The Roots of Heaven (1958) User Reviews

Interesting Movie That Was At Least 30 Years Ahead Of It's Time

[robertguttman · 7/10 · 1 May 2014]

This movie, about a lone man's quest to save the African elephants from extinction at the hands of big game and ivory hunters, undoubtedly suffered when it was initially released due largely to the fact that it was at least 30 years ahead of it's time. In the 1950s nobody gave a thought to things things like ecology, conservation and endangered species; let alone considered them to be causes worth fighting for. The fact is that, while it would be perfectly natural for modern-day audiences to recognize Morel as a heroic character, in the 1950s he would have been regarded as merely eccentric. That simply goes to show that, while it takes a long time to change peoples' minds, they do change nonetheless.

I understand that Trevor Howard was actually given the role of the central character, Morel, after William Holden dropped out. Frankly, Howard was probably the better choice to play the part in the first place, since he does a good job of keeping the attention of the story grounded where it should be. The film itself is somewhat uneven and episodic, with some interesting character actors making periodic appearances revolving around Morel. Orson Welles, in particular, makes a conspicuous appearance as a larger-than-life American television broadcaster who was probably modeled on Lowell Thomas.

All in all, "The Roots of Heaven" represents a good effort at tackling a subject that probably didn't attract it's initial audience anywhere near as much as it would undoubtedly attract audiences today. Given the change in the public's appreciation of environmentalism, it definitely rates a fresh look by young, contemporary audiences.

A big disappointment!

[JohnHowardReid · 5/10 · 23 June 2017]

Copyright 1958 by Darryl F. Zanuck Productions. Released through 20th Century-Fox Film Corp. New York opening at the Palace: 15 October 1958. U.S. release: October 1958. U.K. release: 22 February 1959. Australian release: 12 March 1959. Sydney opening at the Regent. 11,350 feet. 125 minutes.

SYNOPSIS: In Fort Lamy, French Equatorial Africa, an idealist named Morel (Trevor Howard), launches a one-man crusade to preserve the African elephant from extinction. Generally disappointed with man's civilization, he thinks of the elephants as the last-remaining "roots of heaven". He attempts to effect legislation to stop professional and game ivory hunters from destroying the elephant and at first finds support only from Minna (Juliette Greco), hostess of the town's only night club, who falls in love with him, and from an ex-British major, now a derelict, named Forsythe (Errol Flynn).

NOTES: Location scenes filmed in French Equatorial Africa. Interiors at Studios de Boulogne, Paris. Number 7 on the Saturday Review's Ten Best list for 1958.

For everything that lies between man and God is in the roots of heaven (Arabian proverb).

COMMENT: Strange and exotic places were a natural magnet for CinemaScope. This time the anamorphic lens travels deep into the Cameroons. But unfortunately — as is too often the case — for a few moments' worth of fascinating backgrounds, we are obliged to put up with a dreary and unbelievable story.

True, the plot starts promisingly enough, but fails to sustain its momentum — partly because the writing just peters out, partly because the players make such heavy weather of their characters, partly because the direction (from a master like Huston, yet) is so surprisingly indifferent.

OTHER VIEWS: A disappointment. — Variety. An interesting but curiously unconvincing picture. — Time.

One of the 'Sickest' Films of All Time

[bkoganbing · 5/10 · 30 June 2007]

When the original script of The Roots of Heaven was shown to John Huston, he had it in mind for William Holden to star in it. It seemed like a natural given Holden's interest in conservation. Errol Flynn remarked in his memoirs that he was looking forward to co-starring with Holden.

But Bill Holden backed out of the project and not as big a movie name, Trevor Howard, was substituted. Flynn's part was then built up though clearly he's a supporting character. In any event all these guys were just there in support of Juliette Greco who was Darryl F. Zanuck's main squeeze at the time. Ms. Greco was a better actress than that other squeeze of Zanuck's Bella Darvi and she didn't come to a tragic end as poor Bella did.

Huston maybe should have known better, after all he had done The African Queen on location in Africa already and knew the problems therein. The Roots of Heaven may have set some kind of record for illnesses among the cast, maybe rivaling The Conqueror. The most serious was Eddie Albert's nearly fatal case of sunstroke.

It was reported that Errol Flynn kept the illness at bay by consuming large quantities of gin on location. He had the most to worry about as he had chronic malaria, acquired in his youth in the New Guinea jungles that kicked up on him every now and then. Of course right after the film, he was reported to suffer a major attack of it and was in hospital for weeks.

