Reviews (10)

1952 Gregory Peck feature not a classic !
A colorized version of a b/w film shot in exotic European locations, three legendary Hollywood screen actors of the 40s and 50s (Gregory Peck, Susan Hayward, and Ava Gardner), based on a story considered a classic of American literature. . .how could you go wrong? How, indeed? But something doesn't translate well here, sadly.

"The Snows of Kilimanjaro" is a slow-moving film, a bit disjointed, told completely in flashbacks. I remember reading excerpts from Ernest Hemingway's story of the same name for an upper-level English composition course I took over 20 years ago from one of the long-haired hippie professors who were the bane of my existence back then. Problem with that particular prof was that he forced us to read dark, depresssing mediocre literature; I never liked anything he wanted us to model our own writing after--and still don't like the authors he held up as paragons of good writing.

SYNOPSIS: Successful American writer Harry Street (Peck) is forced to reflect on his past successes and failures and analyzes his life as he faces death at the foot of Mt. Kilimanjaro. He is camped on the slope of the famous African mountain with his second wife, Helen, who listens to him bemoan his lost (dead) first wife, Cynthia, as he drifts in and out of consciousness following an accident. The cause of his medical condition is not clear, as the couple can't agree whether he was scraped by a poisonous thorn or if he got injured while rescuing an African native from an angry hippopotamus, so this just added to my confusion. I'm not even sure if Helen is actually his wife; Susan Hayward is listed simply as "Helen" with no last name in all cast-lists I could find for this film. I missed something, what with all the flashbacks and cuts back to the camp-site where Street lay on his deathbed, surrounded by vultures in the trees and cackling hyenas at night.

The bright spot I found in this film was in Hildegard Knef's rather campy portrayal of "Countess Liz," to whom Street was affianced after divorcing Cynthia and before taking off to Africa with Helen. (Confused? So was I!) I don't think she meant to be funny, but I found her accent reminiscent of Madeline Kahn's character in "Young Frankenstein," which I found a hoot. Kahn may have used Knef as her role-model! I mean, I thought Harry and Liz were living in Paris, and I thought Liz was probably French. I researched Hildegard Knef a bit and found that she was born in Germany; she sounded like a German imitating a French accent, and I got a kick out of it.

One final detail that I might point out could help other viewers when they watch this film. At first I found it odd that two similar-looking brunette actresses (Hayward and Gardner) were cast as Harry Street's wives, but then I remembered something that the character says when he met Helen. Harry is giving a voice-over narrative during some of the flashbacks and is actually speaking to his dead wife Cynthia. He says, basically, "I'd follow any woman who reminded me of you in some way."

How very sad. Harry and Cynthia were happy together, but divorce because of a personal tragedy that happens between them, so Harry moves on to fabulously wealthy but overly-controlling Liz, only to realize at the last minute that he is still in love with his first wife. Harry goes to Spain, too late, to find Cynthia. I think he somehow thought he could replace Cynthia with a similar-looking woman, but it just couldn't be the same.

RECOMMENDATION: Get this if you're a big fan of Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner (she gives a good performance), or Susan Hayward, but don't think you're getting a top-notch rendition of a piece of American Literature (consider the source; it's a work by Hemingway!). Another translation for high-school students: don't substitute viewing this film for reading the Cliff's-Notes!! You'll end up more confused than if you simply read the book.

Possibly hollywood's worst Hemingway adaptation
Ranks right down there with Hemingway's Adventures of a Young Man. Stiff Peck at his honking woodenest, vapid Gardner, shrill Hayward, the adaptation like something out of a romance mag. Only Bernard Hermann's music which he later recycled for Vertigo was of professional quality.

Snows of Kilimanjaro
Bought the DVD in assembling a Gregory Peck collection. Version was the one with Ava Gardner on the cover of the pack. The film was complete, but there was annoying technical noise, and quite a bit of fluttering in the picture. I may at some point buy another version of this DVD, but I do not recommend the technical quality of this particular production.

HAS LITTLE TO DO WITH KILIMANJARO...
As he lay dying,

Peck pines for Ava whom he

loves, while Hayward waits.

An interesting Hemingway adaptation
Ernest Hemingway hated this adaptation of his work, and disparagingly referred to it as "The Snows of Zanuck." I think he was overestimating his own writing, and I think the film is no worse than the work upon which it was based. Methinks he doth protest too much. Hemingway was heard to grumble: "I sold Zanuck one short story, not my whole body of works." The Casey Robinson screenplay is witty and honest, with the right blend of cynicism and naivetee. Gregory Peck is a gruff, grumbly, handsome-as-a-devil Hemingway "hero," and Ava Gardner makes a memorable, heartbreakingly beautiful Cynthia. Susan Hayward makes the best of the film's most thankless role (she looks great in a pith helmut, too). The layers of flashbacks perfectly convey the sense of a man reevaluating his past as he faces imminent death. Much has been made of the ending, and the way it deviates from the original story. I don't see the sunny Hollywood ending purists have denounced, since we really don't know the status of the dying writer as the helicopter arrives. The soundtrack is a bit loopy and out-of-synch in places, and the special effects (especially the river crossing) look pretty bad by today's standards, but the acting adds a depth and humanity which is missing from Hemingway's original work. A fun piece of escapist safaridrama along the lines of the superior "King Solomon's Mines" or "Mogambo." ... Read more

Reviews (10)

1952 Gregory Peck feature not a classic !
A colorized version of a b/w film shot in exotic European locations, three legendary Hollywood screen actors of the 40s and 50s (Gregory Peck, Susan Hayward, and Ava Gardner), based on a story considered a classic of American literature. . .how could you go wrong? How, indeed? But something doesn't translate well here, sadly.

"The Snows of Kilimanjaro" is a slow-moving film, a bit disjointed, told completely in flashbacks. I remember reading excerpts from Ernest Hemingway's story of the same name for an upper-level English composition course I took over 20 years ago from one of the long-haired hippie professors who were the bane of my existence back then. Problem with that particular prof was that he forced us to read dark, depresssing mediocre literature; I never liked anything he wanted us to model our own writing after--and still don't like the authors he held up as paragons of good writing.

SYNOPSIS: Successful American writer Harry Street (Peck) is forced to reflect on his past successes and failures and analyzes his life as he faces death at the foot of Mt. Kilimanjaro. He is camped on the slope of the famous African mountain with his second wife, Helen, who listens to him bemoan his lost (dead) first wife, Cynthia, as he drifts in and out of consciousness following an accident. The cause of his medical condition is not clear, as the couple can't agree whether he was scraped by a poisonous thorn or if he got injured while rescuing an African native from an angry hippopotamus, so this just added to my confusion. I'm not even sure if Helen is actually his wife; Susan Hayward is listed simply as "Helen" with no last name in all cast-lists I could find for this film. I missed something, what with all the flashbacks and cuts back to the camp-site where Street lay on his deathbed, surrounded by vultures in the trees and cackling hyenas at night.

The bright spot I found in this film was in Hildegard Knef's rather campy portrayal of "Countess Liz," to whom Street was affianced after divorcing Cynthia and before taking off to Africa with Helen. (Confused? So was I!) I don't think she meant to be funny, but I found her accent reminiscent of Madeline Kahn's character in "Young Frankenstein," which I found a hoot. Kahn may have used Knef as her role-model! I mean, I thought Harry and Liz were living in Paris, and I thought Liz was probably French. I researched Hildegard Knef a bit and found that she was born in Germany; she sounded like a German imitating a French accent, and I got a kick out of it.

One final detail that I might point out could help other viewers when they watch this film. At first I found it odd that two similar-looking brunette actresses (Hayward and Gardner) were cast as Harry Street's wives, but then I remembered something that the character says when he met Helen. Harry is giving a voice-over narrative during some of the flashbacks and is actually speaking to his dead wife Cynthia. He says, basically, "I'd follow any woman who reminded me of you in some way."

How very sad. Harry and Cynthia were happy together, but divorce because of a personal tragedy that happens between them, so Harry moves on to fabulously wealthy but overly-controlling Liz, only to realize at the last minute that he is still in love with his first wife. Harry goes to Spain, too late, to find Cynthia. I think he somehow thought he could replace Cynthia with a similar-looking woman, but it just couldn't be the same.

RECOMMENDATION: Get this if you're a big fan of Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner (she gives a good performance), or Susan Hayward, but don't think you're getting a top-notch rendition of a piece of American Literature (consider the source; it's a work by Hemingway!). Another translation for high-school students: don't substitute viewing this film for reading the Cliff's-Notes!! You'll end up more confused than if you simply read the book.

