Customer Reviews

Naked Jungle

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Set in 1901 in the Amazon jungle, this fabulous "Insect Feature" has excellent special effects and atmosphere, with Charlton Heston as a mucho macho man who is at war with the dreaded marabunta, the killer red ants who threaten to take over his plantation. He is also at war with his heart, as he tries to stay aloof to his mail order bride from New Orleans, the beautiful Eleanor Parker. Parker is cool as a mint julep in her Edith Head gowns, and tough enough to stand by her man; the chemistry between them sizzles, and they look so very fine together.
William Conrad is also good as the Commissioner, as he warns them to escape the billions of approaching ants which are "forty square miles of agonizing death !".

One of the best things about this film is the soundtrack by Daniele Amfitheatrof, which owes a lot to Stravinsky and Darius Milhaud, and is perfect in the way it underscores the dialogue, and accentuates the action. It's really worth just listening to this film once, to fully appreciate the music and the sound effects.
Ernest Lazlo's Techicolor cinematography is marvelous, and the Byron Haskin direction fast paced, with Heston doing most of his own stunts, which included having those nasty ants crawling on him.
Some of this film is quite exciting, some of it hilarious, and it's always extremely entertaining, and is the absolute best of the bug genre films.
As the ants bare the jungle, Eleanor tries to bare Chuck's soul...will she succeed ? watch this superb jungle romance and find out !
Total running time is 95 minutes.

Exciting drama-horror film about a South American planter who faces death and destruction from deadly soldier ants. The swarming Marabunda, as the ants are called, cover an area ten miles long and two miles wide and are the scourge of South American jungles, sweeping everything before them. Leiningen, the plantation owner, ignores warnings by the commissioner to abandon his acres of coffee and chocolate and makes preparations to fend off his intelligent, relentless foe. The ants are about two inches in length with razor-sharp mandibles and devour plants and trees in their path and even fierce jungle predators such as jaguars, wild hogs and tapirs flee before the voracious insects.

Another plot narrative is the marital discord between Leiningen [Charlton Heston] and his mail-order bride [Eleanor Parker]. Desiring a wife with whom to share his vast jungle holdings, Leiningen marries a woman by proxy from New Orleans and is displeased to discover that she is a widow, and has known men. The Leiningens clash repeatedly until the planter softens in his attitude towards his bride. Mrs. Leiningen stays by her husband's side and they and his plantation workers band together to turn aside the savage Marabunda.

Another film on the "It should have been on dvd already" list. This
is again fine vintage entertainment that still holds up thru repeat
viewings.

Based on the novel "Lanlogen and the ants" Charlton Heston stars as
the main character a plantation owner whose roots go further in the
ground than any of trees in the amazon, who has cut all ties to the
civilized world outside his. That is until "made to order" bride to
be Eleanor Parker shows up on his step. Prim,Proper and intelligent
& a mind of her own, she is not at all what he expected his brother
to send to him form New Orleans. To say more would spoil the show

I will tell if your screamish about ants (That's Marabuta in this
neck of the woods) then prepare yourself for millions of them as
they threaten to destroy everything in thier path leaving nothing
but "The naked jungle"

A great film with just the right amount of romance and adventure
Heston has never been brutal and Parker never more beautiful and
William Conrad in a good supporting role. Paramount's VHS tape is
the only to watch this gem for the moment,It has a fairly decent
picture and sound quality but (excuse the pun) I'm itching to get
my hands on the dvd when it finally comes out.

In junior high school, in an English book, I read a true story titled "Leinengen Versus the Ants", a good and interesting story for a school book.

Years later, when I saw this movie, I realized that it is the same story. Surprise! Having read it in a school reader gave it authenticity to my mind. Charlton Heston and Eleanor Parker gave it color and flavor. Very enjoyable movie.

I still remember when I saw this movie as a teenager this absolutely otherworldly vision of a luxurious jungle mountain turning crimson red through a spectacular red ants invasion that was truly creepier than "Them". And of the ever-machismo Charlton Heston defying their multitudinous hordes all by himself (I'll let you guess who won)! I wonder why this fine jungle adventure is not on DVD yet! I, for one, look forward to it (in WideScreen please!).

"The Naked Jungle' has always been a favourite of mine since the days when it used to pop up every six months or so on our local television late at night. Surprisingly it is still not a well known film and is largely forgotten as an early Charlton Heston vechicle. It has many similiarities in theme to Paramount's "Elephant Walk" starring Elizabeth Taylor and Peter Finch and even has a cross over of cast in the talented Abraham Sofaer who appears as an Indian manservant in both films. While the other film had elephants as its main point of interest the little creatures in this film are far more deadly and make for a much scarier scenerio whereby the dreaded South American soldier ants literally eat anything that moves, thus having a lot more potential for an exciting climax to the story.

