White Witch Doctor (film)

Plot

The arrival of nurse Ellen Burton to the Belgian Congo is unwelcome to hunter John "Lonni" Douglas (Robert Mitchum), who captures animals for zoos. He warns her against traveling upriver to join a female doctor who is working with native tribesmen.

Short of money, Lonni is intrigued when partner Huysman (Walter Slezak) tells him there is gold to be found in the region where Ellen will be traveling. Lonni volunteers to accompany her, along with gun bearer Jacques.

Ellen (Susan Hayward) is a widow who once discouraged her physician husband from his dream of coming to Africa to give medical aid. She talks a witch doctor out of killing a woman with an abscessed tooth. Upset with her, the witch doctor places a deadly tarantula in Ellen's tent.

The doctor she is there to assist has died of fever. The king is pleased when his son is saved from a lion by Lonni, his wounds treated by Ellen, but then the king takes her hostage when Huysman, heavily armed, arrives to search for gold. Huysman's men knock Lonni unconscious and tie him up, but Jacques sacrifices his own life to save that of Lonni, who returns to Ellen's side for good.

Cast

Production

Henry Hathaway filmed footage in Africa, but the majority of the film was shot on Fox's studio backlot. The head of 20th Century Fox Darryl F. Zanuck demanded that [Emily] Louise Allender Stinetorf's (who had been a Quaker missionary in Palestine) original story be jettisoned for action and a love story.