The story never quite takes off. It's about Trevor Howard's efforts to save the elephant population and the lack of interest therein among most of the natives who depend on the ivory trade for a livelihood. Conservation is a noble cause, but it's usually talked about by those who've already plundered their area already for its resources and are now telling others what to do.

Howard's cause never quite gets off the ground and sad to say, neither does the film. Maybe it could be made today with better results.

Huston's Epic Misfire a Better 'Making of' Story than Film...

[cariart · 30 October 2003]

THE ROOTS OF HEAVEN, John Huston's 'Save the Elephant' African drama, based on Romain Gary's ponderous novel, was a costly, torturous misfire about which even Huston himself had little positive to say ("The pictures that turn out to be the most difficult to make, usually turn out to be the worst - like ROOTS OF HEAVEN.") While the story, of an almost fanatical idealist and his international band of rag-tag followers, fighting against the poachers who were hunting the species to near extinction, was a timely one, the production suffered so many calamities and setbacks that what finally reached the screen bore little resemblance to the initial concept. But what a back story it had!

Originally intended to star was William Holden, who was, in real life, an impassioned activist concerning Africa and it's wildlife. With Holden and Huston attached to the project, an all-star supporting cast was easily recruited, including Errol Flynn, Eddie Albert, Orson Welles, Paul Lukas, and Darryl Zanuck's newest 'protégé', Juliette Greco. Then Paramount politely informed Holden that he had unfulfilled obligations to the studio, and they would not release him to make the 20th Century Fox production. With the other talent under contract, and an inflexible location 'start' date, Fox faced the dilemma of no acceptable 'leading man' being available at short notice...and ended up casting British character actor Trevor Howard in Holden's role. Howard, however, had no 'marquee' value, so Errol Flynn, in a decidedly secondary role, found himself the 'star' of the movie!

Huston arrived in Africa with Darryl Zanuck (the often jealous producer may have been a bit nervous having Juliette Greco working with world-class lotharios Huston and Flynn), and the 140-degree inferno quickly took a heavy toll on the cast and crew. Eddie Albert collapsed with sunstroke, and everyone except Huston and Flynn, who had each brought prodigious amounts of alcohol to consume, were soon suffering from amoebic dysentery. With the frequent production delays, Huston went big-game hunting, and philosophized to the world press. Flynn and Huston, both larger than life personalities, started arguing on set (considering the quantity of alcohol they consumed, it was not surprising!), and Flynn dared the director to fight him. While it might have been an interesting contest, twenty years before, when Flynn was in shape and a talented amateur boxer, he was long past his prime, and Huston, who had actually been a professional boxer in his youth, flattened the actor with one punch.

It was NOT a happy production!

The end result of all the suffering was a film that lacked cohesiveness, with unresolved subplots, and poorly defined characters. Huston would move on to a western with Burt Lancaster and Audrey Hepburn, THE UNFORGIVEN; Zanuck dumped Greco and began preproduction on his epic, THE LONGEST DAY (featuring NEW 'protégé', Irina Demick); and Flynn, after a brief recurrence of malaria, would produce and star in the abysmal CUBAN REBEL GIRLS, and would be dead in less than a year.

THE ROOTS OF HEAVEN was a disaster, for all involved!

An important subject handled in an occasionally sloppy manner.

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 5 April 2014]

It's really amazing that the film crew went to so much trouble to make this movie. After all, they went to the hellishly hot and rather primitive country of French Equatorial Africa and filmed it on location- -and because of this the film looks great. Yet, inexplicably, at the same time the movie looks so incomplete and sloppy at times-- particularly when it came to many of the characters. As a result, the film's great message is muted and far less effective.

When the film begins, a hunter has already killed four elephants and is about to kill more when he is attacked and beaten up by Morel (Trevor Howard). It seems that Morel is outraged by the wholesale slaughter of African animals (in particular, the elephants) and he's sick of sitting back and doing nothing. Soon, he goes to see the governor and begins circulating a petition to stop the slaughter--mostly to no effect. So, he and a few followers decide to take the law into their own hands. They burn ivory warehouses and attack hunters--shooting them in the butt! And, in one of the few funny scenes in the movie, they storm a ritzy party and deliver a well-deserved spanking to a society dame who delights in talking about all the elephants she's slaughtered.

