Year of Release: 1952Country of Origin: USA
Director: Henry King
Cast: Gregory Peck, Susan Hayward, Ava Gardner
Plot outline: As he fights a deadly jungle fever, a hunter remembers his lost loves (IMDb).
Director Henry King gives Ernest Hemingway's 1927 somewhat confessional autobiographical short story a happy ending, something that displeased the writer. Hemingway was also upset that the movie added bits and pieces form his other works, lamenting that he only sold Zanuck the rights to this short story. The embittered writer further states the picture should really be called "The Snows of Zanuck." Screenwriter Casey Robinson, a fan of the writer, expands the short story but in the process stuffs too much into it. Though it was brilliantly shot on location in Paris, Africa, the Riviera and Spain, it was mostly shot in the studio with an enormous painting standing in for the title mountain. The star-studded cast makes the flawed movie watchable, even though it never climbs any mountain for greatness. The movie is shot greatly in flashback. The lavish production gives a big broad treatment of the writer as a romantic adventurer, who tests his courage and manhood by hunting and conquering women. The movie reiterates with gusto the great white hunter/writer's macho philosophy: "Real writing is like a hunt ... a life-long safari; and the prey is truth." (DS)
My judgement: **1/2 out of 4 stars
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