[4] Edwina Booth, the female lead, contracted a career-ending illness while filming in Africa, for which she later sued Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

Much of the film is fictional, including the discovery of a white blonde jungle queen, the lost daughter of a missionary (Edwina Booth).

An African crewman fell into a river and was eaten by a crocodile, while another was killed by a charging rhinoceros.

Swarms of many insects, including locusts and tse-tse flies, were common and cast and crew were perpetually bitten or stung.

This caused rumours that the entire production had been filmed there, so most of this footage was cut from the final release.

Subsequent reissues added a further $596,000 bringing its total worldwide rental to $4,191,000 and a profit to $1.3 million.