Unfilmed Hammer: Build Us a Dam

The Encyclopedia of Hammer reveals that the company announced in 1957 (and again in 1962) that they planned to film Jon Manchip White’s screenplay from his own novel, in colour and scope with Stanley Baker in the lead. The novel was first published in 1955; my copy is a Corgi paperback edition from 1957 which has a colour cover illustration of khaki-clad whites battling half-naked black natives in front of a huge dam.

Thomas Morgan (presumably the Baker character) arrives at the Tiger River in Tanganyika where he has been sent by the UK government to check on the progress of the huge dam that is being built by legendary engineer Warwick Andersen. He is met and taken to the construction site by Andersen’s gorgeous daughter, Kerry. Morgan hasn’t been on site long when he is involved in an accident. Health and safety is generally a nightmare with frequent instances of workers being killed or maimed. The small township that houses the workers is under regular attack from the local natives who are understandably pissed off that the dam is being built on their most sacred site. As if all this wasn’t enough, Morgan discovers that the construction of the dam is going badly and deep cracks are appearing in places. Kerry seduces Morgan in an attempt to have him delay his report while her father throws resources at getting the cracks in the troubled Block 40 repaired. Andersen is arrogantly confident that his precautions will prevent the dam from giving way under pressure from the river in the imminent rainy season. Morgan is preparing to leave to submit his report when a storm breaks and everyone goes to try to shore up the dam. The natives pick this time to launch another attack. Morgan has to drag Kerry away as Andersen refuses to leave the site of the dam. Block 40 collapses, then the rest of the dam, and Andersen is doomed along with it.

It’s difficult to see what attracted Hammer to this project. For one thing, it is entirely predictable. For another, any success the novel has depends on conveying the sheer scale of the engineering edifice that is under construction. Thousands of men and machines, the colossal presence of the dam, the ferocity of nature that it cannot contain. Trying to film all of that on a Hammer budget strikes me as futile. Had it actually got to the screen in the late ‘50s or early ‘60s we’d be faced today with looking back on some ugly colonialist attitudes towards indigenous peoples and the natural world. I can’t say I’m sorry this one didn’t come to fruition.