Trader Horn (1931 Film)

Trader Horn (1931 film)

Trader Horn is the first non-documentary film shot on location in Africa. The 1931 movie tells of the adventures of real-life trader and adventurer Alfred Aloysius "Trader" Horn on safari in Africa. It featured many authentic shots of African wildlife and a great deal of inauthentic plot. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1931. Edwina Booth, the female lead, contracted a career-ending illness while shooting, for which she sued producers MGM.

The film was written by Cyril Hume (dialogue), John Thomas Neville, Richard Schayer and Dale Van Every and Ethelreda Lewis, and directed by W.S. Van Dyke. It was based on a popular book of the time, Trader Horn, by Alfred Aloysius Horn.

This movie has been remade three times as Trader Horn (1934), the sexploitation film Trader Hornee (1970), and Trader Horn (1973) with Rod Taylor in the starring role. Though filmed on the MGM backlot, the 1973 remake used tinted stock footage from the 1931 film.