This movie set in the African Savannah is actually a vehicle for a love triangle: Ava Gardner plays the brunette bombshell that arrives from New York, in high heels, ready for her closeup with an Indian Maharaja who does not show up. This is the tragedy of the film, as we miss seeing what she would have looked like strolling by the African landscape with a royal sari and a couple of pounds of cabochon emeralds in head ornaments. Clark Gable is the animal trapper and super macho of the jungle, in charge of the safari and Grace Kelly is the repressed wife of an English anthropologist who is there to study the language of the gorillas but would have been better off to concentrate on their sexual training instead , as the minute they arrive he starts losing his wife to Gable's powerful and charismatic persona.
The film has beautiful moments showing off the landscape and the animals, but it's not great cinematography, it's the intrinsic beauty of the place that is there, the movie itself is like a play happening on top of it. The best acting roles go to the animals here: The trapped leopard that imitates Ava's walk back and forth on the float, the baby elephant who eats bananas from her hand playfully alongside a baby rhino, both are trapped in an enclosure and will be sold for $5,000 each.
There is also the Hippo that throws Ava off her seat with a nice spray of water, and the panther that attacks Grace Kelly and unfortunately, is shot down by Gable. Why do we feel that it would have been GREAT if the animal had gone inside the trap and had her for lunch?? Because by that point we can't stand her and also know that a glamorous obituary in the Times is all she needs to put her out of all trouble, permanently. From a Contemporary viewing point these animals are the true heroes of the movie. They stand by silent and graceful amidst this white trash that is there destroying their environment, polluting their air with their cigarettes and cars and either killing them or taking them to circus/zoos destinations. Real nice.
The record is no better when it gets down to the treatment the natives get from this dysfunctional crew of alcoholic, neurotic white contingent. The Africans get yelled at, have towels thrown at them and are talked about pretty much in the same terms than the animals, yet they clearly have a much more dignified presence than the people they serve, when they stand up close the brutish barbarian is obviously the fat man with the gun. One deeply regrets that when they set out on the big canoes a pack pf hippos does not clash into them and drowns them all, which would be a more than happy ending for their misguided and abusive lives. Never before have I seen in a movie so clearly delineated the superiority of animals over humans, but this was surely not intentional.
There is also the'civilizing' presence of a priest who is a clear demonstration even by the way he looks, that this religion is wrong for the people. The church he has managed to build inside a hut has the eerie atmosphere of a Martian compound so alien does it look within the environment, and it helps understanding why the new African nations, burdened with this well intentioned, yet cumbersome interventions, have such difficulties in making progress.
The love triangle is also more difficult to understand from our contemporary perspective, but here it is: Gable's character is enthralled by the idea of falling in love with a white, educated, upper class prude that flashes 'respectable upper class' form the first scene. Her get up alone is ridiculous: perfectly ironed silk kimonos, sweaters with pearl necklaces in the middle of the African heat (sometimes it went as high as 130 degrees while filming) though ideal for the Hamptons, one can not believe this would be possible in the middle of the jungle and makes one appreciate the hundreds of assistants that must have been present constantly changing costumes and wiping brows. Grace Kelly gives one of her best performances as this emotional invalid from Frigidity land that has accidentally awakened like a twisted spore in the midst of the heat and Gable's fertilizing testosterone presence. Her husband is so stereotyped he even dines in the hut in a tuxedo, you can figure out the rest, so one can not blame her for what happened. Ava had the most difficult role in portraying human values in a 'fallen woman' that looks like a fish out of water from the first scene. But she quickly adapts, and does a very good job at trying to seduce Gable. She is authentically convincing as a wholesome city hustler coming to grips with real deep emotions while looking absolutely ravishing. My favorite scene is of her atop a truck swaying and chanting with the natives creating her own choreography. Gable dominates the scenes with his strong presence, never was the title "King of Hollywood' been more tangible than in this film. The supporting cast of slobs that hang out around Gable evaporates from memory with the last screen credit.
The film has beautiful moments showing off the landscape and the animals, but it's not great cinematography, it's the intrinsic beauty of the place that is there, the movie itself is like a play happening on top of it. The best acting roles go to the animals here: The trapped leopard that imitates Ava's walk back and forth on the float, the baby elephant who eats bananas from her hand playfully alongside a baby rhino, both are trapped in an enclosure and will be sold for $5,000 each.
There is also the Hippo that throws Ava off her seat with a nice spray of water, and the panther that attacks Grace Kelly and unfortunately, is shot down by Gable. Why do we feel that it would have been GREAT if the animal had gone inside the trap and had her for lunch?? Because by that point we can't stand her and also know that a glamorous obituary in the Times is all she needs to put her out of all trouble, permanently. From a Contemporary viewing point these animals are the true heroes of the movie. They stand by silent and graceful amidst this white trash that is there destroying their environment, polluting their air with their cigarettes and cars and either killing them or taking them to circus/zoos destinations. Real nice.
The record is no better when it gets down to the treatment the natives get from this dysfunctional crew of alcoholic, neurotic white contingent. The Africans get yelled at, have towels thrown at them and are talked about pretty much in the same terms than the animals, yet they clearly have a much more dignified presence than the people they serve, when they stand up close the brutish barbarian is obviously the fat man with the gun. One deeply regrets that when they set out on the big canoes a pack pf hippos does not clash into them and drowns them all, which would be a more than happy ending for their misguided and abusive lives. Never before have I seen in a movie so clearly delineated the superiority of animals over humans, but this was surely not intentional.
There is also the'civilizing' presence of a priest who is a clear demonstration even by the way he looks, that this religion is wrong for the people. The church he has managed to build inside a hut has the eerie atmosphere of a Martian compound so alien does it look within the environment, and it helps understanding why the new African nations, burdened with this well intentioned, yet cumbersome interventions, have such difficulties in making progress.
The love triangle is also more difficult to understand from our contemporary perspective, but here it is: Gable's character is enthralled by the idea of falling in love with a white, educated, upper class prude that flashes 'respectable upper class' form the first scene. Her get up alone is ridiculous: perfectly ironed silk kimonos, sweaters with pearl necklaces in the middle of the African heat (sometimes it went as high as 130 degrees while filming) though ideal for the Hamptons, one can not believe this would be possible in the middle of the jungle and makes one appreciate the hundreds of assistants that must have been present constantly changing costumes and wiping brows. Grace Kelly gives one of her best performances as this emotional invalid from Frigidity land that has accidentally awakened like a twisted spore in the midst of the heat and Gable's fertilizing testosterone presence. Her husband is so stereotyped he even dines in the hut in a tuxedo, you can figure out the rest, so one can not blame her for what happened. Ava had the most difficult role in portraying human values in a 'fallen woman' that looks like a fish out of water from the first scene. But she quickly adapts, and does a very good job at trying to seduce Gable. She is authentically convincing as a wholesome city hustler coming to grips with real deep emotions while looking absolutely ravishing. My favorite scene is of her atop a truck swaying and chanting with the natives creating her own choreography. Gable dominates the scenes with his strong presence, never was the title "King of Hollywood' been more tangible than in this film. The supporting cast of slobs that hang out around Gable evaporates from memory with the last screen credit.