Reporter/explorer Stanley's famous trek to the heart of Africa to find the missing missionary Doctor Livingstone is one of the most famous and epic stories to come out of the Victorian era. This film captures the significance of that event, although a few facts get in the way of the narrative. Spencer Tracy (at his best) is Stanley and he gives one of his greatest performances. Unbelievable as it may seem, he's nearly upstaged by Sir Cedric Hardwicke's portrayal of Doctor Livingstone, even though that actor's screen time is limited to twenty minutes. Hardwicke captures Livingstone's eccentricities and religious fervor perfectly without turning him into a caricature. The scene where he leads his native charges in a rousing songfest ("Onward Christian Soldiers") is nearly the highlight of the film. The pivotal meeting of the two men where Stanley utters the famous line "Doctor Livingston, I presume?" has the correct dramatic buildup and is handled with dignity and enough gravitas to satisfy most historians. Tracy's fiery speech at the Society of Geographers back in England after his discovery is also a key moment in the film and nearly worth the price of admission. The film is directed with competency and some verve by Henry King. Unfortunately, many of the African countryside scenes were left over from previous films and they're incorporated rather clumsily into this movie. The performances are uniformly excellent, however, especially the two men of the title. Also around is Richard Greene as a malaria-stricken explorer and beautiful Nancy Kelly as his fiancé. Tracy's character is also smitten with her and that angle of the story is irrelevant and completely unnecessary. Walter Brennan, as one of Tracy's American colleagues, comes aboard for the safari but his brand of Old West comic relief falls flat---even with the natives. Charles Coburn, as the ruthless Lord Tyce, is the designated villain of the piece, but he changes colors in the final reel and gets a nice hug from his daughter (Ms. Kelly). As Stanley marches off to uncover more of the mysteries of the "Dark Continent," viewers are left with the feeling that he's now emulating the same type of messianic mission as Doctor Livingstone. But that's not what actually happened. In reality, Stanley became a "hired gun" for expanding colonialists and was involved in more than his share of "safaris gone bad." He had plenty of blood on his hands by the time he called it quits. That unpleasant fact didn't prevent Queen Victoria from knighting him late in his life. As they say, no one's perfect.

As was common at this time in Hollywood, the facts of the Stanley-Livingstone saga were highly fictionalized and romanticized in this film. This was an era in movie-making when close attention was not always given to historical accuracy.The ending of the movie, with "Onward Christian Soldiers" playing in the background, turned the movie into a salute to the "spreading of Christianity to heathen lands," one of the common arguments used in the 19th century to justify European imperialism. It's another example of Hollywood portraying Christianity as the "true religion" superior to all other beliefs. On top of that, the ending clearly overlooks the fact that while Stanley returned to Africa after Livingstone's death, it was for purposes of exploration and empire building, not to follow in Livingstone's footsteps as a missionary.

Stanley and Livingstone (1939) *** 1/2 (out of 4) Spencer Tracy plays Henry M. Stanley, an American explorer and newsman who is given the job of traveling to Africa so that he can see whether or not the missionary Dr. Livingstone (Cedric Hardwicke) is dead. When Stanley shows up in Africa, after a year's journey, he finally finds Livingstone alive and sees that he's trying to bring religion to Africa as well as trying to educate the people. Since Africa is still seen as a mystery to the outside world, both men must convince the rest of the world that Africa isn't the "dark country" but a place that should be explored. I was extremely caught off guard with how well made and entertaining this movie was. I hadn't heard too much about it over the years but it was certainly a delight to finally watch it and discover it to be a real gem. I've heard that a lot of the story was made up or changed to make it seem better, which is fine with me since this is a movie and not a documentary. As a movie the film contains a very big heart towards the people in Africa, who at the time, were still being sold as slaves and looked at as cannibals. There's also a lot of nice footage of the jungles of Africa, although it's clear that neither Tracy or Hardwicke are ever there since they are never in the scenes. The production value of the fake Africa look very good and the direction is very strong throughout. It should go without saying but Tracy delivers another great performance and his final speech at the end is really heartfelt. You can really see the pride, passion and anger floating out of Tracy to the point where you'd think he was the real Stanley delivering his message. Hardwicke actually steals the film in his few scenes in the movie. The love and compassion he gives off is a great joy to watch. Nancy Kelly, Richard Greene, Henry Hull, Walter Brennan and Henry Travers all deliver nice supporting work.

Stanley and Livingstone is maybe not the most accurate historical movie presented,but nevertheless a very interesting experience. Spencer Tracy is very good in this one,portraying his character in the naturalistic style he was famed for.Cedric Hardwicke is Dr. Livingstone conveying the concern and love for humanity as a dedicated missionary would have.The treatment of the Africans in this movie would feel very racist today,but I think the attitudes of white supremacy was very true to life since this movie is set in the 1870's. Walter Brennan's comic supporting part is a bit annoying and Charles Coburn's British newspaper editor is a caricature.The African footage is spectacular,especially the native attack on Stanley's caravan. This movie is also crying out for a DVD release