Mogambo

This article is about the 1953 American film. For the racehorse, see Mogambo (horse). For the Indian film villain, see Mr. India.
Mogambo

Original movie poster
Directed by John Ford
Produced by Sam Zimbalist
Screenplay by John Lee Mahin
Based on Red Dust 
by Wilson Collison
Starring Clark Gable
Ava Gardner
Grace Kelly
Donald Sinden
Music by Robert Burns
Cinematography Robert Surtees
Freddie Young
Edited by Frank Clarke
Distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release dates
  • October 9, 1953
Running time
 115 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $3,103,000[1]
Box office $8,268,000[1]

Mogambo is a 1953 American adventure/romantic drama film directed by John Ford and starring Clark Gable, Ava Gardner and Grace Kelly and featuring Donald Sinden. The film was adapted by John Lee Mahin from the play Red Dust, by Wilson Collison. The film is a remake of Red Dust (1932), which starred Gable, Mary Astor and Jean Harlow, and was set in French Indochina.

Plot

Ava Gardner in Mogambo

Eloise "Honey Bear" Kelly (Ava Gardner) arrives at a remote African outpost, looking for a rich maharajah acquaintance, only to find he has cancelled his trip owing to unrest in his realm. While waiting for the next river boat out, she spars with hardworking big game hunter Victor Marswell (Clark Gable), who (initially) pegs her as a certain disreputable type. When the river boat returns, it brings Donald Nordley (Donald Sinden) and his wife Linda (Grace Kelly). The Nordleys wish to go on safari to film gorillas. Marswell declines to guide them. Honey Bear rejoins the group after the steamer runs aground. Tensions run high between the two women when Linda is also attracted to Marswell.

Marswell agrees to take the Nordleys into gorilla country, taking Honey Bear halfway to join the District Commissioner, who can then escort her back to civilization. However, they find the commissioner badly wounded by recently belligerent natives. With reinforcements days away, the small party narrowly escapes, taking the mortally wounded commissioner with them. Meanwhile, a serious romance is developing between Marswell and Linda. Only Donald is blind to the situation. Marswell plans to warn the husband, but then has second thoughts after realizing how much Donald loves her and perhaps how she would be better off remaining with Donald. Marswell becomes depressed and begins drinking heavily in his tent. Honey Bear joins him, and one thing leads to another.

When Linda appears, she finds them cuddling. Marswell decides he can fix everything by making Linda hate him and makes a show of this cuddling followed by dismissive remarks about Linda's infatuation with "the White Hunter" to enrage her; she shoots him with his own pistol, wounding him in the arm. Honey Bear lies to the others, telling them that Marswell had been making advances to Linda for some time, finally forcing her to shoot him in his drunken state. The next day, the party breaks camp, leaving Marswell behind to try to capture young gorillas to pay for the safari. Marswell, acknowledging to himself his feelings for Honey Bear, proposes to her, but she rebuffs him. As a canoe takes her downriver, however, she suddenly jumps into the water and makes her way back to him. The two embrace.

Cast

Clark Gable and Grace Kelly in Mogambo

Production notes

Ava Gardner in Mogambo

Grace Kelly was not the first choice for the role of Linda Nordley. Gene Tierney dropped out due to her health problems. Filming was done on location in Okalataka, French Congo; Mount Kenya, Thika, Kenya — Mt Longonot and Lake Naivasha, both in the Kenyan Rift Valley and Fourteen Falls near Thika are seen as backdrops — Kagera River, Tanganyika; Isoila, Uganda and interiors were shot at the MGM-British Studios, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, England. The music featured in the film was performed by local native tribes (except for Gardner accompanied by player piano), unusual for Hollywood and the film records a traditional Africa and safari style.

Francoist Spanish censors would not allow adultery to be shown onscreen. For that reason, they changed the relationship of the characters of Linda Nordley (Kelly) and Donald Nordley (Sinden) from wife and husband to sister and brother in the dubbed version released in Spain, thus necessitating the removal of a bedroom scene in which only one bed is present.

Donald Sinden, then a contract star for the Rank Organisation at Pinewood Studios, recalled:

"Ten White Hunters were seconded to our unit for our protection and to provide fresh meat. Among them were Viscount Mandeville and Marcus, Lord Wallscourt, a delightful man whom Ford treated abysmally - sometimes very sadistically. In Ford's eyes the poor man could do nothing right and was continually being bawled out in front of the entire unit (in some ways he occasionally took the heat off me). None of us could understand the reason for this appalling treatment, which the dear kind man in no way deserved. He himself was quite at a loss. Several weeks later we discovered the cause from Ford's brother-in-law: before emigrating to America, Ford's grandfather had been a labourer on the estate in Ireland of the then Lord Wallscourt: Ford was now getting his own back at his descendant. Not a charming sight.[2] Before leaving camp on the first morning [of shooting] I had been told to report to the hair-dressing departments tent, where I found the make-up men armed with electric clippers: 'I have to remove the hair from your chest.' 'Whatever for?' I asked, 'Orders.' It transpired that Clark [Gable], whose chest was completely devoid of hair, had always insisted that no other actor should appear on film exposing a hirsute breast. This included any member of the crew not wearing a shirt as well. He considered it a slight on his masculinity.[2] We now had to return to the MGM Studios in London to shoot all the interior scenes. Someone must have pointed out to Ford that he had been thoroughly foul to me during the entire location shoot and when I arrived for my first day's work I found that he had caused a large notice to be painted at the entrance to our sound stage in capital letters reading "BE KIND TO DONALD WEEK". He was as good as his word - for precisely seven days. On the eighth day he ripped the sign down and returned to his normal bullying behaviour."[2]

Reception

The film was a massive hit - according to MGM records it made $4,576,000 in the US and Canada and $3,692,000 elsewhere, resulting in a profit of $2,026,000.[1]

Awards and nominations

Grace Kelly won a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress while the film was nominated for two Oscars: Best Actress in a Leading Role (Gardner) and Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Kelly). The film was also nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Film.

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles, CA: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Sinden, Donald. A Touch Of The Memoirs, Hodder & Stoughton 1982; ISBN 0340262354/ISBN 9780340262351; pp. 174-75, 185

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mogambo (film).