Green Mansions (1959)

User Rating:

5.4/10   

Director:

Mel Ferrer

Writers:

William Henry Hudson (novel)
Dorothy Kingsley (writer)

Release Date:

3 September 1959 (West Germany)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

...W.H. Hudson's unforgettable story of love and adventure in the South American jungles!

Plot:

A young man in the jungles of Venezuela meets a strange girl of the forest and falls in love with her.

Plot Keywords:

Amazon | Witch | Cinemascope | Color In Title | Waterfall

Cast

Audrey Hepburn	...	Rima
Anthony Perkins	...	Abel
Lee J. Cobb	...	Nuflo
Sessue Hayakawa	...	Runi
Henry Silva	...	Kua-Ko
Nehemiah Persoff	...	Don Panta
Michael Pate	...	Priest
Estelle Hemsley	...	Cla-Cla

Runtime:

Israel:100 min | USA:104 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #19135) | Finland:K-16

Filming Locations:

Colombia

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

During the film, Rima is shown accompanied by a fawn. In order for the animal to properly bond with the actress, Audrey Hepburn effectively adopted the baby deer in the weeks preceding production.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Forecast (1945)

Soundtrack:

Song of Green Mansions

Appealing romance, at least

After reading reviews of this film I expected it to be pretty bad. I wanted to see it anyway because I love Audrey Hepburn, and I always have an interest in seeing Anthony Perkins films since I loved him in Psycho (though I must admit I still haven't seen him do anything as well as he did Norman Bates.) So I put the tape in the VCR and expected something visually stimulating, but with a dull story. What I got was something visually stimulating, and a story interesting enough to keep me entertained. The scenery is gorgeous (though I agree with a previous comment that some of it looks fake), and Hepburn and Perkins are equally attractive. The music is heady and romantic (Tony Perkins sings - and he does this well!) A few scenes of primitive tribal rituals are the only inelegant parts of the film. I do think that Audrey Hepburn was miscast as "the bird girl"; she seems a bit too sophisticated for this type of role (and dare I say just a wee bit too old - she was about 30 at the time, playing a character constantly referred to as "that child.") But it doesn't matter. She was a great actress so she did this role well. Anthony Perkins did well at least in the more romantic scenes. The chemistry between them worked for me. The whole movie worked for me, at least on a hedonistic level. Green Mansions isn't a "great movie", but it's an enjoyable one.