but for children this age ,it's downright implausible; John may play the role of a surrogate father,but nothing shows it .Ditto for Dan.
All that concerns the bothers is the real meat of the movie,and it should have been more developed ; the outcast who escapes from civilization is a derivative subject ("swamp water" remade as "lure of the wilderness" "run of the arrow" ) ,but it is given here an interesting treatment ; thus Howard Duff's part is much more intriguing than Roman's and Heflin's ones; the viewer is given a clue early in the movie : the watch .Halfway through one does not know whether Dan is a virtuous gent or a baddie ; ironically,the screenwriters called his criminal sibling Abel!A misnomer for their first meeting (after nine years) shows a man who might be sympathetic and who urges his tribe to kill the white men because he was unfairly treated (crime is self-defence?).In spite of everything, Dan loves his brother and desperately urges him to give himself up and stand a fair trial :unfortunately the script is botched and soon Abel becomes a cartoon baddie .
All that concerns John and Peggy is derivative to a fault : the grumpy rugged adventurer and the brave gorgeous girl ,how many times has one seen them? As soon as they appear ,one knows what lays in store for them .One unusual thing just the same : the children who have lost their daddy do not shed a tear ,and as they ride their pet donkeys ,they seem to have completely forgotten him .Afterward ,no hint at this tragic loss ,life goes on ,but for children this age ,it's downright implausible; John may play the role of a surrogate father,but nothing shows it .Ditto for Dan.
All that concerns the bothers is the real meat of the movie,and it should have been more developed ; the outcast who escapes from civilization is a derivative subject ("swamp water" remade as "lure of the wilderness" "run of the arrow" ) ,but it is given here an interesting treatment ; thus Howard Duff's part is much more intriguing than Roman's and Heflin's ones; the viewer is given a clue early in the movie : the watch .Halfway through one does not know whether Dan is a virtuous gent or a baddie ; ironically,the screenwriters called his criminal sibling Abel!A misnomer for their first meeting (after nine years) shows a man who might be sympathetic and who urges his tribe to kill the white men because he was unfairly treated (crime is self-defence?).In spite of everything, Dan loves his brother and desperately urges him to give himself up and stand a fair trial :unfortunately the script is botched and soon Abel becomes a cartoon baddie .