The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952)

Director:

Henry King

Writers:

Casey Robinson (screenplay) and
Ernest Hemingway (short story)

Release Date:

18 December 1952 (Australia)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

His Adventures . . . Like His Loves . . . Were Great and Exciting !

Plot:

Writer Harry Street reflects on his life as he lies dying from an infection while on safari in the shadow of Mount Kilamanjaro.

Plot Keywords:

Writer | African | Safari | Hunting | Infection

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 1 nomination

Cast

Gregory Peck	...	Harry Street
Susan Hayward	...	Helen
Ava Gardner	...	Cynthia Green
Hildegard Knef	...	Countess Liz (as Hildegarde Neff)
Leo G. Carroll	...	Uncle Bill
Torin Thatcher	...	Johnson
Ava Norring	...	Beatrice (model)
Helene Stanley	...	Connie (Harry's first girl)
Marcel Dalio	...	Emile
Vicente Gómez	...	Guitarist (as Vicente Gomez)
Richard Allan	...	Spanish dancer

Also Known As:

Ernest Hemingway's The Snows of Kilimanjaro (USA) (complete title)

Runtime:

114 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | French | Spanish

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Argentina:Atp | UK:A (original rating) | UK:PG (re-rating) (1989) | West Germany:16 (f) | Canada:PG (video rating) | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:Approved (PCA #15807)

Filming Locations:

Cairo, Egypt

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

Ernest Hemingway disliked the film because he thought it cannibalized material from his other work to pad the story. He told friend Ava Gardner that the only things he liked about it were her and the hyena. It has been reported, but not confirmed, that director Henry King mimicked the hyena on the soundtrack.

Goofs:

Continuity: In bringing down the rhino, Harry Street manages to squeeze off three shots from a double-barreled rifle.

Quotes:

Helen: Hello, Molo, you white man's burden, you!
Molo, African Servant: [talks in an African language]
Helen: Darling, we only got the first aid book.
Harry Street: [looking at the witch doctor] What's he going to do, sprinkle me with monkey dust?
Helen: Darling!
Harry Street: A hair from the tail of a leopard?

Movie Connections:

Featured in Cineastas contra magnates (2005)

Soundtrack:

To Ava

So-so film that is never as complex or as tragic as it should have been and is a lot less interesting for it

Having saved a young man from a hippo, writer Harry Street lies dying from an infection in his African safari campsite. As his unappreciated wife Helen tends to his wounds and ensures him everything will be alright, Harry sinks into feverish reminiscing about a life that he perceives as being a failure in terms of both writing and his love life. He recalls the one woman that he believes he truly loved which, helpfully for Helen, isn't his current wife but a woman called Cynthia Green whom he met in Paris. The more he recalls the deeper his depression and the more Helen watches him surrendering his fight and will to live.

Taking a "deathbed" flashback structure we always know that things between Harry and his other loves didn't work out and the only question is "why". On paper we are meant to be with a bitter angry man who is facing death with a superficial devil-may-care attitude but underneath carries a deep sense of regret. The first problem I encountered with the film was that the script didn't carry this off very well at all and I wasn't convinced about the supposed years of failure that are stacked on top of Harry – people with such things have much more baggage than came out here. The flashbacks are reasonable interesting but are closer to melodrama than a searing tale of regret and loss, which personally I thought it should have been. The film does flit around the world which must have been a selling point for it at the time of release but it doesn't actually add much to the story or characters other than providing a different background for some scenes.

King's direction is fairly workmanlike; he enjoys the locations but the mix of his footage with stock footage doesn't sit well together – I know it is a limitation of the period but it still doesn't work. Peck is solid enough in the lead but he does the superficial things and doesn't get to grips with anything deeper or more complex. He gets no help from Hayward who is watching her husband long for women past but never appears to have any problem with this whatsoever. Gardner is pretty but again she doesn't convince in her character when asked to do anything more (seeing her in the middle of the Spanish civil war was pretty funny as well). Support from Leo G Carroll is always welcome but he doesn't have much to work with here.

Overall this is a so-so film that never fulfils its potential or is as engaging as it should have been. Instead of being complex and full of pain it is melodramatic and soapy; instead of being about the tragic souls of the characters it seems to have as much interest in stock footage and global locations. The cast give solid but superficial performances in response to this and the film never really gets a handle on any of it.