Along with The House of Rothschild, it's hard to imagine there's a Best Picture nominee that's aged quite this badly in terms of racist depictions. The African tribespeople here are described as "children" and "savages," which is scarcely a surprising perspective since this is from 1931. However, as this could've been a simple adventure film focused on the exoticism of the African landscape, it is rather jarring that it's so determined to make nonstop racial jabs at the natives.
Trader Horn's clear strength is how it repeatedly becomes a creature feature where the ensemble are nearly killed by wildlife. An especially exciting sequence has them firing upon a couple dozen crocodiles. There's also an amazingly adorable scene where they discover a lion cub. The parade of African animals is a novelty, but even that's marred by the killing of a rhinoceros.
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