Possibly hollywood's worst Hemingway adaptation
Ranks right down there with Hemingway's Adventures of a Young Man. Stiff Peck at his honking woodenest, vapid Gardner, shrill Hayward, the adaptation like something out of a romance mag. Only Bernard Hermann's music which he later recycled for Vertigo was of professional quality.

Snows of Kilimanjaro
Bought the DVD in assembling a Gregory Peck collection. Version was the one with Ava Gardner on the cover of the pack. The film was complete, but there was annoying technical noise, and quite a bit of fluttering in the picture. I may at some point buy another version of this DVD, but I do not recommend the technical quality of this particular production.

HAS LITTLE TO DO WITH KILIMANJARO...
As he lay dying,

Peck pines for Ava whom he

loves, while Hayward waits.

An interesting Hemingway adaptation
Ernest Hemingway hated this adaptation of his work, and disparagingly referred to it as "The Snows of Zanuck." I think he was overestimating his own writing, and I think the film is no worse than the work upon which it was based. Methinks he doth protest too much. Hemingway was heard to grumble: "I sold Zanuck one short story, not my whole body of works." The Casey Robinson screenplay is witty and honest, with the right blend of cynicism and naivetee. Gregory Peck is a gruff, grumbly, handsome-as-a-devil Hemingway "hero," and Ava Gardner makes a memorable, heartbreakingly beautiful Cynthia. Susan Hayward makes the best of the film's most thankless role (she looks great in a pith helmut, too). The layers of flashbacks perfectly convey the sense of a man reevaluating his past as he faces imminent death. Much has been made of the ending, and the way it deviates from the original story. I don't see the sunny Hollywood ending purists have denounced, since we really don't know the status of the dying writer as the helicopter arrives. The soundtrack is a bit loopy and out-of-synch in places, and the special effects (especially the river crossing) look pretty bad by today's standards, but the acting adds a depth and humanity which is missing from Hemingway's original work. A fun piece of escapist safaridrama along the lines of the superior "King Solomon's Mines" or "Mogambo." ... Read more

Reviews (10)

1952 Gregory Peck feature not a classic !
A colorized version of a b/w film shot in exotic European locations, three legendary Hollywood screen actors of the 40s and 50s (Gregory Peck, Susan Hayward, and Ava Gardner), based on a story considered a classic of American literature. . .how could you go wrong? How, indeed? But something doesn't translate well here, sadly.

"The Snows of Kilimanjaro" is a slow-moving film, a bit disjointed, told completely in flashbacks. I remember reading excerpts from Ernest Hemingway's story of the same name for an upper-level English composition course I took over 20 years ago from one of the long-haired hippie professors who were the bane of my existence back then. Problem with that particular prof was that he forced us to read dark, depresssing mediocre literature; I never liked anything he wanted us to model our own writing after--and still don't like the authors he held up as paragons of good writing.

SYNOPSIS: Successful American writer Harry Street (Peck) is forced to reflect on his past successes and failures and analyzes his life as he faces death at the foot of Mt. Kilimanjaro. He is camped on the slope of the famous African mountain with his second wife, Helen, who listens to him bemoan his lost (dead) first wife, Cynthia, as he drifts in and out of consciousness following an accident. The cause of his medical condition is not clear, as the couple can't agree whether he was scraped by a poisonous thorn or if he got injured while rescuing an African native from an angry hippopotamus, so this just added to my confusion. I'm not even sure if Helen is actually his wife; Susan Hayward is listed simply as "Helen" with no last name in all cast-lists I could find for this film. I missed something, what with all the flashbacks and cuts back to the camp-site where Street lay on his deathbed, surrounded by vultures in the trees and cackling hyenas at night.

The bright spot I found in this film was in Hildegard Knef's rather campy portrayal of "Countess Liz," to whom Street was affianced after divorcing Cynthia and before taking off to Africa with Helen. (Confused? So was I!) I don't think she meant to be funny, but I found her accent reminiscent of Madeline Kahn's character in "Young Frankenstein," which I found a hoot. Kahn may have used Knef as her role-model! I mean, I thought Harry and Liz were living in Paris, and I thought Liz was probably French. I researched Hildegard Knef a bit and found that she was born in Germany; she sounded like a German imitating a French accent, and I got a kick out of it.

One final detail that I might point out could help other viewers when they watch this film. At first I found it odd that two similar-looking brunette actresses (Hayward and Gardner) were cast as Harry Street's wives, but then I remembered something that the character says when he met Helen. Harry is giving a voice-over narrative during some of the flashbacks and is actually speaking to his dead wife Cynthia. He says, basically, "I'd follow any woman who reminded me of you in some way."

How very sad. Harry and Cynthia were happy together, but divorce because of a personal tragedy that happens between them, so Harry moves on to fabulously wealthy but overly-controlling Liz, only to realize at the last minute that he is still in love with his first wife. Harry goes to Spain, too late, to find Cynthia. I think he somehow thought he could replace Cynthia with a similar-looking woman, but it just couldn't be the same.

RECOMMENDATION: Get this if you're a big fan of Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner (she gives a good performance), or Susan Hayward, but don't think you're getting a top-notch rendition of a piece of American Literature (consider the source; it's a work by Hemingway!). Another translation for high-school students: don't substitute viewing this film for reading the Cliff's-Notes!! You'll end up more confused than if you simply read the book.

Possibly hollywood's worst Hemingway adaptation
Ranks right down there with Hemingway's Adventures of a Young Man. Stiff Peck at his honking woodenest, vapid Gardner, shrill Hayward, the adaptation like something out of a romance mag. Only Bernard Hermann's music which he later recycled for Vertigo was of professional quality.

Snows of Kilimanjaro
Bought the DVD in assembling a Gregory Peck collection. Version was the one with Ava Gardner on the cover of the pack. The film was complete, but there was annoying technical noise, and quite a bit of fluttering in the picture. I may at some point buy another version of this DVD, but I do not recommend the technical quality of this particular production.

HAS LITTLE TO DO WITH KILIMANJARO...
As he lay dying,

Peck pines for Ava whom he

loves, while Hayward waits.

An interesting Hemingway adaptation
Ernest Hemingway hated this adaptation of his work, and disparagingly referred to it as "The Snows of Zanuck." I think he was overestimating his own writing, and I think the film is no worse than the work upon which it was based. Methinks he doth protest too much. Hemingway was heard to grumble: "I sold Zanuck one short story, not my whole body of works." The Casey Robinson screenplay is witty and honest, with the right blend of cynicism and naivetee. Gregory Peck is a gruff, grumbly, handsome-as-a-devil Hemingway "hero," and Ava Gardner makes a memorable, heartbreakingly beautiful Cynthia. Susan Hayward makes the best of the film's most thankless role (she looks great in a pith helmut, too). The layers of flashbacks perfectly convey the sense of a man reevaluating his past as he faces imminent death. Much has been made of the ending, and the way it deviates from the original story. I don't see the sunny Hollywood ending purists have denounced, since we really don't know the status of the dying writer as the helicopter arrives. The soundtrack is a bit loopy and out-of-synch in places, and the special effects (especially the river crossing) look pretty bad by today's standards, but the acting adds a depth and humanity which is missing from Hemingway's original work. A fun piece of escapist safaridrama along the lines of the superior "King Solomon's Mines" or "Mogambo." ... Read more

Amazon.com essential video

Jan Morrow (Doris Day) and Brad Allen (Rock Hudson) have never met, but they're sworn enemies because of one small appliance in their lives: the telephone. The two share a party line, and Jan is outraged over the amount of time Bill spends wooing women over the phone. A convenient triangle emerges when a client (Tony Randall) of Jan's--she's an interior decorator--falls in love with her and happens to be Brad's old college chum. When Brad makes the connection, he decides to try to court Jan himself, to make her more sympathetic to his phone woes. Of course, she'd never go for such a heel, so he passes himself off as Rex Stetson, a Texas rancher visiting New York. The ensuing tale, albeit predictable, is lots of fun, with some quick-witted dialogue and some clever use of split-screens for the phone calls.Thelma Ritter is hilarious as Jan's always-hung-over maid, Alma; and the pairing of Rock and Doris works beautifully, as always. --Jenny Brown ... Read more

Reviews (72)

Doris and Rock's best movie
Without a doubt, this film is the apex of the Rock and Doris screen collaboration. It's an absolute delight from the opening scenes until the credits roll. It's also a wonderful time machine of the 1950's, and even though I was born after this film was made, it always make me feel as if I experienced this decade first-hand. Doris Day had a charisma on screen that is indescribable and it's never been put to better use than here. You just want to hug her to bits, she's simply adorable and her character makes the film. Rock gives one of his best peformances and he was always better when Doris was around. They screen chemistry is fabulous, exceeded only by Tracy and Hepburn. It's obvious these were two people who liked each other and felt comfortable in each other's company. Thelma Ritter and Tony Randall give superb supporting performances.

