 In the end, the injured lama finds his river (at least in his own mind), stumbles to it, and dies contentedly.MGM originally announced the film in 1938 as a vehicle for Freddie Bartholomew and Robert Taylor but World War II saw this put on hold.In 1942 it was reactivated to star Mickey Rooney, Conrad Veidt (as Red Lama) and Basil Rathbone, from a script by Leon Gordon and produced by Victor Saville.