“This is no Sir Galahad who loves from afar. This is a two-legged boa constrictor.”
John Ford remakes one of his films from the 1930s, Red Dust. The cast is new, but for one. The others could be replaced, but only Clark Gable could play Clark Gable.
Vic Marswell (Clark Gable) runs a game trapping business in Africa. He returns from an expedition to his home base, along with the loyal John “Brownie” Brown-Pryce (Philip Stainton) and grouchy, drunk Leon Boltchak (Eric Pohlmann) to find a girl in his shower.
Eloise “Honey Bear” Kelly (Ava Gardner) is the girl in the shower and she’s expecting to find one of her society cronies on safari with Marswell. Unfortunately, the sheik left some time ago and Eloise is stuck with Marswell.
We get the impression that she and Vic get very close – very close. Well, Vic is expecting some new patrons in the form of Donald (Donald Sinden) and Linda (Grace Kelly) Nordley. A husband and wife team that arrive to go looking to study some gorillas.
This is a surprise to Vic since he thought they were just coming for the regular safari package and he thinks gorillas are too unpredictable. Donald has a reaction to a tsetse fly shot and is bedridden for a time. This gives time for Vic and Linda to get to know one another, perhaps too well. Eloise notices this and decides to leave, but the ship that she’s on runs aground and she has to return.
The Great White Hunter
Vic, who was at first reluctant to take the Nordley’s to gorilla country, decides to take them – presumably to get closer to Mrs. Nordley. Vic also decides that Eloise can come along and get dropped off to return to civilization. Plans to get Eloise out of the country go awry when the natives go on the warpath and she has to continue on with them to gorilla country. Eloise tries to be friends with Mrs. Nordley, but she’ll have none of it. Vic chickens out in telling Mr. Nordley that he and Mrs. Nordley are having a tryst and goes back to camp to drown his sorrow in rotgut. Eloise joins him and Mrs. Nordley catches them. Will Vic end up with the right woman for him?
John Ford decided to remake his 1932 film Red Dust changing the Indo-China setting to deepest Africa. Harlow died in 1937 and the only casting holdover is Clark Gable. I’ll confess that I’ve never seen Red Dust but from the clip of it in one of the Gable documentaries (on the San Francisco disc) it looks like both Gable and Harlow are having a great time.
Mogambo is a good movie, but it doesn’t have the “fun” that I see in the clip of Red Dust. Gable is rather stoic but is still Gable. Ava Gardner is fabulous as “Honey Bear” and she was nominated for an Academy Award in 1954 for her performance. Grace Kelly was also nominated for best actress in a supporting role, but her performance didn’t resonate with me as much as Gardner’s did.
In fact, I kept thinking that she sure didn’t look like the superstar that she became in the Hitchcock films and showed in High Noon. Her performance sure didn’t show her abilities in my opinion.
Mogambo is presented in fullscreen as it was originally shown. The single special feature present is the film’s theatrical trailer. This title and 3 Godfathers were given an exclusive release at Target sometime last year and this DVD is the same as that exclusive.
Animal attraction
I’ll reserve comparison till I can see Red Dust but imagine that from the clip on the documentary that the chemistry between Gable and Harlow make for a fun show. I think that Gable is a little too stoic here but Gardner is fabulous. The wink link, in my opinion, is Grace Kelly. With that said, the movie is still enjoyable and anything by John Ford is at least worth looking at once.
Mogambo is now available at Amazon . As of yet, there is not a release date for the UK. Visit the DVD database for more information. The film is also part of the Clark Gable Signature Collection DVD set now available at Amazon . Visit the DVD database for more information.
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