I took a chance on this with a purchase from one of the internet companies manufacturing DVDs from long out of print movie sources. This is a leisurely black and white film of two hours that peaked my interest on several occasions and kept me watching, avidly, for the entire course. The cast is great, with Carey playing a tough hunter-trader who nevertheless displays his tender moments as well. Renaldo, apparently a Romanian at birth, later became the Cisco Kid star of the television serial, plays a likable young man. The lovely Booth, who first appears as little more than a blonde animal, slowly begins to get in touch with her feminine side as the movie progresses. I liked these people along with the stoic and dependable gun-bearer. Filmed over seven months in just the right locations in Africa, the crew was plagued by the hostile elements: Booth became extremely ill as a consequence, and two extras actually died, one to a crocodile and the other to a charging rhinoceros. The movie therefore touched me personally and brought back old memories. In 1978 at the age of 23, the same age that Renaldo plays in the movie, I spent six months in Africa, first crossing the Sahara north to south, then from north Nigeria into Chad and into the Cameroon, Central African Empire, Zaire, and out through Uganda into Kenya. Judging from my experience, I believe that much of the film took place in the Cameroon, Central African Empire and northeastern Zaire (Congo). My troubles were not with marauding tribesmen, but with killer bees, various revolutions, sundry criminals, millions of army ants, bad water, and scorpions, etc. I personally attest that these are real Africans, real African villages, real animals, and this authenticity, including the native drums, brought me back to my youth and life living on the ground in a small tent through similar villages and terrain. Three exciting phases in the film hit me hard: all while in the native villages. When you are vastly outnumbered on somebody else's terrain and they are armed with spears and growing excited from the relentless throb of the drums, you might count your life in seconds. Ah, but it beats dying slowly behind a desk! You will flinch at several of the racist words in this film, but will also recognize the love and respect between Carey and his gun-bearer. Such emotions come easy between men who have each other's backs. Grab this film and sit back and enjoy without distraction!

This is a very strange film. It gets 10 of 10 for the photography and the shot of the cat being killed (That scene did not look staged), but about 1 star for the characters. None of these them really did anything for me (Liked or disliked), and I think it goes back to the actors involved. If MGM would have chosen actors like John Barrymore or Walace Beery instead of Harry Carey as Horn, Gable (Instead of Duncan Renaldo ("The Cisco Kid)) as Peru. Finally, last but certainly not least, Myrna Loy (Who has played unusual characters like Fu Manchu's daughter (Fah Lo See) in the "Mask of Fu Manchu" or Ursula Georgi in "13 Women"), instead of Edwina Booth, although hot to look at (You can actually see her very nice breasts in one scene) she is not Myrna in the acting department. With actors like these (Except Barrymore, all of whom were at MGM at the time), you could have had a classic like "King Kong", instead, you have a disappointment.

...and you can see why this film caught the attention of the Academy at the time. For the same reasons that viewing live musical performances from 1970's TV don't excite in the age of the Ipod, anyone who views this from the perspective of someone who has 24/7 access to Animal Planet and the Discovery Channel won't get what the big deal is of seeing Africa's wildlife on film. From today's standards, the wildlife isn't even that clearly photographed. In 1931, though, most people had never seen such sights.When I first saw the year this film was made and that it was a startling 123 minutes long for a film made in the early 30's, I somewhat suspected I was going to be subject to some preposterous maudlin melodrama in the MGM tradition that went on forever, but it is packed with action and has a very good story. The story involves seasoned African adventurer Aloysius "Trader" Horn (Harry Carey) taking Peru (Duncan Renaldo), 23 year-old son of an old friend, on his first big adventure into Africa. Along the way they run into a missionary, also a friend of Horn. She has been preaching among the natives and seeking the daughter that was stolen from her by the natives for twenty years. Soon thereafter, Horn and Peru are captured by a group of natives led by a young white woman - presumed to be the daughter of the missionary woman. Horn, Peru, and their native gun bearer are slated for a horrible execution by the natives unless the young white girl intercedes on their behalf. If she does will the other natives even listen? And if they do listen, how will our protagonists get back to the closest trading post without their guns, which have been confiscated by their captors? Some of the language tossed around, such as Trader Horn calling the African villagers "monkeys" will likely cause you to cringe, but - again - you must remember this dialog is a product of its time. The film did show a surprising and touching camaraderie between Horn and his native gun bearer, Rencharo.Also note the precode element in this film. Native women are plainly shot unclothed from the waist up, which is probably very much based in reality. If this film had been made five years later that would not have happened. Of course, even in the precode era, this might be OK for the native "savages" but not for the grown white girl raised by them. She has a kind of make-shift fur top on that still shows a great deal, but not everything.The film elements on this one are somewhat shaggy, the contrast is poor, and it cries out for restoration. In spite of all of this, I still recommend it to fans of this era of film-making as a unique cinematic experience.

I woke up in the middle of the night in my apartment in New York City, turned on Turner Classic Movies, and here is this amazing adventure in Africa captured on film that deserves a "10" for tremendous.What an effort making this movie must have been for everyone involved. The sheer magnitude of the undertaking is something that would never get produced today. Only though the magic looking glass of film can we witness fiction and nonfiction brought together on such scale.For kids who love "Star Wars" or "Lord of the Rings" or the new crop of video-game movies, imagining what it was like for the cast and crew of "Trader Horn" to accomplish what they did is something entirely different. There's nothing digital here; it's all real. You can SMELL the animals on the plains of the old (and gone) Africa, a brutal and far more primordial place than it is today, all filmed without CGI or green-screen gimmickry.The cast includes Harry Carey in the title role (who performed in more than 250 films) along with the arrestingly beautiful young actress, Edwina Booth, playing a bizarre White Goddess, and who, like many of the cast and crew, was so wiped out and sick from what must have been grindingly grueling conditions on location in Africa, in 1930, that it basically ended her acting career. Two of the crew died during filming; one consumed by crocodiles, and one native boy charged by a rhino in a scene captured and kept in the film. Duncan Renaldo (who played the Cisco Kid years later on television) adds another dimension to the ensemble of the four leading players, completed by Mutia Omoolu, a native African playing Trader Horn's gun bearer in the only role of his life, plus hundreds of extras and other African actors whose names are lost to history.Fortunately, the remarkable effort of the people who created "Trader Horn" is not lost. Today, and for generations to come, we can experience this truly amazing adventure in Africa and "miracle of pictures."