Another wonderful thing about Pillow Talk is that it's still extremely funny. There are many scenes where you will laugh out loud. The entire interplay between Doris and Rock (when he's Rex Stetson) is hilarious and holds up beautifully. Another favorite scene is when Rock is confronted with his re-designed apartment, all at the hands of the scheming Doris.

They don't make 'em like this anymore. People of all ages should love this film. I watch it every few years and always find something new to admire or laugh about. A highly recommended and enjoyable movie. One word about the DVD version: I was disappointed in the quality, it's a little grainy. There are also not many extras, excepting the theatrical trailer.

A Comic Inspiration...To Me!
Of all the classic comedies that starred Doris Day and Rock Hudson, or the two stars with other co-stars, this remains my favorite.The legendary late Rock Hudson was at his peak in this romantic comedy, and who better to showcase his charms against, than quintessential girl-next-door, Doris Day. Hudson thrives on his ability to charm indeed, as a songwriter named Brad Allen. Brad is a love-em and leave-em kind of guy, who entertains a seemingly endless array of lovesick females at his well equipped bachelor pad. He also sings to them over the phone for hours on end, tying up the telephone party-line he shares with Jan Morrow, interior designer, enter a perturbed Doris Day. Every time Jan picks up the phone, she hears Brad sing "You're My Inspiration...", and always with a new girls' name attached to the end. Flabbergasted at his womanizing, she sends a phone company rep to have a word with Mr. Allen, only to find that she TOO has fallen for the tall dark and handsome playboy. .............. Jan tells her boyfriend of sorts played by the wonderful veteran comedy legend Tony Randall, about her dialing dilemma. Randall, as always, plays himself. He's neat, dapper and proper, as not only Jan's boyfriend, but Brad Allen's friend and boss as well. After extoling the virtues of Jan to Brad, and mentioning that she shares a party-line with "some nut", describing the singing phone routine, Brad is too curious to find out what Randall is so wild about. After Brad Allen finally glimpses Jan Morrow dancing at a club, and sees the other end of his party line is not the shrew he expected, he sets out for his sweetest conquest of all................ "Pillow Talk" is a timeless gem of classic comedy. Amazingly, it was considered quite risque in it's time. This only goes to show just how jaded the world and cinema has become since 1959. Rock Hudson was actually embarrassed, and nearly declined the role. We can speculate in retrospect why he felt that way, but no one could've been a better cad than Rock as Brad! The one and only Doris Day is sweet as sunshine, until the duped decorator delighfully disarms Mr. Allen's charms, leaving him, for the first time, really in love with someone other than himself. Thelma Ritter is amusing as Jan's perpetually hung-over housekeeper. It's a truly comic moment when Ritter counsels Brad over a few too many drinks on how to win Jan over, and Hudsons' head hits the table with a thud, while Ritter babbles on oblivous to her companions condition. Tony Randall is his classic prim self, and laugh out loud funny, as he storms into his own place to rescue Jan from the smug seducer huffing the line "At least you could have had the DECENCY...to bring your OWN champagne!" .............. There are too many wonderful moments in this film to cover them all. If you somehow haven't, it's far better for you to enjoy watching this long lost genre of the innocent, fun, fresh feel-good romantic comedy, and experience first hand, the pure delight it has to offer in abundance.

Wonderful comedy of 3 Hollywood Stars with amazing chemistry
I grew up knowing about Doris Day because my mother was/is a big fan of her comedies. When I first saw "Pillow Talk" I was a mere child (the film was made the same year I was born). Over the years I have watched it frequently, and now have it also on DVD. The film continues to entertain and delight me, even as my impressions have changed with time.

Doris Day, Rock Hudson and Tony Randall had a wonderfully delightful chemistry amongst them! From the opening where Doris is humming "Pillow Talk" after the intro is completed, to the far-fetched but humourous end when Brad Allen (Rock) is trying to tell his friend Jonathan that he is going to be a father, the film is simply splendidly performed throughout! Credit must also be given to the script writers Stanley Shapiro & Maurice Richlin, director Michael Gordon & Producer Ross Hunter.

Even though I was born the year "Pillow Talk" was made, I didn't even know party lines existed until I visited a great-aunt in Northern Minnesota. I remember picking up the phone and hearing people talk. WHAT A DISCOVERY! It put the film in a new context for me when I saw it later (I am not sure if I had seen it before). I suspect that the younger generation might not understand even the notion of party lines in our age of cellular phones and internet. In this regard, the film takes us back to a less techonologically advanced time, but a time where life seemed somehow more relaxed.

I delight in seeing New York City, Central Park, and the American automobiles in the 1959 frame of context. One question that pops into my mind: did people in NYC really have such big apartments with a single woman living alone, and still affording a maid to come in each day??? Was the maid really paid enough to make a living from it? Did NYC really have that sort of "everyone knows everyone" feel such as when Kelly the police officer congratulates Brad Allen as he carries Jan Morrow from her apartment to his? I doubt it, but the fantasy is lovely!

Rock Hudson did a really fun impression of a Texan rancher up in New York. Tony Randall was extremely funny as the self-deprecating multi-millionaire in love with Jan, and Doris simply glowed from beginning to end. The last few times I have watched it, which has been recently, I have been struck by the sexual frankness it explored. Brad the playboy, always luring in the beautiful women, Jan the wonderfully moral interior decorator, who shakes her tush in a very sexy manner at a nightclub when Brad first spots her, and the budding romance that develops between the two when he becomes "Rex Stetson", a cowboy from Texas. "Rex" playing the moral companion who would do nothing to offend the proper Miss Morrow, while inside he is sizing her up and biting at the bit to ... well bite at her bits? When the gig is almost up, "Rex" innocently suggests that Jan join him for a weekend in Connecticut. While there was no actual sex occuring, it is made clear that it was about to happen when Jan figures out the ruse Brad Allen has played on her. Hollywood, perhaps afraid of the extent of this sexual frankness, has Miss Morrow crying at the diner where she and Jonathan stop for coffee, saying "I thought we were going to get married." Good girl image preserved!

Later, when Brad Allen conspires with Jan's boss to have her redecorate his apartment, the scene of the music beginning to play and the double bed automatically folding out with sheets in place left no doubt what sort of life Brad led prior to falling in love with Jan. He was a playboy through and through and measured success by the quantity of women he successfully "entertained" at home. Growing up believing that promiscuous sexuality was a by-product of the late 60's counter culture movement and "summer of love", it struck me how direct and unambigious this scene was. However, in a very moral and virginal way, Jan's virtues are protected until she hears that Brad wants to marry her and in fact, loves her very deeply.

I am particularly fond of stories where romance changes a person for the good. Being an adult and a male, however, I wonder if such a womanizing playboy could and would remain ever faithful to the woman he loves for all eternity and never feel the need to stray again. It is fun, however, to believe that love was the true redemptor and that Brad and Jan lived happily ever after. Isn't this the great promise of romance AND fairy tales.
In both genres, Pillow Talk succeeds beyond measure and I love it more each time I see it.

P.S. The music is great too. Love "Roly Poly", "Possess Me" and of course, the theme song!

funny!
This is truely one of the funnier Doris Day movies. I enjoy watching it. The first time I saw it was on tv and I just loved it. It's funny and it has a storyline that isn't tired and boring. I would reccomend this movie to anybody who likes musical comedies. The only thing I disliked a bout this movie was that Rock Hudson had to sing. He wasn't too great!

Pillow Talk
Rock Hudson and Doris Day always been one of my favorite classic couples of the 1950s films. Pillow Talk is one of my top titles for their team up. When an uptight decorator share a party line with a carefree playboy who would know that when they meet it would end up love at almost first sight. The late Tony Randall always seem to play the man stuck in the middle of the two in so many of their films that he's a terrfic straight man comic addition. ... Read more

Amazon.com

If one were to gather the hundreds of books written about Ludwig van Beethoven, sift through each with a fine-tooth comb, and extractevery simple mistake, wild speculation, and outright falsehood, the result would still be nowhere near as fabulous and artificial as this 1936 biopic, which rewrites the composer's life story into a throbbingly melodramatic tale of genius ignored and love unrequited. Director Abel Gance, best known for his expansive silent classic Napoleon, wasn't interested in the truth of Beethoven's life, but instead the romantic ideal of a great man tormented by history; Gance's Beethoven is merely a variation of the filmmaker's beloved Bonaparte, triumphant yet scorned by his inferiors in the artistic realm rather than the political. (Needless to say, among the film's many omissions is Beethoven's bitter rededication of the "Eroica" Symphony.)

