Mariette Hartley deserved better than to be cast in this mistake of a movie which supposedly takes place in 1883. Frankie Avalon is groomed like a 1960s guy, talks like a 1960s guy ("Terrific!
What an amalgam of scenes from King Solomon's Mine, a North American Forest Fire , and terrible African Plain studio sets. The plot is all over the place, acting is weak, throw in Frankie Avalon who is supposed to be living in the later 1800's yet sings and speaks right out of the 1960's and you must ask yourself why did they make this to begin with.
Singer Frankie Avalon, Mariette Hartley, and Lloyd Bochner star in this adventure trip in Africa. First down a river, then on land, where they meet Courtemayne, the guide (Torin Thatcher).
Lloyd Bochner's character lectures Frankie Avalon about women. He says there are ten thousand million women in the world.
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.
With enough location footage shot from King Solomon's Mines to give Drums Of Africa a smidgen of authenticity MGM saved a lot of bucks not sending Frankie Avalon and the rest of the cast to East Africa for some real location shooting. No way was MGM going to spend a lot on what is clearly a B picture film.
.JPG)
