Elephant Walk

Last updated
Elephant Walk
Elephant Walk 1954.jpg
Theatrical rerelease poster
Directed by William Dieterle
Written by John Lee Mahin
Based on Elephant Walk
1948 novel
by Robert Standish
Produced by Irving Asher
Starring Elizabeth Taylor
Dana Andrews
Peter Finch
Abraham Sofaer
Abner Biberman
Cinematography Loyal Griggs
Edited by George Tomasini
Music by Franz Waxman
Production
company
Distributed byParamount Pictures
Release date
  • April 21, 1954 (1954-04-21)
Running time
103 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$3 million [1]
Box office$3 million (US) [2]

Elephant Walk is a 1954 American drama film produced by Paramount Pictures, directed by William Dieterle, and starring Elizabeth Taylor, Dana Andrews, Peter Finch and Abraham Sofaer. It is based upon the 1948 novel Elephant Walk by "Robert Standish", the pseudonym of the English novelist Digby George Gerahty (1898–1981).

Contents

With many sections filmed on location it features several true life insights into the operation of tea plantations and the tea-making process within factories. It also looks at native ceremonies and beliefs. Most of the story centres upon the Elephant Walk Bungalow and the production of Elephant Walk Tea.

Plot

Colonial tea planter John Wiley, visiting England at the end of World War II, weds Ruth and takes her home to Elephant Walk Bungalow, the plantation house built by his father in Ceylon. They are stopped by a bull Indian elephant on their way to the house, which a very angry John frightens away with a few gunshots. Ruth soon discovers John is still dominated by his father, "The Governor", long after the man's death; and that John's mother was never happy at Elephant Walk. In fact, she left John's father shortly after their marriage but returned when she discovered she was expecting a child; and, eventually, she died.

Ruth has a strained relationship with Apphuamy, the principal servant, whose real master continues to be the late "Governor" – to whose tomb, in the garden, Appuhamy regularly speaks, expressing his dislike of the new mistress. A very stern, larger than life portrait of "The Governor" is kept in his room, which has not been changed since the old man died – and which is always kept locked. Appuhamy gives a sinister overtone to much of the otherwise genteel story.

Ruth learns from John that Elephant Walk is so named because his father, Tom Wiley, deliberately built it across the path of migration used by a herd of elephants to reach a water source. The elephants continue to attempt to use their ancient path to get to the water, but are kept out by the walls and the defensive efforts of the servants. Thus, Ruth's initial delight with the tropical wealth and luxury of her new home is quickly tempered by her isolation as the only European woman in the district; by her husband's occasional imperious arrogance and angry outburst; by Appuhamy's polite but nonetheless insubordinate attitude toward her; by a mutual physical attraction with plantation manager Dick Carver; and by the hovering, ominous menace of the hostile elephants.

The tide of Elephant Walk history turns in Ruth's favour when the district is hit by a cholera epidemic, during which she makes herself indispensable as a relief worker. Appuhamy confesses to "The Governor" that he was wrong about the new mistress, and he hopes that she will stay. But Ruth has made John realise that, as long as they stay at Elephant Walk, he will continue to be dominated by his dead father instead of becoming his own man; that they must leave. In the end, their decision is made for them when the elephants finally manage to break through the wall and stampede onto the grounds, killing Appuhamy in the process. Elephant Walk Bungalow is smashed and catches fire. The portrait of the Governor is seen burning, symbolising the end of the old regime. John and Ruth manage to escape as the house begins to collapse around them. Dick Carver sees them together in the hills just above the house and realises Ruth will never be his.

As John and Ruth look down upon Elephant Walk burning to the ground, it begins to rain. "I'm sorry", she says. "I'm not", he replies. "Let them have their Elephant Walk. Ruth, we'll build a new place – a home – somewhere else!"

The bull elephant which appeared on the road (near the beginning of the film) raises his trunk, and gives a mighty trumpet call, as the words appear on the screen, "The End."

Cast

Uncredited Cast

Background

It was originally intended to star the husband and wife team of Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh (with Olivier in the Finch role). But Olivier was already committed to the project The Beggar's Opera (1953). Leigh was enthusiastic about the role and continued in her husband's absence, but she was forced to withdraw from production shortly after filming began in Colombo, Ceylon, as a result of bipolar disorder. [3] According to Leonard Maltin's annual Movie Guide book, Leigh can be seen in some long shots that were not re-filmed after Elizabeth Taylor replaced her.