Beginning where every portrait of Beethoven the man must, with the identification of the Immortal Beloved, the film nominates (wrongly) Giulietta Gallenberg, née Guicciardi, reconstructing their brief passion as a lifelong obsession. During each of Beethoven's struggles--with love, poverty, deafness--thunder cracks against the sky and the opening notes of the Fifth burst onto the soundtrack to punctuate the action. Meet the film on its own novelette-like terms, however, and it can be quite moving, not least for the magnificent presence of Harry Baur in the lead, who captures to perfection the tortured nobility the film foists upon its protagonist.Baur's conception is as outsized as Gance's, but also gentler and less sentimental; he humanizes what could have been a treacly salute to a marble statue. An unusual final credit places the actor's name alongside the director's, a touching admission by Gance at how indebted his film was to its star. --Bruce Reid ... Read more

Reviews (5)

Un amour de Beethoven...
There are not many filmed biographies dedicated to the Music master of all times, the latest being "Beethoven in Love" (which is Hollywoodiana at its worst).
In Abel Gance's version, "Un Grand Amour de Beethoven", not only do we find some of the best French actors of an Era long gone, but we have a true effort at character study.
Like in the Austrian movie, which nowadays is practically unavailable, called "Eroica", another excellent example of a screen translation of the man's life, "Un Grand Amour..." is a fair attempt at giving us Beethoven, the man, not the lover, not just the composer, but a man in his time.
In this one, somebody may still ask himself if Beethoven's love went to women, to a particular woman, or to a simple and probably more logic choice, to his music.
But there is more. The man's interior struggles are shown.
In a time period in which Revolutionary thinking seemed to permeate society, Beethoven comes through as the German "revolutionary" composer he was.
Beethoven craved for human love like any other human being, but in the end, as a realist as he was, and viewed the handicap he was facing, deafness, he concentrated totally and exclusively to his music.
In this movie, one can see that struggle for love, but instead of being a defeat to Beethoven (as in the above mentioned trashy movie), the man turns it into a triumph over the senses and brings himself, as well as his own music to an apotheosis never since equaled by any other composer.
Abel Gance seems to have understood this and respecting the genius of another master of the artistic trade, delivers a very touching account of the master's life.
The only downside to this effort is the poor technology filmmakers had in those days. At times the sound is dreadful and some conversations can only be understood by reading the subtitles (mind you, I speak French fluently, but I still could not understand some passages).
The music is hauntingly beautiful, but lacks depth and roundness. Poor Abel Gance, he must have struggled hard to finance this project.
Despite all this, this is, together with "Eroica" (if one can find it), the only true effort made, at bringing the great master back to life.
Being a theatrical director and an actor myself, I am still hoping to be able to, one day, put together some music historians, a dignified cast and crew and start what I always wanted in my childhood: film the entire life of Ludwig van Beethoven, according to his own letter exchange and the biographies of his closest friends and admirers.
Beethoven needs and deserves a faithful reconstruction of his life, told to generations to come.
He was more than just a musical genius. He was a highly controversial historical, philosophical and revolutionary/reactionary figure.
Abel Gance's effort is just a tiny cut in Beethoven's life and by reducing it into a two hour effort, he just partially managed to expose the man behind the composer, turning it naturally, as one would expect from a master such as Gance, into a masterpiece.
And yet, it is still lacking amplitude.
Nevertheless, this movie is a must for every Beethoven fan, if not of master Abel Gance.
Let's hope to find soon a larger and better product than "Bethoveen in love".

ABEL GANCE'S BEETHOVEN!
THRILL as the great French Director who brought us the epic of "NAPOLEON" brings us the story of the great German composer! SEE Beethoven as not only a romantic artist but a tragic hero! LISTEN to how Gance uses sound in an expressionist film, which uses the visual techniques of the SILENT cinema! READ the English subtitles of this French language film! SEE Harry Baur frown repeatedly as Ludwig Van Beethoven even while composing some of the GREATEST MUSIC the world has ever heard!

On Abel Gance's Beethoven
I have mixed reactions about Abel Gance's Beethoven. It was a great movie and Harry Baur's portrayal of Beethoven was impeccable, but there was too much use of Beethoven's 5th Symphony as soundtrack music. To Gance, Beethoven seems to equal the 5th Symphony. This is untrue. He wrote a lot of great music that was not used in the film. One of the features of this film that I really liked was that it did not include any vulgar sex scenes that I found in the movie, The Immortal Beloved. But what I consider the ultimate strength of this movie is that it metaphorically shows the composer struggling against the disappointment of hearing that the woman he loves has fallen in love with someone else, coming to terms with his worsening deafness, and struggling against poverty by trying desperately to earn a living through his music. Although most of the scenes are fictional, these scenes are metaphors of his existence as a human being.

On Abel Gance's Beethoven
On Abel Gance's Beethoven

I have mixed reactions about Abel Gance's Beethoven. It was a great movie and Harry Baur's portrayal of Beethoven was impeccable, but there was too much use of Beethoven's 5th Symphony as soundtrack music. To Gance, Beethoven seems to equal the 5th Symphony. This is untrue. He wrote a lot of great music that was not used in the film. One of the features of this film that I really liked was that it did not include any vulgar sex scenes that I found in the movie, The Immortal Beloved. But what I consider the ultimate strengths of this movie is that it metaphorically shows the composer struggling against the disappointment of hearing that the woman he loves has fallen in love with someone else, coming to terms with his worsening deafness, and struggling against poverty by trying desperately to earn a living through his music. Although most of the scenes are fictional, these scenes are metaphors of his existence as a human being.

"Immortal Beloved" done correctly...
"Un grand amour de Beethoven" (1936), Directed by Abel Gance, is so full of passion, love and music -- beautiful music! It is a lyrical biography with actors who are well cast and quite talented -- unlike the 1994 movie version "Immortal Beloved".

Harry Baur's acting performance, as Beethoven, is heart felt and very strong. Abel Gance was a true cinematic artist, we could see that in the restored version of his silent epic "Napoleon". But his movie version of the life of Beethoven may truly be his greatest achievement, his masterpiece.

If you love Beethoven's music and you long for movies that tell an interesting story with passion, heart, truth and honesty (unlike most of todays movies), I highly recommend this movie to you.

Enjoy... ... Read more

Reviews (10)

1952 Gregory Peck feature not a classic !
A colorized version of a b/w film shot in exotic European locations, three legendary Hollywood screen actors of the 40s and 50s (Gregory Peck, Susan Hayward, and Ava Gardner), based on a story considered a classic of American literature. . .how could you go wrong? How, indeed? But something doesn't translate well here, sadly.

"The Snows of Kilimanjaro" is a slow-moving film, a bit disjointed, told completely in flashbacks. I remember reading excerpts from Ernest Hemingway's story of the same name for an upper-level English composition course I took over 20 years ago from one of the long-haired hippie professors who were the bane of my existence back then. Problem with that particular prof was that he forced us to read dark, depresssing mediocre literature; I never liked anything he wanted us to model our own writing after--and still don't like the authors he held up as paragons of good writing.

SYNOPSIS: Successful American writer Harry Street (Peck) is forced to reflect on his past successes and failures and analyzes his life as he faces death at the foot of Mt. Kilimanjaro. He is camped on the slope of the famous African mountain with his second wife, Helen, who listens to him bemoan his lost (dead) first wife, Cynthia, as he drifts in and out of consciousness following an accident. The cause of his medical condition is not clear, as the couple can't agree whether he was scraped by a poisonous thorn or if he got injured while rescuing an African native from an angry hippopotamus, so this just added to my confusion. I'm not even sure if Helen is actually his wife; Susan Hayward is listed simply as "Helen" with no last name in all cast-lists I could find for this film. I missed something, what with all the flashbacks and cuts back to the camp-site where Street lay on his deathbed, surrounded by vultures in the trees and cackling hyenas at night.

The bright spot I found in this film was in Hildegard Knef's rather campy portrayal of "Countess Liz," to whom Street was affianced after divorcing Cynthia and before taking off to Africa with Helen. (Confused? So was I!) I don't think she meant to be funny, but I found her accent reminiscent of Madeline Kahn's character in "Young Frankenstein," which I found a hoot. Kahn may have used Knef as her role-model! I mean, I thought Harry and Liz were living in Paris, and I thought Liz was probably French. I researched Hildegard Knef a bit and found that she was born in Germany; she sounded like a German imitating a French accent, and I got a kick out of it.

