Stanley and Livingstone

1939 film by Henry King, Otto Brower

Stanley and Livingstone

Theatrical release poster

Directed by| Henry King
Otto Brower (safari sequences)
Written by| Philip Dunne
Julien Josephson
Produced by| Darryl F. Zanuck
Kenneth Macgowan (associate producer)
Starring| Spencer Tracy
Nancy Kelly
Richard Greene
Edited by| Barbara McLean
Music by| R.H. Bassett (uncredited)
Robert Russell Bennett (uncredited)
David Buttolph (uncredited)
Cyril J. Mockridge (uncredited)
David Raksin (uncredited)
Rudy Schrager (uncredited)
Louis Silvers (uncredited)

Production
company

20th Century Fox

Distributed by| 20th Century Fox

Release date

* August 18, 1939 (1939-08-18)

Running time

| 101 minutes
Country| United States
Language| English
Budget| $1,338,000[1]

Stanley and Livingstone is a 1939 American adventure film directed by Henry King and Otto Brower. It is loosely based on the true story of Welsh reporter Sir Henry M. Stanley's quest to find Dr. David Livingstone, a Scottish missionary presumed lost in Africa, who he finally met on November 10, 1871. Spencer Tracy plays Stanley, while Cedric Hardwicke portrays Livingstone. Other cast members include Nancy Kelly, Richard Greene, Walter Brennan, Charles Coburn and Henry Hull.

## Plot

[edit]

Henry Stanley is a fearless newspaper reporter ready to do whatever it takes to get a story, no matter how dangerous. Colonel Grimes tells two peace commissioners sent from Washington DC that he cannot permit them to try to contact the Indians of the Wyoming Territory of 1870, as it would be suicidal, only to have Stanley emerge from the wilderness, escorted by a band of the natives and his guide, Jeff Slocum.

When Stanley returns to New York City, his employer, New York Herald publisher James Gordon Bennett Jr., gives him another near-impossible assignment. The London Globe has announced that an expedition headed by Gareth Tyce, the son of the Globe's publisher, Lord Tyce, has verified that world-renowned missionary David Livingstone is dead. Bennett does not believe it, and would relish embarrassing his rival by proving the story wrong. It is a daunting task, searching the mostly unmapped interior of the "dark continent" for one man, but Stanley accepts the challenge.

On the boat trip to Zanzibar, Stanley makes a very unfavorable impression on fellow passenger Lord Tyce. Stanley meets Eve Kingsley and her father, John Kingsley, the temporary head of the British authorities in Zanzibar. Eve has been seeing Gareth Tyce, recovering from his ordeal, in the hope of getting him to persuade his father to use his influence to have her father reassigned to a more healthy posting back in England. Eve warns Stanley about the dangers of Africa, but he is undeterred.

He, Slocum and a band of native bearers set out into uncharted territory. Months pass with no sign of hope, and Stanley's resolve begins to waver. He also realizes he is in love with Eve. Finally, however, two hunters tell him of a white man they call "doctor" in a village beside Lake Tanganyika. Though feverish, Stanley gets them to guide him there. He sees a white man waiting to greet him. "Dr. Livingstone ... I presume", Stanley hesitantly inquires. It is indeed he.

For several months, Stanley recuperates and follows Livingstone around on his work. The cynical reporter is greatly changed by the experience. Finally, though, he returns to England, bearing Livingstone's plea for assistance. Upon his arrival in London, he is met by Eve, only to discover she is now happily married to Gareth.

When Lord Tyce openly suggests that Stanley fabricated everything, Stanley presents Livingstone's maps and documents to the British Geographical Society for examination and judgment. Despite his heartfelt speech, it is clear to Stanley that too few of the members believe him. As he is leaving the hall, a messenger arrives with news that another expedition has recovered Livingstone's body, as well as the man's last written message, in which he talks glowingly of Stanley. Vindicated, Stanley decides to return to Africa to carry on the great man's work.

