Death Drums Along the River

Edgar Wallace had been popular screen fodder for decades, but this seems to be the first adaptation of his work to hit the big screen in Technicolor, presumably in order to make another James Bond out of district commissioner Sanders. (Ian Fleming had already published a series of articles for 'The Sunday Times' called The Diamond Smugglers', which could easily as served as a title for this.)

The presence of Walter Rilla alerts us to the fact this is a German-British co-production (and German heroine Marianne Koch arrives by Lufthansa while the villain uses a luger). Unlike most European films set below the Equator - which always seem wholly devoid of creepy-crawlies - this film actually acknowledges the inhospitable presence of snakes and crocodiles.