One final detail that I might point out could help other viewers when they watch this film. At first I found it odd that two similar-looking brunette actresses (Hayward and Gardner) were cast as Harry Street's wives, but then I remembered something that the character says when he met Helen. Harry is giving a voice-over narrative during some of the flashbacks and is actually speaking to his dead wife Cynthia. He says, basically, "I'd follow any woman who reminded me of you in some way."

How very sad. Harry and Cynthia were happy together, but divorce because of a personal tragedy that happens between them, so Harry moves on to fabulously wealthy but overly-controlling Liz, only to realize at the last minute that he is still in love with his first wife. Harry goes to Spain, too late, to find Cynthia. I think he somehow thought he could replace Cynthia with a similar-looking woman, but it just couldn't be the same.

RECOMMENDATION: Get this if you're a big fan of Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner (she gives a good performance), or Susan Hayward, but don't think you're getting a top-notch rendition of a piece of American Literature (consider the source; it's a work by Hemingway!). Another translation for high-school students: don't substitute viewing this film for reading the Cliff's-Notes!! You'll end up more confused than if you simply read the book.

Possibly hollywood's worst Hemingway adaptation
Ranks right down there with Hemingway's Adventures of a Young Man. Stiff Peck at his honking woodenest, vapid Gardner, shrill Hayward, the adaptation like something out of a romance mag. Only Bernard Hermann's music which he later recycled for Vertigo was of professional quality.

Snows of Kilimanjaro
Bought the DVD in assembling a Gregory Peck collection. Version was the one with Ava Gardner on the cover of the pack. The film was complete, but there was annoying technical noise, and quite a bit of fluttering in the picture. I may at some point buy another version of this DVD, but I do not recommend the technical quality of this particular production.

HAS LITTLE TO DO WITH KILIMANJARO...
As he lay dying,

Peck pines for Ava whom he

loves, while Hayward waits.

An interesting Hemingway adaptation
Ernest Hemingway hated this adaptation of his work, and disparagingly referred to it as "The Snows of Zanuck." I think he was overestimating his own writing, and I think the film is no worse than the work upon which it was based. Methinks he doth protest too much. Hemingway was heard to grumble: "I sold Zanuck one short story, not my whole body of works." The Casey Robinson screenplay is witty and honest, with the right blend of cynicism and naivetee. Gregory Peck is a gruff, grumbly, handsome-as-a-devil Hemingway "hero," and Ava Gardner makes a memorable, heartbreakingly beautiful Cynthia. Susan Hayward makes the best of the film's most thankless role (she looks great in a pith helmut, too). The layers of flashbacks perfectly convey the sense of a man reevaluating his past as he faces imminent death. Much has been made of the ending, and the way it deviates from the original story. I don't see the sunny Hollywood ending purists have denounced, since we really don't know the status of the dying writer as the helicopter arrives. The soundtrack is a bit loopy and out-of-synch in places, and the special effects (especially the river crossing) look pretty bad by today's standards, but the acting adds a depth and humanity which is missing from Hemingway's original work. A fun piece of escapist safaridrama along the lines of the superior "King Solomon's Mines" or "Mogambo." ... Read more

Reviews (10)

1952 Gregory Peck feature not a classic !
A colorized version of a b/w film shot in exotic European locations, three legendary Hollywood screen actors of the 40s and 50s (Gregory Peck, Susan Hayward, and Ava Gardner), based on a story considered a classic of American literature. . .how could you go wrong? How, indeed? But something doesn't translate well here, sadly.

"The Snows of Kilimanjaro" is a slow-moving film, a bit disjointed, told completely in flashbacks. I remember reading excerpts from Ernest Hemingway's story of the same name for an upper-level English composition course I took over 20 years ago from one of the long-haired hippie professors who were the bane of my existence back then. Problem with that particular prof was that he forced us to read dark, depresssing mediocre literature; I never liked anything he wanted us to model our own writing after--and still don't like the authors he held up as paragons of good writing.

SYNOPSIS: Successful American writer Harry Street (Peck) is forced to reflect on his past successes and failures and analyzes his life as he faces death at the foot of Mt. Kilimanjaro. He is camped on the slope of the famous African mountain with his second wife, Helen, who listens to him bemoan his lost (dead) first wife, Cynthia, as he drifts in and out of consciousness following an accident. The cause of his medical condition is not clear, as the couple can't agree whether he was scraped by a poisonous thorn or if he got injured while rescuing an African native from an angry hippopotamus, so this just added to my confusion. I'm not even sure if Helen is actually his wife; Susan Hayward is listed simply as "Helen" with no last name in all cast-lists I could find for this film. I missed something, what with all the flashbacks and cuts back to the camp-site where Street lay on his deathbed, surrounded by vultures in the trees and cackling hyenas at night.

The bright spot I found in this film was in Hildegard Knef's rather campy portrayal of "Countess Liz," to whom Street was affianced after divorcing Cynthia and before taking off to Africa with Helen. (Confused? So was I!) I don't think she meant to be funny, but I found her accent reminiscent of Madeline Kahn's character in "Young Frankenstein," which I found a hoot. Kahn may have used Knef as her role-model! I mean, I thought Harry and Liz were living in Paris, and I thought Liz was probably French. I researched Hildegard Knef a bit and found that she was born in Germany; she sounded like a German imitating a French accent, and I got a kick out of it.

One final detail that I might point out could help other viewers when they watch this film. At first I found it odd that two similar-looking brunette actresses (Hayward and Gardner) were cast as Harry Street's wives, but then I remembered something that the character says when he met Helen. Harry is giving a voice-over narrative during some of the flashbacks and is actually speaking to his dead wife Cynthia. He says, basically, "I'd follow any woman who reminded me of you in some way."

How very sad. Harry and Cynthia were happy together, but divorce because of a personal tragedy that happens between them, so Harry moves on to fabulously wealthy but overly-controlling Liz, only to realize at the last minute that he is still in love with his first wife. Harry goes to Spain, too late, to find Cynthia. I think he somehow thought he could replace Cynthia with a similar-looking woman, but it just couldn't be the same.

RECOMMENDATION: Get this if you're a big fan of Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner (she gives a good performance), or Susan Hayward, but don't think you're getting a top-notch rendition of a piece of American Literature (consider the source; it's a work by Hemingway!). Another translation for high-school students: don't substitute viewing this film for reading the Cliff's-Notes!! You'll end up more confused than if you simply read the book.

Possibly hollywood's worst Hemingway adaptation
Ranks right down there with Hemingway's Adventures of a Young Man. Stiff Peck at his honking woodenest, vapid Gardner, shrill Hayward, the adaptation like something out of a romance mag. Only Bernard Hermann's music which he later recycled for Vertigo was of professional quality.

Snows of Kilimanjaro
Bought the DVD in assembling a Gregory Peck collection. Version was the one with Ava Gardner on the cover of the pack. The film was complete, but there was annoying technical noise, and quite a bit of fluttering in the picture. I may at some point buy another version of this DVD, but I do not recommend the technical quality of this particular production.

HAS LITTLE TO DO WITH KILIMANJARO...
As he lay dying,

Peck pines for Ava whom he

loves, while Hayward waits.

An interesting Hemingway adaptation
Ernest Hemingway hated this adaptation of his work, and disparagingly referred to it as "The Snows of Zanuck." I think he was overestimating his own writing, and I think the film is no worse than the work upon which it was based. Methinks he doth protest too much. Hemingway was heard to grumble: "I sold Zanuck one short story, not my whole body of works." The Casey Robinson screenplay is witty and honest, with the right blend of cynicism and naivetee. Gregory Peck is a gruff, grumbly, handsome-as-a-devil Hemingway "hero," and Ava Gardner makes a memorable, heartbreakingly beautiful Cynthia. Susan Hayward makes the best of the film's most thankless role (she looks great in a pith helmut, too). The layers of flashbacks perfectly convey the sense of a man reevaluating his past as he faces imminent death. Much has been made of the ending, and the way it deviates from the original story. I don't see the sunny Hollywood ending purists have denounced, since we really don't know the status of the dying writer as the helicopter arrives. The soundtrack is a bit loopy and out-of-synch in places, and the special effects (especially the river crossing) look pretty bad by today's standards, but the acting adds a depth and humanity which is missing from Hemingway's original work. A fun piece of escapist safaridrama along the lines of the superior "King Solomon's Mines" or "Mogambo." ... Read more

Reviews (10)

1952 Gregory Peck feature not a classic !
A colorized version of a b/w film shot in exotic European locations, three legendary Hollywood screen actors of the 40s and 50s (Gregory Peck, Susan Hayward, and Ava Gardner), based on a story considered a classic of American literature. . .how could you go wrong? How, indeed? But something doesn't translate well here, sadly.