## Cast

[edit]

* Spencer Tracy as Henry M. Stanley
* Nancy Kelly as Eve Kingsley
* Richard Greene as Gareth Tyce
* Walter Brennan as Jeff Slocum
* Charles Coburn as Lord Tyce
* Cedric Hardwicke as Dr. David Livingstone
* Henry Hull as James Gordon Bennett, Jr.
* Henry Travers as John Kingsley
* Miles Mander as Sir John Gresham
* David Torrence as Mr. Cranston
* Holmes Herbert as Sir Frederick Holcomb
* C. Montague Shaw as Sir Oliver French (as Montague Shaw)
* Brandon Hurst as Sir Henry Forrester
* Hassan Said as Hassan
* Paul Harvey as Colonel Grimes
* Russell Hicks as Peace Commissioner
* Frank Dae as Peace Commissioner

## Production

[edit]

According to Philip Dunne, the film was originally envisioned as a vehicle for Tyrone Power as Stanley with the script prepared accordingly. Darryl F. Zanuck, head of production at 20th Century Fox was sent a memo suggesting the project be changed to be about a more cynical Stanley who looks for Livingstone as a publicity stunt, then becomes idealistic after meeting him. Zanuck agreed and got Dunne and Julien Josephson to rewrite it.[2]

Dunne later recalled: "Every time Spencer Tracy as the reporter said, 'Dr. Livingstone, I presume,' he started to laugh hysterically, to roll around the studio floor. And Cedric Hardwicke, as the missionary, laughed so hard tears rolled down his cheeks. We did it as an aside, we had to."[3]

The safari sequences were shot in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. The American scenes set in Wyoming were shot in Sun Valley, Idaho.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ James Curtis, Spencer Tracy: A Biography, Alfred Knopf, 2011 p366
2. ^ Philip Dunne, Take Two: A Life in Movies and Politics, Limelight, 1992 p 57-59
3. ^ Philip Dunne looks back at movies' golden age: [SA2 Edition]Jim Bawden Toronto Star 27 Jan 1990: G8.

## External links

[edit]

* Stanley and Livingstone at IMDb
* Stanley and Livingstone at the TCM Movie Database

* v
* t
* e

Films directed by Henry King

* Should a Wife Forgive? (1915)
* Joy and the Dragon (1916)
* Little Mary Sunshine (1916)
* Pay Dirt (1916)
* Shadows and Sunshine (1916)
* The Climber (1917)
* The Mate of the Sally Ann (1917)
* Twin Kiddies (1917)
* Told at Twilight (1917)
* Vengeance of the Dead (1917)
* Souls in Pawn (1917)
* Sunshine and Gold (1917)
* The Bride's Silence (1917)
* A Game of Wits (1917)
* Southern Pride (1917)
* All the World to Nothing (1918)
* Beauty and the Rogue (1918)
* Powers That Prey (1918)
* Hearts or Diamonds? (1918)
* Up Romance Road (1918)
* The Locked Heart (1918)
* Hobbs in a Hurry (1918)
* Social Briars (1918)
* Where the West Begins (1919)
* Brass Buttons (1919)
* Some Liar (1919)
* Six Feet Four (1919)
* A Sporting Chance (1919)
* This Hero Stuff (1919)
* 23 1/2 Hours' Leave (1919)
* A Fugitive from Matrimony (1919)
* Haunting Shadows (1919)
* When a Man Rides Alone (1919)
* The White Dove (1920)
* Uncharted Channels (1920)
* One Hour Before Dawn (1920)
* Help Wanted – Male (1920)
* Dice of Destiny (1920)
* The Mistress of Shenstone (1921)
* When We Were 21 (1921)
* The Sting of the Lash (1921)
* Salvage (1921)
* Tol'able David (1921)
* The Bond Boy (1922)
* The Seventh Day (1922)
* Sonny (1922)
* Fury (1923)
* The White Sister (1923)
* Romola (1924)
* Sackcloth and Scarlet (1925)
* Any Woman (1925)
* Stella Dallas (1925)
* The Winning of Barbara Worth (1926)
* Partners Again (1926)
* The Magic Flame (1927)
* The Woman Disputed (1928)
* She Goes to War (1929)
* Hell Harbor (1930)
* The Eyes of the World (1930)
* Lightnin' (1930)
* Merely Mary Ann (1931)
* Over the Hill (1931)
* The Woman in Room 13 (1932)
* State Fair (1933)
* I Loved You Wednesday (1933)
* Carolina (1934)
* Marie Galante (1934)
* One More Spring (1935)
* Way Down East (1935)
* The Country Doctor (1936)
* Ramona (1936)
* Lloyd's of London (1936)
* Seventh Heaven (1937)
* In Old Chicago (1938)
* Alexander's Ragtime Band (1938)
* Jesse James (1939)
* Stanley and Livingstone (1939)
* Little Old New York (1940)
* Maryland (1940)
* Chad Hanna (1940)
* A Yank in the R.A.F. (1941)
* Remember the Day (1941)
* The Black Swan (1942)
* The Song of Bernadette (1943)
* Wilson (1944)
* A Bell for Adano (1945)
* Margie (1946)
* Captain from Castile (1947)
* Deep Waters (1948)
* Prince of Foxes (1948)
* Twelve O'Clock High (1949)
* The Gunfighter (1950)
* I'd Climb the Highest Mountain (1951)
* David and Bathsheba (1951)
* Wait till the Sun Shines, Nellie (1952)
* O. Henry's Full House (1952)
* The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952)
* King of the Khyber Rifles (1953)
* Untamed (1955)
* Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955)
* Carousel (1956)
* The Sun Also Rises (1957)
* The Bravados (1958)
* This Earth Is Mine (1959)
* Beloved Infidel (1959)
* Tender Is the Night (1962)

