Actually the film I watched was called Le Dernier Train Du Katanga (a title which was adopted by other European countries when released), but unfortunately it's the same cut version as the Warner Bros US release Dark of the Sun. (I quite like the European title. The Mercenaries is a bit blunt, and Dark of the Sun doesn't really mean anything, although it is the title of the novel.) I'm obsessed about finding an uncut version. Maybe there isn't one? Maybe it's lost, like The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes.
Anyway, what remains is fortunately still a strong, exciting thriller, well directed by Cardiff, with lots of good action and stunts, shot in Jamaica. It's written by Ranald MacDougall and Adrian Spies, based on Wilbur Smith's novel. Rod Taylor and Jim Brown are terrific (Cardiff thought it was one of Taylor's best films, and I'm inclined to agree), Peter Carsten is evil, Kenneth More is the honourable alcoholic, Yvette Mimieux doesn't do much (sure there's a love scene between her and Taylor in the original? - as noted before), Bloke Modisane is the loyal corporal, André Morell has the diamonds. Someone has seen a version of the film where soldier Olivier Despax is being raped by the rebels, very strong stuff for its time, but makes more sense of why he grimly smiles in revenge before being blown up.
Photographed by Ted Scaife (in what now looks like that great, slightly grainy, Panavision and Metrocolor celluloid look of the sixties), music by Jacques Loussier, edited by Ernest Walter.
It was financed by MGM.
The fact that the Brown character is himself Congolese, keen to help the country out of the Dark Ages, adds an interesting dimension. It's referencing the Simba Rebellion of 1963-5.
Here's some versions of the same print:
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