Mogambo [Import]

Service très rapide et le produit correspond à toutes mes attentes. Je n'hésite pas à le recommander sans hésitation. Merci.

In Africa, a hunter (Clark Gable) who catches animals for zoos has two women come for safari; one is a worldly, nightclubbing dame (Ava Gardner) and the other a demure, Bostonian wife (Grace Kelly). Both find the macho man irresistible.

I like the three stars a lot, but I didn't care much for this movie. Gable's character is a silly caricature of rugged manliness; he growls orders, drinks a lot, and grabs women too roughly. He was only 52, but looked much older and was past his Rhett Butler glorydays. Kelly is good but seems to be trying oh-so-hard to be stern and matronly with much lip-pouting and overdoing the accent. Gardner plays her usual sexy, sadder-but-wiser part, but her dialogue is phony and stagy, her character overblown and never believable.

While the animal-catching and scenes of marginalized natives are terribly out of fashion and off-putting, the location scenery is beautiful, especially filmed in brilliant Technicolor. With two gorgeous women fighting for Clark Gable, I imagine the movie was quite sensational when it came out in 1953, but now I found it corny and silly.

While this is a exact remake of the '30's version Red Dust, John Ford's direction and the actors and actresses make this the better version. While Ford portrays the typical 'virgin queen' played by Grace Kelly against 'the whore', Ava Gardner the juxtaposition is admirable. Gable the hero proves his manhood against native indians and by leading Grace's anthropologist husband on safari into dangerous uncharted gorilla country. After 'playing' with Ava, a dark-haired showgirl, he drops her giving the impression he believes all women are golddiggers and 'easy'. When the blond 'purity' of Grace arrives he is infatuated.

While Gable displays his usual handsome virility it is Ava Gardner who steals the show with her love of baby elephants and other jungle critters. She clearly belongs in this world. Her transfomation after confession at a R.C. priest's sanctuary in the jungle she determines to stop heckling Grace and befriend her. Now she is the 'whore with a heart of gold' and clearly worthy of Gable even if he's too blind to see. She is a true heroine.

I'll leave the ending as a pleasant suprise for the viewer, but reccommend this movie highly next to Gone with the Wind, Band of Angels this is Gable at his finest, but no finer than the strong-willed Ava Gardner's role. It's well worth adding to your collection if you like romance, adventure, and excellent direction and acting. John Ford is one of the best directors Hollywood ever produced.