* v
* t
* e

Darryl F. Zanuck

Producer|

* Old San Francisco (1927)
* The First Auto (1927)
* The Jazz Singer (1927)
* Tenderloin (1928)
* The Show of Shows (1929)
* Three Faces East (1930)
* The Doorway to Hell (1931)
* Little Caesar (1931)
* Illicit (1931)
* The Public Enemy (1931)
* The Man Who Played God (1932)
* The Rich Are Always with Us (1932)
* Doctor X (1932)
* Life Begins (1932)
* The Cabin in the Cotton (1932)
* Three on a Match (1932)
* 20,000 Years in Sing Sing (1932)
* Parachute Jumper (1933)
* 42nd Street (1933)
* The Working Man (1933)
* Ex-Lady (1933)
* The Bowery (1933)
* Blood Money (1933)
* Moulin Rouge (1934)
* Looking for Trouble (1934)
* Born to Be Bad (1934)
* Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back (1934)
* The Mighty Barnum (1934)
* Folies Bergère de Paris (1935)
* Les Misérables (1935)
* Cardinal Richelieu (1935)
* Call of the Wild (1935)
* Metropolitan (1935)
* Thanks a Million (1935)
* The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo (1935)
* Professional Soldier (1935)
* The Prisoner of Shark Island (1936)
* It Had to Happen (1936)
* A Message to Garcia (1936)
* Under Two Flags (1936)
* The Road to Glory (1936)
* Poor Little Rich Girl (1936)
* Sing, Baby, Sing (1936)
* Pigskin Parade (1936)
* Seventh Heaven (1937)
* Slave Ship (1937)
* Wee Willie Winkie (1937)
* Wake Up and Live (1937)
* Thin Ice (1937)
* Lancer Spy (1937)
* In Old Chicago (1938)
* Happy Landing (1938)
* International Settlement (1938)
* Kentucky Moonshine
* Always Goodbye (1938)
* Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1938)
* Just Around the Corner (1938)
* Little Miss Broadway (1938)
* My Lucky Star (1938)
* Submarine Patrol (1938)
* Jesse James (1939)
* Tail Spin (1939)
* Wife, Husband and Friend (1939)
* The Story of Alexander Graham Bell (1939)
* Rose of Washington Square (1939)
* Stanley and Livingstone (1939)
* The Rains Came (1939)
* Hollywood Cavalcade (1939)
* Swanee River (1939)
* The Little Princess (1939)
* The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
* Little Old New York (1940)
* The Man I Married (1940)
* The Return of Frank James (1940)
* The Great Profile (1940)
* Brigham Young (1940)
* Down Argentine Way (1940)
* The Mark of Zorro (1940)
* Hudson's Bay (1941)
* Tobacco Road (1941)
* The Great American Broadcast (1941)
* Blood and Sand (1941)
* A Yank in the R.A.F. (1941)
* How Green Was My Valley (1942)
* Son of Fury: The Story of Benjamin Blake (1942)
* Sex Hygiene (Short) (1942)
* To the Shores of Tripoli (1942)
* This Above All (1942)
* Thunder Birds (1942)
* The Purple Heart (1944)
* Wilson (1944)
* Winged Victory (1944)
* The Razor's Edge (1946)
* Gentleman's Agreement (1947)
* Fury at Furnace Creek (1948)
* The Snake Pit (1948)
* Pinky (1949)
* Twelve O'Clock High (1949)
* No Way Out (1950)
* All About Eve (1950)
* David and Bathsheba (1951)
* People Will Talk (1951)
* Viva Zapata! (1952)
* The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952)
* The Egyptian (1954)
* The View from Pompey's Head (1955)
* The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (1956)
* Island in the Sun (1957)
* The Sun Also Rises (1957)
* The Roots of Heaven (1958)
* Crack in the Mirror (1960)
* Sanctuary (1961)
* The Big Gamble (1961)
* The Longest Day (1962)
* The Chapman Report (1962)
* The Visit (1964)