All this sounds very timely and important, right? Well, yes...but the film manages to take a great idea and make the least of it. While Trevor Howard is fine in the lead (though he's billed third!), many of the other characters are underdeveloped and wasted. Instead of seeming like real folks, they seem like they are doing a walk-on--like many celebrities that appear and disappear in a Muppet film! Flynn got top billing though he was barely in the film at all. And, when he was on camera, he pretty much played himself--a dying alcoholic (he died a year after this film was made). Orson Welles is an interesting character-- yet his change of heart from hunter to conservationist seemed bizarre and confusing--again because his part was severely under-written. Eddie Albert appears out of no where late in the film--and has a few good moments but is otherwise quite out of place. And, the same can be said about MOST of the rest of the cast! You would have thought that the writer, director and producer would have noticed this big problem. With better writing and directing, the film SHOULD have earned an 8 or 9. Instead, it's just an overly long and forgettable film.

By the way, I found this film of particular interest because I just got back from a photo safari in South Africa. In my trips to this country, I was surprised how few animals remain and how those that do are confined mostly to game reserves. Also, while the elephants are the subject of "The Roots of Heaven", the biggest problems today are the poaching of the rhinos and the near-extinction of species such as the African Wild Dog. My advice is go soon to visit Africa soon as some of these animals simply might not be there in the near future.

Adventure drama focused on defending the rights of the elephants directed by John Huston in his usual style

[ma-cortes · 6/10 · 14 June 2016]

Good film that had several inconvenient and misfortunes , as the cast and crew suffered temperatures would routinely reach 134 degrees in the day and 95 degrees at night , as the 130 people had 920 sick calls during the shooting . This is an exciting story about Morel's adventures who accompanied by a motley group carry out a real denounce against the massacre of the elephants . Morel lives in Africa and can not stand quiet on this slaughter and he , then , undertakes a dangerous travel on protection of elephants . Morel (Trevor Howard , though James Mason was considered for the role , also William Holden was originally cast with top billing ; however, he later pulled out and was replaced) starts to fight to prohibit this hunt . As he begins , nobody supports him , but thanks to an American Radio newsreader called Sedgwick (Orson Welles , his foe was normally $15,000 but he did it gratis in order to repay Darryl F. Zanuck for helping Welles find the funds to complete Otelo) he becomes a famous person . Some people come to help him , such as : the drunk Forsythe (Errol Flynn , who was then given top billing, even though Howard had the lead role, this was Errol Flynn's last major film before his death the following year others try to use him) , the magazine photographer Abe Fields (Eddie Albert , who developed an almost fatal case of sunstroke) and his lover Minna (Juliette Gréco) , among others .

This thought-provoking as well as interesting adventure movie contains a real condemnation of violence and intolerance in which an agreeable character attempts to awake the world's consciousness , being interspersed with a lot of political issues in those times of the French/British colonialism in Africa . It's a story of losers , brave and valiant roles , mixed with revolutionary interests . Nice acting by Trevor Howard as a man committed to nature and especially against indiscriminate ivory trade , determined at whatever cost to avoid the killing of elephants taking place in a French colony . In addition , the strange beauty Juliette Greco , French singer and actress , ¨Protegee¨ of Darryl F. Zanuck, who put her in a number of films in the late 50s-early 60s . Remaining cast is generally quite good , giving fantastic jobs , plenty of great actors who suffered from the heat , malaria and other tropical diseases , as temperatures during filming reached over 130 degrees in the daytime and only got down to 95 at night . As terrible heat and sickness took their toll on the cast and crew . There stand out the followings : Eddie Albert , Paul Lukas , Herbert Lom , Grégoire Aslan , Jacques Marin , and , of course , Orson Welles included . However , Errol Flynn's alcoholism had become a round-the-clock problem, and he was frequently at odds with John Huston . In his autobiography titled ¨My Wicked, Wicked Ways", Errol Flynn wrote that he enjoyed making this film more than any other.

Colorful photography in CinemaScope by Oswald Morris is spectacular and insurmountable , it was mostly made on location in Africa over five months , in the Belgian Congo and Tchad in the Northern Cameroons, where the elephants were located . As the cast and crew were in French Equatorial Africa for 6 months making the movie , and on some days it would be a four hour drive to the location and back , as they vowed never to return . It displays an emotive and sensitive musical score by the classic British composer Malcolm Arnold . The motion picture was well directed by John Huston , though he cited this film as an example of how some of the worst shoots can result in the worst films . Its tense filmmaking makes this crackerjack entertainment . The picture was made in a good time in the late 50s , 60s and 70s when Huston reappeared as a director of quality with The misfits (1961) , Freud (1962) , The List of Adrian Messenger (1963) , Fat City, (1972) , The man who would be king (1975) and Wise blood (1979). He ended his career on a high note with Under volcano (1984), Honor of Prizzi (1985) and Dublineses (1987) . Rating : 6.5/10 , this is an acceptable John Huston film , despite failing at box office , a model of his kind , definitely a must see if you are aficionado to adventure films

