The Naked Jungle | |
---|---|
Directed by | Byron Haskin |
Screenplay by | Ranald MacDougall Ben Maddow Philip Yordan |
Based on | Leiningen Versus the Ants by Carl Stephenson |
Produced by | George Pal |
Starring | Eleanor Parker Charlton Heston Abraham Sofaer William Conrad |
Cinematography | Ernest Laszlo |
Edited by | Everett Douglas |
Music by | Daniele Amfitheatrof |
Color process | Technicolor |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 95 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Box office | $2.3 million (US/Canada rentals) [1] |
The Naked Jungle is a 1954 American adventure film directed by Byron Haskin, and starring Charlton Heston and Eleanor Parker. Telling the story of an attack of army ants on a Brazilian cocoa plantation, it was based on the 1937 short story "Leiningen Versus the Ants" by Carl Stephenson. [2]
In 1901, Joanna arrives from New Orleans at a South American cocoa plantation to meet her new husband (whom she married by proxy), plantation owner Christopher Leiningen. This has been arranged by his brother in New Orleans. Leiningen is upset that she is a widow, as he wished to marry a virgin. She tells him a piano plays better if it has already been played.
Leiningen is cold and remote to her, rebuffing all her attempts to make friends with him. She is beautiful, independent, and arrives ready to be his stalwart helpmate. There is a strong sexual tension, which appears hard to resolve. Although there is mutual softening, he still decides to send her back to the US. Leiningen decides to advance this plan by a month when he hears from the local commissioner of a potential attack by an army of ants (marabunta), as he does not wish her to be harmed.
As she awaits the boat to take her back to the United States, they learn that legions of army ants - the "marabunta" - will strike in a few days' time. Leiningen refuses to give up the home he fought so hard to create. Instead of evacuating, he resolves to make a stand against this indomitable natural predator. The ants take several days to arrive and during that time their joint effort brings them closer and love begins to blossom. Joanna joins the fight to save the plantation.
Leiningen's most drastic action is blowing up a timber dam to flood his own estate, washing the ants away.
In November 1952, George Pal announced he would adapt the short story "Leiningen Versus the Ants" into a feature film, with Philip Yordan to write the screenplay. [3] [4]
In March 1953, Charlton Heston was announced as the male lead. [5] In May 1953, Teddi Sherman was reportedly working on the script. [6] The screenplay was co-written by Ranald MacDougall and the blacklisted writer Ben Maddow.
William Conrad, who had starred as Leiningen in adaptations of Stephenson's story for the radio programs Escape and Suspense , appears in the film as the district commissioner [7] (this was announced in July 1953 [8] ).
The unique "sound" of the ants devouring everything in their path was created by swirling a straw in a glass of water with crushed ice, which was then amplified. Much of the Rio Negro (Amazon) jungle riverscape, as well as the bridge dynamiting and sluice scenes, are second-unit stock footage shot in Florahome, Florida. [9]
The film was adapted for radio on the June 7, 1954 broadcast of the Lux Radio Theatre ; Charlton Heston reprised his role as "Leiningen" and Donna Reed played "Joanna". [10]
A scene from the film was used in the 1971 film The Hellstrom Chronicle .
The film strongly influenced the 1985 MacGyver episode "Trumbo's World", which also featured clips from the film.
In 1978, Martin Scorsese listed the film as among his "100 Random Pleasures" in a section of films which "are not good. They're guilty. But there are things in them that make you like them, that make them worthwhile." [11]
In 1970, it aired on WVUE-TV in New Orleans, Louisiana, as part of its highly publicized switch of channel positions with that city's PBS member station, WYES-TV. [12]
Charlton Heston was an American actor and political activist. He gained stardom for his leading man roles in numerous Hollywood films including biblical epics, science-fiction films and action films. He won the Academy Award as well as nominations for three Golden Globe Awards, and three Primetime Emmy Awards. He won numerous honorary accolades including the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 1978, the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award in 1967, the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 1971, the Kennedy Center Honors in 1997, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2003.