Production

The film was based on a novel published in 1949. Film rights were originally bought by Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. and Alexander MacDonald for their production company, Dougfair. The movie was to be released through United Artists and star Fairbanks and Deborah Kerr. [4] D. M. Marshman Jr. signed to do the script. [5] Filming was postponed due to poor weather in Ceylon. [6]

Fairbanks and MacDonald then decided to transfer the rights over to Paramount, where Irving Asher was given the job of producing. [7] John Lee Mahin was hired to write the script and William Dieterle to direct.

Paramount wanted Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh to play the lead roles. [8] Olivier ended up having too many theatre commitments, but Leigh agreed to star; Olivier was replaced by his protege Peter Finch, with Dana Andrews playing the other male lead. [9]

Filming began in Ceylon in February 1953. After four weeks of location work the unit moved to Hollywood for six weeks of studio filming. However, Vivien Leigh missed filming on the second day. [10] She eventually dropped out of the picture altogether, claiming an acute nervous breakdown. [11] Elizabeth Taylor was borrowed from MGM to replace her.

Critical reception

Maltin gave the film 2 stars out of 4, and made one of his pithier critiques: "Pachyderm stampede climax comes none too soon." A major plot element in the film is that the tea plantation's manor, where the film's action occurs, had been built in the middle of a path that migrating Indian elephants had previously used.

Box Office

According to Kinematograph Weekly the film was a "money maker" at the British box office in 1954. [12]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vivien Leigh</span> British actress (1913–1967)

Vivien Leigh, styled as Lady Olivier after 1947, was a British actress. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress twice, for her performances as Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind (1939) and Blanche DuBois in the film version of A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), a role she had also played on stage in London's West End in 1949. She also won a Tony Award for her work in the Broadway musical version of Tovarich (1963). Although her career had periods of inactivity, in 1999 the American Film Institute ranked Leigh as the 16th-greatest female movie star of classic Hollywood cinema.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laurence Olivier</span> English actor and director (1907–1989)

Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, was an English actor and director who, along with his contemporaries Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud, was one of a trio of male actors who dominated the British stage of the mid-20th century. He also worked in films throughout his career, playing more than fifty cinema roles. Late in his career he had considerable success in television roles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cornel Wilde</span> Hungarian-American actor and film director (1912–1989)

Cornel Wilde was a Hungarian-American actor and filmmaker.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Finch</span> English-Australian actor (1916–1977)

Frederick George Peter Ingle Finch was an English-Australian actor of theatre, film and radio.

John Lee Mahin was an American screenwriter and producer of films who was active in Hollywood from the 1930s to the 1960s. He was known as the favorite writer of Clark Gable and Victor Fleming. In the words of one profile, he had "a flair for rousing adventure material, and at the same time he wrote some of the raciest and most sophisticated sexual comedies of that period."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Vidor</span> American film director

Charles Vidor was a Hungarian film director. Among his film successes are The Bridge (1929), The Tuttles of Tahiti (1942), The Desperadoes (1943), Cover Girl (1944), Together Again (1944), A Song to Remember (1945), Over 21 (1945), Gilda (1946), The Loves of Carmen (1948), Rhapsody (1954), Love Me or Leave Me (1955), The Swan (1956), The Joker Is Wild (1957), and A Farewell to Arms (1957).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edmund Purdom</span> English actor (1924–2009)

Edmund Anthony Cutlar Purdom was an English actor, voice artist, and director. He worked first on stage in Britain, performing various works by Shakespeare, then in America on Broadway and in Hollywood, and eventually in Italy. He is perhaps best known for his starring role in 1954's historical epic The Egyptian.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vivien Leigh on stage and screen</span>

British actress Vivien Leigh (1913–1967) was born in Darjeeling, India; her family returned to England when she was six years old. In addition to her British schooling, she was also educated in France, Italy and Germany, and became multilingual. Classically trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, her film debut was in an uncredited role in the 1935 comedy Things Are Looking Up.

<i>A Yank at Oxford</i> 1938 comedy-drama film

A Yank at Oxford is a 1938 comedy-drama film directed by Jack Conway and starring Robert Taylor, Lionel Barrymore, Maureen O'Sullivan, Vivien Leigh and Edmund Gwenn. The screenplay was written by John Monk Saunders and Leon Gordon. The film was produced by MGM-British at Denham Studios.

John Paxton was an American screenwriter.

Charles Schnee was an American screenwriter and film producer. He wrote the scripts for the Westerns Red River (1948) and The Furies (1950), the social melodrama They Live by Night (1949), and the cynical Hollywood saga The Bad and the Beautiful (1952), for which he won an Academy Award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Levin (director)</span> American film director

Henry Levin began as a stage actor and director but was most notable as an American film director of over fifty feature films. His best known credits were Jolson Sings Again (1949), Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959) and Where the Boys Are (1960).