Writer|

| as Mark Canfield|

* The Desired Woman (1927) (story)
* Maybe It's Love (1930)
* Baby Face (1933) (story)
* Crack in the Mirror (1960)

|

as Melville Crossman|

* Tenderloin (story) (1928)
* State Street Sadie (story) (1928)
* Thanks a Million (story) (1935)
* A Yank in the R.A.F. (story) (1941)
* Thunder Birds (original story) (1942)
* China Girl (story) (1942)
* The Purple Heart (story) (1944)

as Gregory Rogers|

* Find Your Man (Rin Tin Tin story) (1924)
* The Lighthouse by the Sea (Rin Tin Tin story) (1924)
* Three Weeks in Paris (story, screenplay as Darryl Zanuck) (1925)
* The Midnight Taxi (story) (1928)

as self|

* A Broadway Butterfly (1925)
* Red Hot Tires (1925)
* Hogan's Alley (1925)
* The Caveman (scenario) (1926)
* The Little Irish Girl (adaptation) (1926)
* The Social Highwayman (1926)
* Footloose Widows (1926)
* Across the Pacific (adaptation) (1926)
* The Better 'Ole (screenplay) (1926)
* Tracked by the Police (Rin Tin Tin story) (1927)
* Old San Francisco (1927)
* The First Auto (story) (1927)
* Good Time Charley (story) (1927)
* Noah's Ark (story) (1928)
* My Man (story) (1928)
* Hardboiled Rose (story) (1929)
* Madonna of Avenue A (story) (1929)
* Say It with Songs (story) (1929)
* The Life of the Party (1930)
* Little Caesar (story – uncredited) (1931)
* The Dark Horse (story) (1932)
* Lady Killer (story – uncredited) (1933)
* Folies Bergère de Paris (contributing writer – uncredited) (1935)
* G Men (story) (1935)
* This Is My Affair (story – uncredited) (1937)
* Alexander's Ragtime Band (contributing writer – uncredited) (1938)
* The Great Profile (story – uncredited) (1940)
* Ten Gentlemen from West Point (1942)

People|

* Virginia Fox (wife)
* Richard D. Zanuck (son)
* Dean Zanuck (grandson)

* v
* t
* e

Films directed by Otto Brower

* Avalanche (1928)
* Sunset Pass (1929)
* Stairs of Sand (1929)
* The Light of Western Stars (1930)
* Paramount on Parade (1930) (co-director)
* The Border Legion (1930)
* The Santa Fe Trail (1930)
* Clearing the Range (1931)
* Fighting Caravans (1931)
* The Law of the Sea (1931)
* The Hard Hombre (1931)
* Pleasure (1931)
* The Devil Horse (1932)
* Fighting for Justice (1932)
* Gold (1932)
* The Local Bad Man (1932)
* Cross Fire (1933)
* Headline Shooter (1933)
* Scarlet River (1933)
* Spirit of the West (1932)
* Straightaway (1933)
* Speed Wings (1934)
* I Can't Escape (1934)
* Mystery Mountain (1934)
* The Phantom Empire (1935)
* The Outlaw Deputy (1935)
* Sins of Man (1936)
* Postal Inspector (1936)
* Speed to Burn (1938)
* Road Demon (1939)
* Winner Take All (1939)
* Stanley and Livingstone (1939) (safari)
* Stop, Look and Love (1939)
* Too Busy to Work (1939)
* Men with Steel Faces (archive footage) (1940)
* On Their Own (1940)
* Girl from Avenue A (1940)
* The Gay Caballero (1940)
* Youth Will Be Served (1940)
* Sex Hygiene (1942)
* Little Tokyo, U.S.A. (1942)
* Dixie Dugan (1943)
* Behind Green Lights (1946)

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