"The Snows of Kilimanjaro" is a slow-moving film, a bit disjointed, told completely in flashbacks. I remember reading excerpts from Ernest Hemingway's story of the same name for an upper-level English composition course I took over 20 years ago from one of the long-haired hippie professors who were the bane of my existence back then. Problem with that particular prof was that he forced us to read dark, depresssing mediocre literature; I never liked anything he wanted us to model our own writing after--and still don't like the authors he held up as paragons of good writing.

SYNOPSIS: Successful American writer Harry Street (Peck) is forced to reflect on his past successes and failures and analyzes his life as he faces death at the foot of Mt. Kilimanjaro. He is camped on the slope of the famous African mountain with his second wife, Helen, who listens to him bemoan his lost (dead) first wife, Cynthia, as he drifts in and out of consciousness following an accident. The cause of his medical condition is not clear, as the couple can't agree whether he was scraped by a poisonous thorn or if he got injured while rescuing an African native from an angry hippopotamus, so this just added to my confusion. I'm not even sure if Helen is actually his wife; Susan Hayward is listed simply as "Helen" with no last name in all cast-lists I could find for this film. I missed something, what with all the flashbacks and cuts back to the camp-site where Street lay on his deathbed, surrounded by vultures in the trees and cackling hyenas at night.

The bright spot I found in this film was in Hildegard Knef's rather campy portrayal of "Countess Liz," to whom Street was affianced after divorcing Cynthia and before taking off to Africa with Helen. (Confused? So was I!) I don't think she meant to be funny, but I found her accent reminiscent of Madeline Kahn's character in "Young Frankenstein," which I found a hoot. Kahn may have used Knef as her role-model! I mean, I thought Harry and Liz were living in Paris, and I thought Liz was probably French. I researched Hildegard Knef a bit and found that she was born in Germany; she sounded like a German imitating a French accent, and I got a kick out of it.

One final detail that I might point out could help other viewers when they watch this film. At first I found it odd that two similar-looking brunette actresses (Hayward and Gardner) were cast as Harry Street's wives, but then I remembered something that the character says when he met Helen. Harry is giving a voice-over narrative during some of the flashbacks and is actually speaking to his dead wife Cynthia. He says, basically, "I'd follow any woman who reminded me of you in some way."

How very sad. Harry and Cynthia were happy together, but divorce because of a personal tragedy that happens between them, so Harry moves on to fabulously wealthy but overly-controlling Liz, only to realize at the last minute that he is still in love with his first wife. Harry goes to Spain, too late, to find Cynthia. I think he somehow thought he could replace Cynthia with a similar-looking woman, but it just couldn't be the same.

RECOMMENDATION: Get this if you're a big fan of Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner (she gives a good performance), or Susan Hayward, but don't think you're getting a top-notch rendition of a piece of American Literature (consider the source; it's a work by Hemingway!). Another translation for high-school students: don't substitute viewing this film for reading the Cliff's-Notes!! You'll end up more confused than if you simply read the book.

Possibly hollywood's worst Hemingway adaptation
Ranks right down there with Hemingway's Adventures of a Young Man. Stiff Peck at his honking woodenest, vapid Gardner, shrill Hayward, the adaptation like something out of a romance mag. Only Bernard Hermann's music which he later recycled for Vertigo was of professional quality.

Snows of Kilimanjaro
Bought the DVD in assembling a Gregory Peck collection. Version was the one with Ava Gardner on the cover of the pack. The film was complete, but there was annoying technical noise, and quite a bit of fluttering in the picture. I may at some point buy another version of this DVD, but I do not recommend the technical quality of this particular production.

HAS LITTLE TO DO WITH KILIMANJARO...
As he lay dying,

Peck pines for Ava whom he

loves, while Hayward waits.

An interesting Hemingway adaptation
Ernest Hemingway hated this adaptation of his work, and disparagingly referred to it as "The Snows of Zanuck." I think he was overestimating his own writing, and I think the film is no worse than the work upon which it was based. Methinks he doth protest too much. Hemingway was heard to grumble: "I sold Zanuck one short story, not my whole body of works." The Casey Robinson screenplay is witty and honest, with the right blend of cynicism and naivetee. Gregory Peck is a gruff, grumbly, handsome-as-a-devil Hemingway "hero," and Ava Gardner makes a memorable, heartbreakingly beautiful Cynthia. Susan Hayward makes the best of the film's most thankless role (she looks great in a pith helmut, too). The layers of flashbacks perfectly convey the sense of a man reevaluating his past as he faces imminent death. Much has been made of the ending, and the way it deviates from the original story. I don't see the sunny Hollywood ending purists have denounced, since we really don't know the status of the dying writer as the helicopter arrives. The soundtrack is a bit loopy and out-of-synch in places, and the special effects (especially the river crossing) look pretty bad by today's standards, but the acting adds a depth and humanity which is missing from Hemingway's original work. A fun piece of escapist safaridrama along the lines of the superior "King Solomon's Mines" or "Mogambo." ... Read more

Reviews (10)

1952 Gregory Peck feature not a classic !
A colorized version of a b/w film shot in exotic European locations, three legendary Hollywood screen actors of the 40s and 50s (Gregory Peck, Susan Hayward, and Ava Gardner), based on a story considered a classic of American literature. . .how could you go wrong? How, indeed? But something doesn't translate well here, sadly.

"The Snows of Kilimanjaro" is a slow-moving film, a bit disjointed, told completely in flashbacks. I remember reading excerpts from Ernest Hemingway's story of the same name for an upper-level English composition course I took over 20 years ago from one of the long-haired hippie professors who were the bane of my existence back then. Problem with that particular prof was that he forced us to read dark, depresssing mediocre literature; I never liked anything he wanted us to model our own writing after--and still don't like the authors he held up as paragons of good writing.

SYNOPSIS: Successful American writer Harry Street (Peck) is forced to reflect on his past successes and failures and analyzes his life as he faces death at the foot of Mt. Kilimanjaro. He is camped on the slope of the famous African mountain with his second wife, Helen, who listens to him bemoan his lost (dead) first wife, Cynthia, as he drifts in and out of consciousness following an accident. The cause of his medical condition is not clear, as the couple can't agree whether he was scraped by a poisonous thorn or if he got injured while rescuing an African native from an angry hippopotamus, so this just added to my confusion. I'm not even sure if Helen is actually his wife; Susan Hayward is listed simply as "Helen" with no last name in all cast-lists I could find for this film. I missed something, what with all the flashbacks and cuts back to the camp-site where Street lay on his deathbed, surrounded by vultures in the trees and cackling hyenas at night.

The bright spot I found in this film was in Hildegard Knef's rather campy portrayal of "Countess Liz," to whom Street was affianced after divorcing Cynthia and before taking off to Africa with Helen. (Confused? So was I!) I don't think she meant to be funny, but I found her accent reminiscent of Madeline Kahn's character in "Young Frankenstein," which I found a hoot. Kahn may have used Knef as her role-model! I mean, I thought Harry and Liz were living in Paris, and I thought Liz was probably French. I researched Hildegard Knef a bit and found that she was born in Germany; she sounded like a German imitating a French accent, and I got a kick out of it.

One final detail that I might point out could help other viewers when they watch this film. At first I found it odd that two similar-looking brunette actresses (Hayward and Gardner) were cast as Harry Street's wives, but then I remembered something that the character says when he met Helen. Harry is giving a voice-over narrative during some of the flashbacks and is actually speaking to his dead wife Cynthia. He says, basically, "I'd follow any woman who reminded me of you in some way."

How very sad. Harry and Cynthia were happy together, but divorce because of a personal tragedy that happens between them, so Harry moves on to fabulously wealthy but overly-controlling Liz, only to realize at the last minute that he is still in love with his first wife. Harry goes to Spain, too late, to find Cynthia. I think he somehow thought he could replace Cynthia with a similar-looking woman, but it just couldn't be the same.

RECOMMENDATION: Get this if you're a big fan of Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner (she gives a good performance), or Susan Hayward, but don't think you're getting a top-notch rendition of a piece of American Literature (consider the source; it's a work by Hemingway!). Another translation for high-school students: don't substitute viewing this film for reading the Cliff's-Notes!! You'll end up more confused than if you simply read the book.

