Mogambo

Tucked away in a little world of bricks and books, we often forget that beneath all our sophistication we are little more than well-trained apes. Replete with a gigantic cast of animals, human and otherwise, Mogambo is an excellent antidote for an obsession with one's own uniqueness.

Originally entitled Red Dust and set in the Orient, Mogambo has now been converted into the latest in a series of technicolor African epics which includes King Solomon's Mines, The African Queen, and The Snows of Kilimanjaro. Following the example of its predecessors, the film devotes considerable footage to sweeping shots of the varied flora and fauna of Kenya and Tanganyika. Unfortunately, even a panoramic screen and stereophonic sound cannot destroy the feeling of having seen all this before. Leaping gazelles, prowling lions, and flamingos rising against an orange African sunset are getting just a little commonplace.

What saves the film from the commonplace is an original juxtaposition of the human and non-human animals. Under John Ford's skillful direction, Clark Gable, Ava Gardner and Grace Kelley shuck their human veneer and slip into the animal world which surrounds them. The passions which rage within this triangle are not civilized; they are elemental lusts common to all creatures. Driven by them, Gable becomes leonine, while Misses Gardner and Kelley are strictly feline.

For about an hour this three-way carnality is fairly absorbing stuff. Then as the inevitable safari winds its tortuous way through the second half it begins to get tiresome. Gardner and Gable are equipped with a set of stock grimaces and gestures which they manage to pass off as acting for a while. But when these wear out not even Ford's direction can help the picture. The most exciting characters in the second half of the picture are a group of screaming, chest-pounding buck gorillas.