<i>Secret of the Incas</i> 1954 adventure film directed by Jerry Hopper

Secret of the Incas is a 1954 American adventure film directed by Jerry Hopper and starring Charlton Heston as adventurer Harry Steele, on the trail of an ancient Incan artifact. The supporting cast features Robert Young, Nicole Maurey and Thomas Mitchell, as well as a rare film appearance by Peruvian singer Yma Sumac. Shot on location at Machu Picchu in Peru, the film is often credited as the inspiration for Raiders of the Lost Ark.

<i>The Planters Wife</i> (1952 film) 1952 British film

The Planter's Wife is a 1952 British war drama film directed by Ken Annakin, and starring Claudette Colbert, Jack Hawkins and Anthony Steel. It is set against the backdrop of the Malayan Emergency and focuses on a rubber planter and his neighbours who are fending off a campaign of sustained attacks by Communist insurgents while also struggling to save their marriage.

Seton Ingersoll Miller was an American screenwriter and producer. During his career, he worked with film directors such as Howard Hawks and Michael Curtiz. Miller received two Oscar nominations and won once for Best Screenplay for the 1941 fantasy romantic comedy film, Here Comes Mr. Jordan, along with Sidney Buchman.

<i>The Sound and the Fury</i> (1959 film) 1959 film by Martin Ritt

The Sound and the Fury is a 1959 American drama film directed by Martin Ritt. It is loosely based on the 1929 novel of the same title by William Faulkner.

<i>Caribbean Gold</i> 1952 film by Edward Ludwig

Caribbean Gold is a 1952 American historical pirate adventure film directed by Edward Ludwig and starring John Payne, Arlene Dahl and Cedric Hardwicke. It was produced by Pine-Thomas Productions for distribution by Paramount Pictures and was based on the novel Carib Gold by Ellery Clark. The film's sets were designed by the art director Hal Pereira. It is also known by the alternative title Caribbean.

<i>Many Rivers to Cross</i> (film) 1955 film by Roy Rowland

Many Rivers to Cross is a 1955 American colonial Western film shot in CinemaScope directed by Roy Rowland and starring Robert Taylor and Eleanor Parker.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trader Faulkner</span> Australian actor (1927–2021)

Ronald "Trader" Faulkner was an Australian actor, raconteur and flamenco dancer, best known for his work in the UK on the stage and television.

<i>Elephant Walk</i> (novel) 1948 novel

Elephant Walk is a 1948 novel by Robert Standish, a pen name of the British writer Digby George Gerahty. It is set on a tea plantation in the British colony of Ceylon.

References

  1. ↑ S L KAPUR (Feb 23, 1953). "HOLLYWOOD STARS BUY SARIS". The Times of India. ProQuest   502332601.
  2. ↑ 'The Top Box-Office Hits of 1954', Variety Weekly, January 5, 1955
  3. ↑ Sala, Ángel (October 2005). "Apéndices". Tiburón ¡Vas a necesitar un barco más grande! El filme que cambió Hollywood (1st ed.). Festival Internacional de Cinema de Catalunya. p. 114. ISBN   84-96129-72-1.
  4. ↑ THOMAS M PRYOR (Oct 4, 1951). "DECCA WOULD BUY UNIVERSAL STOCK". New York Times. ProQuest   112173747.
  5. ↑ "Of local origin". New York Times. Oct 20, 1951. ProQuest   112072931.
  6. ↑ THOMAS M PRYOR (Dec 27, 1951). "METRO MAKES BID TO MOIRA SHEARER". New York Times. ProQuest   112095225.
  7. ↑ THOMAS M PRYOR (Jun 10, 1952). "COLUMBIA PLANS 39 MOVIES FOR TV". New York Times. ProQuest   112278026.
  8. ↑ THOMAS M PRYOR (Dec 11, 1952). "PARAMOUNT WAITS REPLY OF OLIVIERS". New York Times. ProQuest   112289805.
  9. ↑ THOMAS M PRYOR (Jan 2, 1953). "HOLLYWOOD PLANS 30 MOVIES ABROAD". New York Times. ProQuest   11267963.
  10. ↑ THOMAS M PRYOR (Mar 12, 1953). "SKELETON RETURNS TO METRO STUDIO". New York Times. ProQuest   112555803.
  11. ↑ THOMAS M PRYOR (Mar 17, 1953). "3-D ANXIETY CUTS HOLLYWOOD JOBS". New York Times. ProQuest   112775578.
  12. ↑ Billings, Josh (16 December 1954). "Other monkey makers". Kinematograph Weekly. p. 9.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.