HotToastyRag
Mogambo is a remake of the 1932 drama Red Dust. In 1932, Clark Gable was torn between Jean Harlow and Mary Astor. In 1953, he reprised his role and found himself torn between Ava Gardner and Grace Kelly. Watch the original.While in the original, a high-class married couple travel to China to hunt big game, the remake is set in Africa. Elephants and apes are shown, since in 1953, the company filmed on location rather than in a studio, but that doesn't make up for the lackluster script and terrible casting. No one can compete with Jean Harlow, and Ava Gardner just comes across as overheated and sloppy. Grace Kelly plays the icy, sophisticated married woman, and while she was typecast in that type of role, I always thought she was very insincere in her love scenes.In the story she's drawn to Clark Gable's ruggedness, but she doesn't know he's already become involved with the very loose Ava. Hence the love triangle. The original was made before the Hays Code, so Jean Harlow's character was a prostitute, but in the 50s, Hollywood censorship didn't allow Ava's character to be sullied that much.Clark Gable seems old and tired, which makes sense, since he's already made this exact movie before. And although you can find ample information about why the cast and crew were not happy while filming Mogambo, I can't help but consider the sad memories Clark must have felt while remaking a film he made with Jean Harlow, his real-life friend who died tragically during the shooting of another movie they made together. It makes sense that he didn't give a very enthusiastic performance. Unless you're an Ava Gardner and Grace Kelly fan, which I am not, I can't recommend you watch this movie.
ElMaruecan82
What a title! When I learned that "Mogambo" meant 'passion' in Swahili, the translation was so satisfying I didn't even want to check.And yes indeed, "Mogambo" is one of the hottest and most sensual adventure-films from Hollywood's Golden Age, and if some movie buffs refer to it as that John Ford's film (or remake, for the experts) set in Africa, I can't see it otherwise than the film with perhaps the best love triangle ever, Clark Gable, Ava Gardner and Grace Kelly, all of them in the American Film Institute's Top 50 Movie Legends… and what I love the most about that awkward tale of ambiguous love is the conclusion. You got it, I'm a fan of Ava Gardner.Ava Gardner was once named the 'most beautiful animal' and "Mogambo" sweeps off any derogatory undertone from that nickname for there is something magnetically bestial in the attraction that woman exudes, from her feline temper to her voluptuous curves, there's no way not to look at Ava Gardner as the ultimate incarnation of forbidden delights, especially since she never acts as if she was aware of that power, she's natural, earthy, sincere, she's what you can call a 'woman's man's woman'. So, it is only fitting that the man she falls in love with is a tough and virile game hunter played by Clark Gable, the ultimate macho icon, the one who's stronger, taller, bigger, gentler, funnier than any other man in the surrounding cast.And it's only fitting that the theater of their romance is the African wildlife, perhaps the only setting to give a warm welcome to that beautiful 'animal' … and reciprocally, Ava sure has a way with them animals… from playful baby elephants to towering giraffes. Besides, the setting of the African country gives a whole other dimension to the chemistry going between good old Victor and good old Kelly (that's their names), it is not to just about sending flowers and playing serenades, it's the good old 'rumble in the jungle', the "you Clark, me Ava", the game that plays between all the animals and make the strongest one get the girl.At one moment, she gets in his arms, scared by good old Joe, the name of Victor's pet snake, but savoring that tender moment on his torso, she concedes that a man like Victor wouldn't need old Joe to get a girl in his arms. If there's no sexual innuendo behind that, then I haven't seen enough movies in my life. But still, this would be too easy, if Kelly and Victor were alone on that safari, no sir, in the animal world, it's all about earning your love, like two hippos fighting to get the female. But in the case of "Mogambo", it's two girls who fight for good old Gable, and the second one is the perfect match for the volcanic brunette, it's the classy blonde. And both were so invested they earned the two only Oscar nominations of the film.Grace Kelly is Linda Nordsley, the wife of Donald (Donald Sunden), an anthropologist who came to film gorillas, he's given the lousiest role as the cuckolded husband who can't see his woman fooling around. But this is Grace Kelly we're speaking of, and although she does fall in love with Gable and that love is mutual, we'll never cast the stone on her. Gable dwarfs any man in comparison, and being the king of the jungle, the wildlife expert and the most competent hunter to protect the weak female, all the knowledge, all the kindness in the world wouldn't compete with that.It all ends up with Gardner as Kelly becoming her greatest rival, she's in love with Victor because she's an earthy straight-forward woman, like him, and Linda loves him because he completes her. I'm not sure whether we're supposed to be similar or