Indeed exciting and well made are two terms best used to describe this film. It tells the story of an isolated and fairly anti social self made young man Christopher Leiningen who has carved out an empire for himself on a coffee plantation far up the Amazon river in South America. To continue his empire he seeks a wife and advertises for a bride. His brother in New Orleans finds him the perfect woman in the form of Eleanor Parker who is refined, well educated and spunky with a mind of her own. The first part of the film shows their clash of wills and their eventual growing respect for each other prior to the last part of the story where their whole existence is threatened by a moving mountain of deadly soldier ants that threaten to wipe out everything in their path. This makes for the really exciting finale to the film which I wont reveal for those of you who have not seen the film yet.

Charlton Heston and Eleanor Parker make a great couple in this film and their screen chemistry is really electric here. Parker, still best known as the Baroness in "The Sound Of Music" brings to her role the rare combination of refinement and gutsiness which contrasts beautifully with Heston's no nonsense man of few words. During the more leisurely first half of the film the two alternately clash, in particular after Christopher learns that Joanna has been previously married and is thus in his mind soiled goods, and then develop feelings for each other while learning more about themselvesin the process.

The tone of the film changes dramatically in the second half and what we witness then are the really superb special effects and production values after the killer ants begin their march on the plantation. This part of the film contains some quite horrifying and disturbing scenes that even today are not for the squeamish. It is all done in a highly believable and vivid manner and the climax that sees the flooding of the plantation has rarely been equalled in terms of special effects.

"The Naked Jungle" benefits greatly from the beautiful on location photography employed and the vivid colour which really brings the South American locale alive. The film can be enjoyed on a number of levels, firstly as a well acted drama that for once shows a strong ,intelligent and self assured female lead bouncing off the lead male and secondly as a rivetting adventure tale filled with exciting and eye popping special effects that create quite a frightening vision. It has it all, action, romance, terror , and excitement which is often hard to find in current films. Enjoy "The Naked Jungle" and I can assure you you will never think of ants in the same way again!

Lydia Heston, Charlton Heston's wife, once identified many of his most successful roles as being "heel with a heart" characterizations. "The Naked Jungle" is an excellent example of this theory . . . and also a damn fine movie, adapted from the classic short story, "Leningen vs. the Ants." Christopher Leningen is a determined and very lonely young man who has carved out a plantation (product: cocoa beans) and now is looking for a wife. Through his brother (who we do not see), he finds a wife and marries her by proxy, then has her brought to the plantation. As played by Eleanor Parker (the fine actress of "Caged," known by "Sound of Music" fans as Elsa the arch-villainess), Joanna is just as strong-willed as Christopher . . . resulting in a considerable psychological war-of-the-sexes. The excellent script, superb direction, and wonderful production values all add to make this a terrific viewing experience . . . and don't look now, but there's William Conrad, the classic radio actor and television star! "Elephant Walk," with an also excellent cast of Peter Finch, Elizabeth Taylor and Dana Andrews, was coincidentally released the same year and has a similar theme, but "The Naked Jungle" remains the better movie, not just for the reasons mentioned, but also because the physical enemy is far more unlikely. (Hint: You'll get the urge to itch before the end of "Naked Jungle"!) Don't be mislead by the title; this is not a cheesy, exploitational film, although some nice metaphoric language in the script, plus the tremendous physicality of Heston and Parker, create some obvious erotic tension. Not exactly the ultimate movie about South America, as one reviewer claimed, and not the imperialist fantasy that another reviewer stated, but a great adventure yarn featuring two strong people going up against the elements . . . and themselves.

One of Hollywood's favorite themes is the hero's attempt to remake nature in his own image. Sometimes the arena is Wall Street, sometimes a Wild West town, and sometimes a Brazilian jungle. In THE NAKED JUNGLE, director Byron Haskin has created a vastly underappreciated film that combines action/adventure with romance. Usually, for this kind of hybrid movie to resonate with the audience, there must be present a thematic 'hook' with which viewers can connect viscerally either to the hero or the plot. In this case, Charlton Heston, who plays Christopher Leiningen, provides this hook as he presents himself as a man on a self-appointed mission to tame a wilderness that beckons to him. Years before the movie begins, he entered the Amazon with little more than his unswerving determination to twist nature into his own divine plan. He hews out of the jungle an empire in which the natives serve him as a medieval lord. And as a lord, he has a moat and castle filled with the rudiments of civilization that remind him daily that to rule without a queen is hardly to rule at all. He chooses not to avail himself of the company of native women, any one of whom presumably would jump at the chance to be his consort. His mania for quality possessions carries over to his idealized vision of a Virgin Queen. He sends to the United States for a mail order bride in much the same way that he sends for the objects that fill his castle. He insists on numbers and quantifiable components to his many dreams. Just as he once ordered 800 pounds of classic books to fill his library, he now orders a virgin bride (Eleanor Parker), who is gorgeous, blond, articulate. Unfortunately, she was previously married and his perception of her as 'used goods' sets up the tension for the first half of the film. The focus in the second half shifts to another form of nature that also resists his control. The natives call it 'marabunta,' a 20 mile wide by 2 mile long army of voracious ants, consuming all in its path.
There are several outstanding scenes that make this film work. Heston's interpretation of the monomaniacal medieval ruler begins to soften as he realizes that there are some aspects of nature that resist taming. He can carve out a jungle empire with his bare hands. He can even confront a marauding ant army with those same hands, but when he faces a woman who has her own ideas about her place in his Amazon landscape, then he is forced to acknowledge that to get, he must first give. His ruined forest is a small price to pay to learn this eternal truism.

