Authentic African footage shot by Arch Oboler in 1948 (in 2-D) was incorporated into the film. There is now a hiking trail in the area named 'The Bwana Trail' to denote the locations used in Bwana Devil. The Paramount Ranch, now located in The Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, sat in for an African savanna. The title of Oboler's film was ultimately changed to Bwana Devil. Oboler and co-producer Sid Pink scrapped ten days of footage they had shot for The Lions of Gulu and started over using the Natural Vision process. Oboler was impressed enough to option it for his next film project. Milton Gunzburg turned his focus to independent producers and demonstrated Natural Vision to Arch Oboler, producer and writer of the popular Lights Out radio show. Only John Arnold, who headed the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer camera department, was impressed enough to convince MGM to take an option on it, but they quickly let the option lapse. Both Columbia and Paramount passed it up. 20th Century Fox was focusing on the introduction of CinemaScope and had no interest in another new process.

Cinerama had premiered on Septemat the Broadway Theater in New York and was a success there, but its bulky and expensive three-projector system and huge curved screen were impractical, if not impossible, to duplicate in any but the largest theaters.įormer screenwriter Milton Gunzburg and his brother Julian thought they had a solution with their Natural Vision 3-D film process. Television was seen as the culprit and Hollywood was looking for a way to lure audiences back. Natural Visionīy 1951 film attendance had fallen dramatically from 90 million in 1948 to 46 million. The story was also the basis for the film The Ghost and the Darkness (1996) with Michael Douglas and Val Kilmer. Patterson, the British engineer who killed the animals. These incidents were also the basis for the book The Man-eaters of Tsavo (1907), the story of the events as written by Lt. The plot was based on a well-known historical event, that of the Tsavo maneaters, in which many workers building the Uganda Railway were killed by lions. Jack kills the lions and proves he is not a weakling. A grim battle between Jack and the lions endangers both Jack and his wife. After the game hunters are killed by the lions, Jack sets out once and for all to kill them. Hayward desperately attempts to overcome the situation, but the slaughter continues.īritain sends three big-game hunters to kill the lions. A pair of man-eating lions are on the loose and completely disrupt the undertaking. Two men in charge of the mission are Jack Hayward and Dr. Thousands of workers are building the Uganda Railway, Africa's first railroad, and intense heat and sickness make it a formidable task. The film is set in British East Africa in the early 20th century.

Bwana devil poster