Possibly hollywood's worst Hemingway adaptation
Ranks right down there with Hemingway's Adventures of a Young Man. Stiff Peck at his honking woodenest, vapid Gardner, shrill Hayward, the adaptation like something out of a romance mag. Only Bernard Hermann's music which he later recycled for Vertigo was of professional quality.

Snows of Kilimanjaro
Bought the DVD in assembling a Gregory Peck collection. Version was the one with Ava Gardner on the cover of the pack. The film was complete, but there was annoying technical noise, and quite a bit of fluttering in the picture. I may at some point buy another version of this DVD, but I do not recommend the technical quality of this particular production.

HAS LITTLE TO DO WITH KILIMANJARO...
As he lay dying,

Peck pines for Ava whom he

loves, while Hayward waits.

An interesting Hemingway adaptation
Ernest Hemingway hated this adaptation of his work, and disparagingly referred to it as "The Snows of Zanuck." I think he was overestimating his own writing, and I think the film is no worse than the work upon which it was based. Methinks he doth protest too much. Hemingway was heard to grumble: "I sold Zanuck one short story, not my whole body of works." The Casey Robinson screenplay is witty and honest, with the right blend of cynicism and naivetee. Gregory Peck is a gruff, grumbly, handsome-as-a-devil Hemingway "hero," and Ava Gardner makes a memorable, heartbreakingly beautiful Cynthia. Susan Hayward makes the best of the film's most thankless role (she looks great in a pith helmut, too). The layers of flashbacks perfectly convey the sense of a man reevaluating his past as he faces imminent death. Much has been made of the ending, and the way it deviates from the original story. I don't see the sunny Hollywood ending purists have denounced, since we really don't know the status of the dying writer as the helicopter arrives. The soundtrack is a bit loopy and out-of-synch in places, and the special effects (especially the river crossing) look pretty bad by today's standards, but the acting adds a depth and humanity which is missing from Hemingway's original work. A fun piece of escapist safaridrama along the lines of the superior "King Solomon's Mines" or "Mogambo." ... Read more

Reviews (10)

1952 Gregory Peck feature not a classic !
A colorized version of a b/w film shot in exotic European locations, three legendary Hollywood screen actors of the 40s and 50s (Gregory Peck, Susan Hayward, and Ava Gardner), based on a story considered a classic of American literature. . .how could you go wrong? How, indeed? But something doesn't translate well here, sadly.

"The Snows of Kilimanjaro" is a slow-moving film, a bit disjointed, told completely in flashbacks. I remember reading excerpts from Ernest Hemingway's story of the same name for an upper-level English composition course I took over 20 years ago from one of the long-haired hippie professors who were the bane of my existence back then. Problem with that particular prof was that he forced us to read dark, depresssing mediocre literature; I never liked anything he wanted us to model our own writing after--and still don't like the authors he held up as paragons of good writing.

SYNOPSIS: Successful American writer Harry Street (Peck) is forced to reflect on his past successes and failures and analyzes his life as he faces death at the foot of Mt. Kilimanjaro. He is camped on the slope of the famous African mountain with his second wife, Helen, who listens to him bemoan his lost (dead) first wife, Cynthia, as he drifts in and out of consciousness following an accident. The cause of his medical condition is not clear, as the couple can't agree whether he was scraped by a poisonous thorn or if he got injured while rescuing an African native from an angry hippopotamus, so this just added to my confusion. I'm not even sure if Helen is actually his wife; Susan Hayward is listed simply as "Helen" with no last name in all cast-lists I could find for this film. I missed something, what with all the flashbacks and cuts back to the camp-site where Street lay on his deathbed, surrounded by vultures in the trees and cackling hyenas at night.

The bright spot I found in this film was in Hildegard Knef's rather campy portrayal of "Countess Liz," to whom Street was affianced after divorcing Cynthia and before taking off to Africa with Helen. (Confused? So was I!) I don't think she meant to be funny, but I found her accent reminiscent of Madeline Kahn's character in "Young Frankenstein," which I found a hoot. Kahn may have used Knef as her role-model! I mean, I thought Harry and Liz were living in Paris, and I thought Liz was probably French. I researched Hildegard Knef a bit and found that she was born in Germany; she sounded like a German imitating a French accent, and I got a kick out of it.

One final detail that I might point out could help other viewers when they watch this film. At first I found it odd that two similar-looking brunette actresses (Hayward and Gardner) were cast as Harry Street's wives, but then I remembered something that the character says when he met Helen. Harry is giving a voice-over narrative during some of the flashbacks and is actually speaking to his dead wife Cynthia. He says, basically, "I'd follow any woman who reminded me of you in some way."

How very sad. Harry and Cynthia were happy together, but divorce because of a personal tragedy that happens between them, so Harry moves on to fabulously wealthy but overly-controlling Liz, only to realize at the last minute that he is still in love with his first wife. Harry goes to Spain, too late, to find Cynthia. I think he somehow thought he could replace Cynthia with a similar-looking woman, but it just couldn't be the same.

RECOMMENDATION: Get this if you're a big fan of Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner (she gives a good performance), or Susan Hayward, but don't think you're getting a top-notch rendition of a piece of American Literature (consider the source; it's a work by Hemingway!). Another translation for high-school students: don't substitute viewing this film for reading the Cliff's-Notes!! You'll end up more confused than if you simply read the book.

Possibly hollywood's worst Hemingway adaptation
Ranks right down there with Hemingway's Adventures of a Young Man. Stiff Peck at his honking woodenest, vapid Gardner, shrill Hayward, the adaptation like something out of a romance mag. Only Bernard Hermann's music which he later recycled for Vertigo was of professional quality.

Snows of Kilimanjaro
Bought the DVD in assembling a Gregory Peck collection. Version was the one with Ava Gardner on the cover of the pack. The film was complete, but there was annoying technical noise, and quite a bit of fluttering in the picture. I may at some point buy another version of this DVD, but I do not recommend the technical quality of this particular production.

HAS LITTLE TO DO WITH KILIMANJARO...
As he lay dying,

Peck pines for Ava whom he

loves, while Hayward waits.

An interesting Hemingway adaptation
Ernest Hemingway hated this adaptation of his work, and disparagingly referred to it as "The Snows of Zanuck." I think he was overestimating his own writing, and I think the film is no worse than the work upon which it was based. Methinks he doth protest too much. Hemingway was heard to grumble: "I sold Zanuck one short story, not my whole body of works." The Casey Robinson screenplay is witty and honest, with the right blend of cynicism and naivetee. Gregory Peck is a gruff, grumbly, handsome-as-a-devil Hemingway "hero," and Ava Gardner makes a memorable, heartbreakingly beautiful Cynthia. Susan Hayward makes the best of the film's most thankless role (she looks great in a pith helmut, too). The layers of flashbacks perfectly convey the sense of a man reevaluating his past as he faces imminent death. Much has been made of the ending, and the way it deviates from the original story. I don't see the sunny Hollywood ending purists have denounced, since we really don't know the status of the dying writer as the helicopter arrives. The soundtrack is a bit loopy and out-of-synch in places, and the special effects (especially the river crossing) look pretty bad by today's standards, but the acting adds a depth and humanity which is missing from Hemingway's original work. A fun piece of escapist safaridrama along the lines of the superior "King Solomon's Mines" or "Mogambo." ... Read more

Description

Carnival daredevil Fabius (Pierre Brasseur) is tired of his dangerous job and his nagging wife (Arletty), whom he jealously suspects of having an affair. A botched attempt to kill her accidentally wounds the seductive carnival owner, Catherine (Maria Montez), a woman turned on by reckless men. When he falls for Catherine, Fabius decides to stay with the carnival. But he still must deal with his troublesome wife, as well as Eric (the incomparable Erich von Stroheim), one of Catherine's former lovers, now hopelessly paralyzed. This international cast of film greats will keep you riveted to the last suspenseful scene of this murderous melodrama. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

PORTRAIT D'UN ASSASSIN (1949)
aka Portrait of an Assassin (1949) aka Pasión Prohibida

(Drama, 1 hr 30 min, Black & White) S.E.L.F. - FRANCE

DIRECTOR: Bernard Roland

CAST: Maria Montez (As: Christina), Erich Von Stroheim (As: Eric), Arletty (As: Martha), Pierre Brasseur (Fabius), Jules Berry (Pfeiffer), Marcel Dalio (Fred)

COMMENTS: Christina (Montez) is the sadistic manager of a circus show, who uses her attractiveness to seduce men. But she only gives-up to them in exchange of promises of performing a dangerous acrobatic act in motorcycle which it could cause them the death or make them handicaps for ever, as it happened to several of her lovers. One of them, the unfortunate Eric (Von Streheim), who became handicap.