complementary, but I felt so sorry for Donald that I wished Linda wouldn't end up as Victor's trophy hunt from the safari, and what made me love Victor is that he felt guilty about it, too. And this leads to perhaps the greatest conclusion ever, precisely for its anticlimactic effect, Gable wants to get rid of Linda for her own good, so he gives her the best slap in the face since the D-word to Vivien Leigh, and if Grace Kelly can get away by being an unfaithful wife, Gable can get away with being rude with a woman.That was as perfect a conclusion as it could ever get … because the passion, the 'mogambo' thing the film is about, is that fluid going between Gable and Gardner, perfect for each other. They love nature, animal, tropical setting, because they got it in their veins, they're travelers, adventuring from place to place, heart to heart, until finding themselves through one's heart, in a way, they were their own trophy hunt. And somewhat, you can feel the Fordesque touch, Gable is to the jungle what Wayne is to Silicon Valley, and if a man like Victor had to end with a princess like Linda, well as Wayne would say, "that'll be the day".Now, of course, it would be easy to discuss of all the colonial, borderline racist, elements dating the film, and I concede there are several, but this film is about escapism, it provides some of the greatest shots of African wildlife and in its own way, can be seen as a perfect documentary matching the quality of National geographic, not that it was intended, but the film has a pedagogical value and for that, Ford deserves credit.So it's irrelevant to discuss about racism because the film is like a Vaudeville in Safari-land, with so much fun that it's clear it doesn't take itself seriously, it's all about the burning passion between three of the era's hottest stars in the world's hottest place, making "Mogambo" the hottest thing Hollywood Golden Age could ever express.
Robert J. Maxwell
This is a remake of "Red Dust" from the 1930s and Clark Gable plays the same role -- the white professional guide through the African jungle who also collects animals for zoos and circuses. He's hired by a naive anthropologist and his wife, Kelly, to take them into the bush and shoot movies of gorillas and trap a baby gorilla to study back home.Gable's dalliance with tough but good-natured Ava Gardner is interrupted but he doesn't mind, once he gets an eyeful of the delicate blond Grace Kelly. She's overwhelmed by the cloud of pheromones that follows Gable about and he, in turn, decides that this time it's for keeps.But then there's that awkward business of letting the wimpy husband in on their plans. And that noisome Ava Gardner is always hanging around, all knowingly, making wisecracks about the new love affair. I mean, it gets racy too. Their truck passes a male elephant who trumpets and uncurls his trunk straight out into the air. "Reminds me of somebody I know," cracks Gardener.In the end, Gable comes to his senses, tricks Kelly into loathing him, and marries the woman he was truly meant to be with, the one who is as resilient and durable as he is.It wasn't an easy shoot. Director Ford was beginning to feel his age. Gable insisted on going off to hunt big game. Ford thought it was dangerous and stupid. Frank Sinatra, married to Ava Gardner at the time, showed up on location and everyone expected him to act like the Chairman of the Board -- "Here, pal, here's fifty; go take a hike." Instead, at Ford's request, he was put to use making spaghetti for the crew. Gable had been through much tribulation since "Red Dust", twenty years earlier, and had begun drinking, but he'd help up well, considering.Grace Kelly should have been right for the part of the naive young wife. She looks appealing enough and seems frangible, as if anyone could break one of her long bones just be pressing it too hard, but she's allowed to overact. Ava Gardner never looked more attractive or sexier. Jean Harlow brought a note of stronger vulgarity to the role. Gardner seems a little too nice, despite the acidulous dialog.The movie is entertaining and colorful but seems oddly dated. Every movie about Africa is compelled to give us shots of African animals that, I suppose, a hundred years earlier were still novel. Yes, that's a cheetah, alright. We saw a National Geographic Special about cheetahs just last week. Fastest mammals on earth, y'know? They're no longer gape worthy. They have to play some part in the story if we're going to pay attention any longer.And I don't know why people don't leave gorillas and other primates alone. There aren't that many of them left. We're destroying them through habitat destruction and poaching. Why would anyone want to point a high-powered rifle at a great ape and shoot it dead? They don't do anything but eat fruit and vegetables. I wonder if humans might have more compassion for gorillas if they saw them naked and shaved, as I did when I studied comparative primatology. The male appendage is positively tiny compared to ours. Well, that probably wouldn't make us pause before killing them anyway. We'll stop when there are no more left.Anyway, it's a satisfying movie that ought to interest the family, assuming the kids don't grasp the symbolic significance of elephant trunks. "Red Dust" -- studio-bound as it is -- is still better.