Eleanor Jean Parker was an American actress. She was nominated for three Academy Awards for her roles in the films Caged (1950), Detective Story (1951), and Interrupted Melody (1955), the first of which won her the Volpi Cup for Best Actress. She was also known for her roles in the films Of Human Bondage (1946), Scaramouche (1952), The Naked Jungle (1954), The Man with the Golden Arm (1955), A Hole in the Head (1959), The Sound of Music (1965), and The Oscar (1966).
Escape is an American radio drama. It was radio's leading anthology series of high-adventure radio dramas, airing on CBS from July 7, 1947 to September 25, 1954.
Jeff Chandler was an American actor. He was best known for his portrayal of Cochise in Broken Arrow (1950), for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He was one of Universal Pictures' more popular male stars of the 1950s. His other credits include Sword in the Desert (1948), Deported (1950), Female on the Beach (1955), and Away All Boats (1956). He also performed as a radio actor and as a singer.
Debra Paget is an American retired actress and entertainer. She is perhaps best known for her performances in Cecil B. DeMille's epic The Ten Commandments (1956) and in Elvis Presley's film debut, Love Me Tender (1956), as well as for the risqué snake dance scene in The Indian Tomb (1959).
WVUE-DT is a television station in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. Owned by Gray Television, the station maintains primary studios on Norman C. Francis Parkway in the city's Gert Town section, with a secondary studio within the Benson Tower in downtown New Orleans; its transmitter is located on Magistrate Street in Chalmette, Louisiana.
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A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies is a 1995 British documentary film of 225 minutes in length, presented by Martin Scorsese and produced by the British Film Institute.
"Leiningen Versus the Ants" by Carl Stephenson is a classic short story published in the December 1938 edition of Esquire. It is a translation, probably by Stephenson himself, of "Leiningens Kampf mit den Ameisen" which was originally published in German in 1937.
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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.
Carl Stephenson was an Austrian-born German writer best known for his short story "Leiningen Versus the Ants".
Joan Weldon was an American actress and singer in film, television, and theatre.
Woman's World is a 1954 American CinemaScope and print by Technicolor drama film about corporate America directed by Jean Negulesco and starring Clifton Webb, June Allyson, Van Heflin, Lauren Bacall, Fred MacMurray, Arlene Dahl and Cornel Wilde. The screenplay concerns three men who compete for the top job at a large company.
Jungle Jim is a 1948 American adventure film directed by William Berke and starring Johnny Weissmuller. It is based on Alex Raymond's Jungle Jim comic strip and was distributed by Columbia Pictures. It is the first picture in the Jungle Jim series that consists of 16 films originally released between 1948 and 1955.
Pony Express is a 1953 American Western film directed by Jerry Hopper, filmed in Kanab, Utah, and starring Charlton Heston as Buffalo Bill, Forrest Tucker as Wild Bill Hickok, Jan Sterling as a Calamity Jane-type character, and Rhonda Fleming. The story is largely based on the 1925 silent film The Pony Express while the threat of a Californian secession is taken from Frontier Pony Express (1939).
The Last Hard Men is a 1976 American Western film directed by Andrew McLaglen, based on the 1971 novel Gundown by Brian Garfield. It stars Charlton Heston and James Coburn, with supporting roles by Barbara Hershey, Jorge Rivero, Michael Parks, and Larry Wilcox in his screen debut.
Duel in the Jungle is a 1954 British adventure film combining the detective film with the jungle adventure genres directed by George Marshall and starring Dana Andrews, Jeanne Crain and David Farrar. It was shot at the Elstree Studios near London and on location in Southern Africa. The film's sets were designed by the art director Terence Verity. It was produced by Associated British in conjunction with Marcel Hellman. It was released in the United States by Warner Bros.
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