Elephant Walk

Can a film be bizarre and dreary at the same time? Everything about this film should work, great scenery, Elizabeth Taylor's breasts, scenes of the rich and drunk, etc. -- but it doesn't. The whole plot is blindingly obvious from the outset (THE HOUSE IS BUILT WHERE THE ELEPHANTS USED TO WALK!!! GEE, I WONDER IF THAT WILL BE IMPORTANT). The bizarre part is the demented empire built by the dead father (Rebecca with elephants). And the teak Manderlay burns to the ground. But it is hopelessly boring, even the wild elephant scenes are somehow filmed in a ho-hum manner, except for one nice little moment with Taylor on a crumbling staircase.

This tepid melodrama concerns John Wiley, a rich tea planter (Peter Finch) who brings his new wife Ruth (Elizabeth Taylor) home to "Elephant Walk," his plantation in Ceylon. The palatial home was built (purposely) to block the wild elephants' path to water, and they have never forgiven the owners. Ruth finds the adjustment difficult as her loving, debonair groom turns into a drunken, boorish lout who cares more about entertaining his fellow planters than being with her. Enter the sensitive overseer (Dana Andrews) who takes a liking to Ruth and there's trouble in paradise.

This 1954 movie has exactly the same plot as "The Naked Jungle" which was also released that year, only with elephants instead of army ants. It was only partially filmed on location and those scenes are easy to spot as the colors are intensely bright and vivid with natural light. It's too bad they cut corners and filmed half of the movie indoors in front of stock footage. Going back and forth between real outdoors and fake outdoors is distracting, to say the least. Taylor is lovely to look at, but she and her co-stars overact to the point of being silly; she's too loud, dressing in ridiculous gowns for the jungle, and generally acts like a one-dimensional shrew. There is no romantic chemistry at all between her and Finch or Andrews; both men are wooden caricatures and unconvincing ones at that.

The best part of the movie is the finale which has hundreds of elephants storming the mansion, taking back their "walk." Mercifully, this signals the end of a long and overwrought movie which gives the viewer more opportunities to laugh than swoon.

I've always loved this film. I constantly feel that it is unfairly dismissed as a jungle soap opera but it has so many very good things going for it. I feel it was a very important early adult film role for Elizabeth and certainly gives an indication of all the stunning roles coming up for her soon like "Giant", "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof", "Suddenly Last Summer" etc. She gives here an excellent performance and absolutely holds her own against Dana Andrews and Peter Finch.
The look of the film is spectacular and Elizabeth has never been more lovely. I wont retell the saga of Elizabeth replacing Vivien Leigh here again as other reviewers have mentioned it already, bu tthe film does benefit from the stunning on location photography in Ceylon which adds richly to the films quality. Abraham Soefar has a superb role as the mystical and haughty man servant who at first despises but then grows to appreciate Elizabeth's character through plague and then of course the spectacular elephant stampede at the finale which is without doubt "Elephant Walk"s most famous scene. It is a stunner and well worth the wait.
I highly recommend "Elephant Walk" for all of you who, like me, love Elizabeth Taylor and know what a fine actress she is. An excellent film to sit back and enjoy....they don't make 'em like this any more!!