I find that the character of Grant, Casey's paid companion, to be the singular most annoying and detracting element of this film. She appears in the first 1/2 of this picture and her smug, hip- swinging, one-dimensional portrait of a mixed-race paid companion is amateurish at its best, almost unbearable at its worst. One wonders why millionaire Casey couldn't find someone much nicer. The second half is when the picture picks up. We leave the sobbing, overacting Grant behind and venture into the savanna with two men intent on conquering their separate obsessions. I have always thought Stewart Granger was an underrated actor. Previous reviews had criticized his performance in this picture as sleepwalking, or barely there. My opinion is different. I feel that his characterization is spot on -- he is portraying a man who fancies himself in total control over all he surveys -- the animals, "his" natives, and himself most of all. Thus, the one thing in his past that he could not control is the one thing he has to kill. Then, of all things, he could not do it. It was a moment of more than just self- awareness -- it was self-acceptance.BTW, Granger only made three "great white hunter" pictures -- King Solomon's Mines (the main plot of which has him hunting treasure, not animals), Harry Black and the Tiger (obsessively hunting one tiger and one ex-wife), and this film. Also, The Last Safari is not a "jungle" picture as has been stated. It takes place on the East African savannas.

Stewart Granger got so many good notices for King Solomon's Mines and Harry Black and the Tiger that I guess Henry Hathaway and Paramount decided to cash in on one more trip.Granger was at a financial crunch at this part of his life and he'd work in just about anything. He had just done several years of European westerns.Well The Last Safari isn't even close to King Solomon's Mines or Harry Black and the Tiger. Poor Granger, he looks like he's sleepwalking through the safari.And for reasons I can't understand Kaz Garas got top billing in his first feature film. Did Granger lose a bet to someone at Paramount because I can't figure that out at all.Garas has had a successful career as a character actor, do in no part to his performance here. He's just plain obnoxious, a kind of early version of Donald Trump. Garas is so annoying in his portrayal of a young American tycoon that the film is close to being unwatchable.Granger was not particularly crazy about a lot of his films and this is definitely one that was inflicted instead of released to the movie going public.

...whose filmography includes such treasures as "lives of a Bengal Lancer" "Peter Ibbetson" " Niagara" ,the underrated "legend of the lost" and more.This one is anaemic,even Stewart Granger does not believe in what he is playing,being sullen,indifferent, barely infuriated by millionaire Casey's whims .The plot is a run of the mill confrontation experienced grumpy old hunter / young mindless rookie who wants to go with him on a safari(check the title).A bubble head girl accompanies the freshman :the prize goes to the scene when the young brunette realizes dancing with the natives can be dangerous .The beautiful African landscapes are nicely filmed but they do not really need these raiders of the lost elephant.

Adapted from GILLIGAN'S LAST ELEPHANT, this is a somewhat-above-average adventure film, starring Stewart Granger in his familiar role as a white hunter. What makes the movie memorable is the character of Kaz Garas, a brash, wealthy American who just happens to be right about the direction Africa is (and should be) going, while Granger and all the other Noble White Hunters are dead wrong.