This film is bad on so many levels that it scarcely merits serious discussion. Its plot is ludicrous; scenes showing the balloon in flight look like process shots filmed in a garage; sequences of rampaging "natives" look like they were filmed at a drunken costume party; and Marshall Thompson, the heroic protagonist, has about as much charisma as a doorknob; However, as some reviewers seem to think the film is nevertheless a fun one for children, parents should be warned about its racist depictions of Africans, I suppose we can forgive the film makers for such nonsense as its back story about Cleopatra's having lived on an island on Lake Victoria, where she hid a fabulous treasure, and for having West Africans speak a pidgin version of Swahili (an East African language), but its repeated references to "cannibals" are offensive. There were never any cannibalistic societies in Africa, and to suggest there were reinforces a baseless stereotype and it is a disservice to children.
Incidentally, one reviewer mentions that the film is set in "British Africa." That's not quite correct, either. The story's time period is explicitly given as 1878--before the British colonized either Nigeria or their future East African territories. A map and a sign at the beginning of the film are labeled "Nigeria," but that name was not even coined until the early 20th century.
Incidentally, one reviewer mentions that the film is set in "British Africa." That's not quite correct, either. The story's time period is explicitly given as 1878--before the British colonized either Nigeria or their future East African territories. A map and a sign at the beginning of the film are labeled "Nigeria," but that name was not even coined until the early 20th century.