Written by / 1/03/2021 / No comments / , , , , , , , , , ,

ANTS MARCH ON MELODRMA IN BYRON HASKIN'S 'THE NAKED JUNGLE'

Charlton Heston & Eleanor Parker Year: 1954 Rates: ***

No Killer Ant movie is as strange (or as lacking of ants) as Byron Haskin's THE NAKED JUNGLE, which covers over fifty-minutes of a bizarre melodrama concerning a North American plantation owner in South America, being not so welcoming and unimaginably rude to gorgeous mail-order bride Eleanor Parker... 

But Charlton Heston, over-dramatic in straight-forward drama, is more natural during the 11th hour whilst attempting to thwart hordes of ants marching closer and closer home.

Haskin, fresh from WAR OF THE WORLDS, directs with a stage-play finesse as the camera glides along with the conversational "action" between the couple: while Heston fights the urge to lust for a once-married "used" beauty, she resists his manly, open-shirt arrogance. Meanwhile, chief servant Abraham Sofaer is no stranger to playing butler to a rich plantation owner with a young, lonely trophy wife since it happened the same year in ELEPHANT WALK, and both films are extremely similar: only in WALK the elephants are mentioned a few times leading up to their inevitable attack, while here the ants simply invade as if let loose by a disgruntled crew member allergic to Harlequin-style romance. Still though, somehow, THE NAKED JUNGLE flows decently enough since Haskin's beyond capable at moving humans along what's basically a losing game.

Abraham Sofaer and Eleanor Parker in THE NAKED JUNGLE
Eleanor Parker and Charlton Heston in THE NAKED JUNGLE
Charlton Heston in THE NAKED JUNGLE
Eleanor Parker in THE NAKED JUNGLE
Eleanor Parker and Charlton Heston in THE NAKED JUNGLE
Eleanor Parker in THE NAKED JUNGLE
Eleanor Parker and Charlton Heston in THE NAKED JUNGLE
Eleanor Parker and Charlton Heston in THE NAKED JUNGLE
Charlton Heston in THE NAKED JUNGLE


Share This Post :
Tags : , , , , , , , , , ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.

All Time Popular

Featured Post

HARVEY KEITEL & DAVID PROVAL ON 'KOJAK' PILOT 'SIEGE OF TERROR'

Title: KOJAK: SIEGE OF TERROR Year: 1973 Rating: ***1/2 The pilot of the classic series KOJAK is a little different than most of the episode...

WWW.CULTFILMFREAKS.COM

WWW.CULTFILMFREAKS.COM
Movie Reviews, Interviews, Articles and Pop Culture from White Heat to Blue City

RIP ACTOR KEN HUTCHISON

TOTAL HITS

Popular Trending

FOUNDED BY JAMES M. TATE

FOUNDED BY JAMES M. TATE
RANDOM QUOTE: "Yeah, and the devil serves lemonade, right?" David Proval, Kojak

FILM NOIR & NEO NOIR CRIME

FAVORITES SHORTLIST

1)OTLEY 2)HELL IS A CITY 3)ROBBERY 4)THE FEARMAKERS 5)CANYON PASSAGE 6)VIOLENT SATURDAY 7)HOT CARS 8)THE BREAK 9)THE CROWDED SKY 10)THE ROARING TWENTIES 11) ANATOMY OF A MURDER 12)CALCULATED RISK 13)SWEENEY TWO 14)RAIDERS FROM BENEATH THE SEA 15)HARDCORE 16)JUNGLE STREET 17)WHITE HEAT 18)AL CAPONE 19)MODEL SHOP 20)FALLEN ANGEL 21)SHARKS' TREASURE 22)THE ASPHALT JUNGLE 23)ASH WEDNESDAY 24)THE SYSTEM 25)AIR PATROL 26)THE STONE KILLER 27)SANDS OF THE KALAHARI 28)WILLIAM CONRAD'S BRAINSTORM 29)RIOT 30)THE MAN FROM LARAMIE FAVORITE ACTORS 1)DANA ANDREWS 2)JAMES CAGNEY 3)STANLEY BAKER 4)MARLON BRANDO 5)JACK NICHOLSON 6)CHARLES BRONSON 7)BURT REYNOLDS 8)WILLIAM LUCAS 9)TOM COURTENAY 10)GENE HACKMAN DIRECTORS 1)JACQUES TOURNEUR 2)RICHARD FLEISCHER 3)VAL GUEST 4)STANLEY KUBRICK 5)OTTO PREMINGER 6)ORSON WELLES 7)JOHN GUILLERMAN 8)JOHN LANDIS 9)SAM PECKINPAH 10)MICHAEL WINNER

BRITISH NEW WAVE CINEMA

RARITIES AND EXPLOITATION

HAMMER HORROR & THRILLER

Popular This Month

CHARLES BRONSON CINEMA

CINEMA OF DANA ANDREWS

WESTERN GENRE REVIEWS

PEAKING INTO THE SIXTIES

KICKING IN THE EIGHTIES

TALES AND REFLECTIONS

REVVING THE SEVENTIES

Most Popular Last Year