An evening, Fabius (Brasseur) met this diabolic woman and soon he abandons his wife because of Lucienne.

Then Martha (Arletty), Fabius' wife, with the intention of saving him, she shows up to the circus and performs the lethal acrobatic act, which it causes her death.

Due to the sacrifice of his beloved wife, Fabius understands at last that he has been manipulated by the evil Lucienne and he takes the decision of killing her.

After committing the murder and completely convinced that he is going to die, he rides the motorcycle for performing the dangerous acrobatic act, but miraculously, he survives and goes to the police to confess his crime.

This one was the second and last French movie of Maria and she was more successful and seductive than ever before.

In this occasion, and by the first time, the critics said her performance was adequate and she demonstrates she has some worthy elements.

Even the French critic, André Bazin, famous by his merciless comments, he admitted that Montez was not so bad in this movie. Other critics were more specific by saying she was the appropriate actress for this role.

This movie was projected in the U.S. only in the art theathers.

PORTRAIT D'UN ASSASSIN (1949)
(Drama, 1 hr 30 min, Black & White) S.E.L.F. - FRANCE

DIRECTOR: Bernard Roland

CAST: Maria Montez (As: Lucienne), Erich Von Stroheim (As: Eric), Arletty (As: Martha), Pierre Brasseur (Fabius), Jules Berry (Pfeiffer), Marcel Dalio (Fred)

COMMENTS: Lucienne (Montez) is the sadistic manager of a circus show, who uses her attractiveness to seduce men. But she only gives-up to them in exchange of promises of performing a dangerous acrobatic act which it could cause them the death or make them handicaps for ever, as it happened to several of her lovers. One of them, the unfortunate Eric (Von Streheim), who became handicap.

An evening, Fabius (Brasseur) met this diabolic woman and soon he abandons his wife because of Lucienne.

Then Martha (Arletty), Fabius' wife, with the intention of saving him, she shows up to the circus and performs the lethal acrobatic act, which it causes her death.

Due to the sacrifice of his beloved wife, Fabius understands at last that he has been manipulated by the evil Lucienne and he takes the decision of killing her.

After committing the murder and completely convinced that he is going to die, he rides the motorcycle for performing the dangerous acrobatic act, but miraculously, he survives and goes to the police to confess his crime.

This one was the second and last French movie of Maria Montez and she was more successful and seductive than ever before.

In this occasion, and by the first time, the critics said her performance was adequate and she demonstrates she has some worthy elements.

Even the French critic, André Bazin, famous by his merciless comments, he admitted that Montez was not so bad in this movie. Other critics were more specific by saying she was the appropriate actress for this role.

This movie was projected in the U.S. only in the art theathers. ... Read more

Reviews (36)

The strangely gentle vision of Jean Renoir
I was absolutely floored when I first saw this movie about a year ago, at the house of a friend. I adore old war films (think "The Great Escape," "Stalag 17," and "Bridge on the River Kwai"), and thought I had the genre just about memorized until I saw this. It is an intense film, a grand one, but ultimately gentle. It takes place during World War I, which, the director once said, was "almost a war of gentlmen." The Nazis were two decades from gaining power, the nations of Europe enjoyed relative prosperity, and the upper classes ruled over all. In this setting, the necessary brutality of such films as I've previously mentioned seems out of place. Indeed, in the first few scenes, a German pilot who has shot down two French fliers invites them for lunch with his officers (!). This kind of respect, this illusion that war abides by certain rules and expectations, seems anachronostic and dated at first, in a post-Vietnam, post-9/11 world. But there is such hope, such desire for a world where the classes between nations are united, that the movie never seems jingoistic or naïve, just optimistic.

The performances are exceptional; Jean Gabin, Erich von Stroheim, Pierre Fresnay--all seem to really live in their characters, not simply portray them. Von Stroheim, in particular, brings intense poignancy to the tragic figure of the German commandant von Rauffenstein, with his neck brace, stilted walk, and desperate yearning for companionship (which makes him turn to, of all people, his own enemy, Captain de Boeldieu, whom he shot down 18 months previous). Indeed, a lot of the film's message can be summed up in this character: his friendship with an enemy soldier, expressing Renoir's hope for a more peaceful, less divided world; his accoutrements of wealth and station, which hold him firmly in place, unable to change his views of the structure of the world, even as it shifts around him; and his belief in the eponymous "grand illusion" of the continued supremacy of the aristocrats over the working classes in a world scarred by war.

As a bit of a side note, this film, considering its age, is in startlingly pristine condition. The story of the film negative is told on the DVD, as part of the many supplements, so I won't bore you with it here. Suffice it to say that this version of this seminal film was lost for over 60 years before its discovery in the 1990s, resulting in its near-perfect condition today. The picture is as sharp as that of any contemporary film, crystal clear, and refreshingly free of dirt and tears that usually mar most older prints by virtue of constant use. This version is about the best you will find, as it has gone through a tedious, time-consuming restoration process that has given it this impressive sheen. My recommendation: Buy this DVD post haste.

Number 1 DVD transfer for the Number 1 movie !
Grand Illusion is sometimes considered as one of the greatest movies ever shot. It was Orson Welles' favorite. Even though many consider that "Rules of the Game" is more important and brillant. The two movies are very different, both incredible. Grand Illusion is easier to catch immediatly while Rules let you think endlessly. In regard of the DVD : BUY IT EYES CLOSED ! The picture is incredible, looks like it was shot yesterday because coming from the original re-found negative film. It has not even one small spot or crack. It is PURE. And it is the original 114 minutes version, not the well-known 105 minutes. The DVD is full of bonus, the best being the filmed introduction by Jean Renoir, and also the audio archive of Von Stroheim. I cannot express how much I love Renoir and this movie and I hope that Rules of the Game will come up in DVD soon in Zone 1 (it exists in France in Zone 2 with a beautiful master, but has no english subtitles). Then the world can contemplate this masterpiece again and again. Buy Grand Illusion and you'll never think of war and humanity the same way again.

So....you like war movies?
grand illusion is so well known that is almost not worthy to comment on it other than it is the best war/antiwar film of all time bar none, and is also very funny. it has been copied by the great escape, stalag 17, paths of glory, just to name a few. so if you haven' t seen this; it is essential. if you have, you know exactly what i am talking about.

"quite frankly, i find the theatre is much to deep for me....i prefer bicycling"

A timeless film
The bitter and wonderful dialogues about the decadence and the primary and secondaries effects about the war support the structure of this brilliant movie.
*The miseries of the war brought the richness in my brain*, this sentenece is pronounced by Stroheim to the men in the remarkable sequence at the dinner.
Jean Renoir made his masterpiece around the hope and the enjoy of living, despite the horrors of the war. The message is clear : you must to follow your bliss even in the worst circunstances : no matter how awful be the world that surrounds you. The great men are not prisoners of the fate : they follow his principles and the powerful will struggles the fate and so it becomes a consequence of their acts , the point is that they are just a few .
Andrei Tarkovski wrote once this wisdom statement:
*The art is possible in the world due its no perfection : if the world was perfect the art would have no sense*.
Thta powerful statement is the meaning force that feeds the behavior of these men . May be they are not conscious about the spirit of the statement of Tarkovsky , but they are doing precisely that.
The great illusion is a big slap in the face about the WW1 : but beware this is not an anti belic flim : it goes beyond this simple aspect : we should expect fifteen years after for Jeux Interdits , another supreme film of Rene Clement , which reflects with greatness the slap about the WW2.
This film is not only an extraordinary work. It's a thousand carats jewel.
So it's timeless movie.

A good movie great start for Criterion Collection
This movie shows a compassionate side to World War I This movie was made before WWII started so don't be surprised if the Germans seem a lot nicer. In it we have 2 men, a Catholic and a Jew escaping from a German POW camp during WWI. It is an excellent film and statred the popularity of prison escape movies.

One theme is the respect the German General had for his French counterpart in spite of the fact they were sworn enemies. It can also show that in war, that your enemies are people too.

The film is also viewed by some as a (failed) last cry to Germany (where it was banned) to avoid the destruction and senselessness of yet another war.

I am beginning to watch the Criterion Collection DVD's in order of the spine number and will review them when I have the chance. ... Read more

Description

This 7-DVD set includes Casablanca (Special Edition), The Maltese Falcon (Special Edition), The Philadelphia Story, Arsenic and Old Lace, The Big Sleep (1946), Now, Voyager, and Citizen Kane. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Best of the best
These are some of the best of the best movies ever made.

I don't have money to burn...