Certainly a beautifully made adventure dealing with the protection of African elephants with Jack Hawkins as an environmentalist who's ridiculed for a letter where he proclaims that humans need elephants and other animals as friends and poachers should be stopped. A beautiful idea that I agree with, directed passionately by John Huston but with a reckless screenplay that muddled this adaption of a best selling book.
It's starry for the non-tusked actors but I wonder how embarrassed they were over some undignified lines for a dignified story. Errol Flynn plays a very troubled British officer involved in Hawkins' fight, along with the beautiful Juliette Grecco whose exotic looks are as striking as the opulent African plains. The embarrassing discussions over several people being shot in the buttocks seems really out of place, particularly Orson Welles.
Along the way, there's extended cameos by such talented actors as Herbert Lom, Eddie Albert and Paul Lukas, but the best moments are the semi-documentary like scenes showing the elephants roaming in packs, not doing anything to harm humans, only trying to get from point A to B, raise their families and create their own unforgettable memories. The speech of an upperclassmen British woman declaring her own triumph shooting elephants gives a different perspective to the usual suspects, but I'm afraid that the film just drags far too much and sprinklings of uncomfortable dialogs just gets more bizarre at every turn.
It's starry for the non-tusked actors but I wonder how embarrassed they were over some undignified lines for a dignified story. Errol Flynn plays a very troubled British officer involved in Hawkins' fight, along with the beautiful Juliette Grecco whose exotic looks are as striking as the opulent African plains. The embarrassing discussions over several people being shot in the buttocks seems really out of place, particularly Orson Welles.
Along the way, there's extended cameos by such talented actors as Herbert Lom, Eddie Albert and Paul Lukas, but the best moments are the semi-documentary like scenes showing the elephants roaming in packs, not doing anything to harm humans, only trying to get from point A to B, raise their families and create their own unforgettable memories. The speech of an upperclassmen British woman declaring her own triumph shooting elephants gives a different perspective to the usual suspects, but I'm afraid that the film just drags far too much and sprinklings of uncomfortable dialogs just gets more bizarre at every turn.