I included this movie in my very personal 'Jerryalone' Listmania list, titled: 'THE SENTIMENTAL MOVIES OF A LONELY MAN'. I'm aware that it might seem curious, I guess depending on a lot about the person, as to how this movie would fit the type-category consistent with the theme intrinsic to so-named a title. Because the movie THE NAKED JUNGLE, is more usually thought about with a main focus emphasised toward the attraction of the overall -"something terrifying is away off in the distance of the steaming jungles, and it's coming this way"- Myster(ious)-Sci Fi-Horror framing, that the "Love Story" is set in. But, although maybe in part due to the romanticisticism of my own sensibilities, the "love story" of the movie is the developing thread of 'sub-plot', that I'm mainly always finding myself constantly following through when I'm watching it; and find to be the aspect of the movie that has gotten me more intricately involved with, and become more intimately endearing to me, everafter, with the more subsequent viewings. THE NAKED JUNGLE is both stories: the Science Fiction-Horror-Thriller...(but, even then, what's happened wrong to be doing for a life, that in the story about a man battling ants 2,ooo miles far off in the sweating jungles of the Amazon basin; and out there hauling pianos and cases of poetry books up a giant snake-crocadile-pirrahna-rat-mosquito-infested river, going to drain out a place in the kinds of swamps like they've got the likes of some places inside of Brazil!); and the more obvious of the 'Love Story', about a lonely man who does not know anything about what it is or how to go about it, to love a woman; and the woman who, so lucky for him, was "very much of" a woman, with the feminine instinct of insight and comprehension, honed with knowing experience of the confusion and denied weakness,-(enough to be aware that it's always)- juxtapositioned along with a deep vein of love passioned strong, in the heart of real men. The woman who was exactly what was the need of him,...whether he knew how to handle it or not. And I quite identify with, and am sentimental over this movie, because of this so heart-touching 'sub-plot' of the real tug-o-war bout that this very genuine woman has to go through in order to save him from his pitiful lot; his blindly self-orchestrated, self-maintained -"very wanting, very frightened, very stuck"-lonely heart, that she knows really all about from his letters he wrote out to his brother, that were going to her, asking to find him a girl. I've been collecting the movies of the 30s,40s,and 50s for twenty-some years now, and keeping them categorized very specifically is important to me. This one is in ROMANCES/LOVE AFFAIRS,along with: 'FOXFIRE'(1955)starring JEFF CHANDLER and JANE RUSSELL.
-- If you love them like I do, and would like to talk about those old romantic movies like they made beginning in the late 1930s and up to 1962 (After which they'll never make them like that again), you can E-mail me at: silverbuyer1@aol.com .

The Naked Jungle is a surprisingly likeable movie. From the title, one either believes it's an erotic film or a comedy, both of which it is neither. The film is actually a mixture of romance and adventure, along with some doses of action and suspense and the combination is well done.

Eleanor Parker stars as Joanna Leinengen, a strong-willed, beautiful, and independent young woman who has been married via mail to Christopher Leinengen, played by Charlton Heston. He owns and lives in his plantation in South America so she travels by boat from the United States to meet him for the very first time. When she arrives, they don't get off to a very good start and Christopher ignores quite a bit and treats her without respect. However, as the time goes by romantic feelings begin to develop between them. But a problem is beginning to grow in the jungle. A 20 mile long, 2 mile wide line of soldier ants is headed for Christopher's plantation and is devouring everything in its path. Now, Christopher and Joanna must think quickly and defend their home from the tiny predators.

I honestly had no idea what this movie was about when I popped it into the VCR. It's truly a pleasant surprise as the romance in the film is well done with a lot of chemistry between Parker and Heston. Each deliver superb performances.

There's a switch in tone nearly 2/3's the way through this movie (it's 96 minutes long without end credits), from romance/drama to action/adventure and suspense when the ants begin to invade. The developing tension is taut and fast paced. One might get the feeling that a movie with this kind of plot might be rather cheesy but that's not the case with The Naked Jungle. Every moment is well-executed with competent direction and a good script to boot. For jungle adventure and romance, The Naked Jungle is a fine choice.