Anti-mercenary, pro-elephant African adventure...an odd choice for director Huston

[moonspinner55 · 6/10 · 8 August 2017]

Adaptation of Romain Gary's 1956 novel by the author and Patrick Leigh-Fermor has a British environmentalist in French Equatorial Africa fighting the slaughter of elephants by ivory poachers for their tusks. He amusedly shoots a bragging broadcaster (Orson Welles, in a colorful cameo) in the rear-end with buckshot, he has a society shark publicly humiliated...but when the mercenaries get serious, so must he, accumulating his own small army and becoming a guerrilla fighter for the elephants' cause. Something of a surprise coming from director and real-life big game hunter John Huston, who opens his film with lugubrious character introductions that do little for the audience; however, once the preliminaries are out of the way, the handsomely-produced picture becomes an engrossing dramatic story of a (possibly unintended) martyr sharing and expanding his cause while taking it the ultimate distance--death before dishonor. Trevor Howard is excellent in the central role, supporting performances from Juliette Greco as a loving bar hostess, Errol Flynn as a hard-drinking military officer and Eddie Albert as an opportunistic photojournalist are equally good. Huston's sense of humor (droll at times, acerbic at others) is welcomed, while the finale catches one off-guard with its deeply-felt emotion. This appears to have been a rigorous film for all involved to make, but Huston's heart is in it, and he does amazing work. **1/2 from ****

Good cast, dull film

[boscofl · 5/10 · 23 July 2009]

I can't say I really enjoyed this film but as a fan of both Flynn and Welles it was rewarding to watch. Considering how terrible he looked earlier in "Istanbul" and "The Sun Also Rises" Flynn looks relatively spry and rugged in what would prove to be his last real film role. Although he has little to do his is a likable character and one cannot help but feel a strong parallel between the role of Forsythe and the man portraying him. There is a sense of regret and bitterness in Forsythe that Flynn no doubt felt in his own life. As for Welles, he is amusing in a 5 minute role and his appearance made me immediately think of Jackie Gleason in the "Smokey and the Bandit" films.

The film itself is too long and hammers home its point with the delicacy of a sledgehammer. William Holden would have been great as Morel; Trevor Howard is too abrasive and difficult to sympathize with. Eddie Albert & Herbert Lom are wasted while Paul Lukas disappears midway through the film. Juliette Greco is fine as the heroine and manages to look glamorous throughout.

The story behind the film sounds much more interesting than the film itself. I particularly liked the story of John Huston decking Flynn after much boozing. Apparently they fought several times when Flynn was younger and in shape with Flynn beating him into submission every time. I guess Huston gained some measure of payback here by taking advantage of the declining star.

Flynn as follower to the elephants' Robin Hood

[Igenlode Wordsmith · 8/10 · 1 December 2006]

"Turgid philosophising"... "raddled Flynn"... no-one seemed to have a good word for this film, known chiefly for the number and variety of ailments suffered during its filming, and I certainly wasn't expecting much.

Nobody told me "The Roots of Heaven" could be funny.

Nobody told me the script was ironic and self-aware, knowing what to say and what to leave unspoken and when to wear its passion on its sleeve with the straightforward and very English eccentricity of its leading character; tinged with idealism, with heroism, and with cynicism alike. No-one ever mentioned, oddly enough, that there were even any environmentalists in the 1950s -- with uncannily accurate prescience, the plot even ties in the anti-nuclear cause. Greenpeace would have had a retrospective field day!

And as for Flynn, he is having the time of his life stealing every scene he is in, whether with a quizzical eyebrow or a moment of sudden intense sympathy; the part is a gift, but he makes it something more, with the old expressiveness that always underpinned the laughter and heroics of his days as Warner Brothers' leading man. His late-career performance in "The Sun Also Rises" (which, for my money, really is turgid philosophical stuff) has been proclaimed as 'Oscar-worthy' by those eager to prove he had straight acting talent, but to my mind he shows greater depths here.

Trevor Howard is the undoubted star, carrying much of the film single-handed. He is superbly convincing in the linchpin role of the Englishman who sets out on an unfashionable one-man crusade, and -- in a tale whose wry sensibilities would not be out of place at Ealing Studios -- finds himself inadvertently the victim of human nature's instinct both to canonise and to desecrate. The character has convictions, but he is neither unworldly nor a fool, and Howard makes us believe against the odds that this unassuming type can change people. His performance is absolutely central to the film's credibility, and he makes Morel not only believable but likable.

The main flaws of which I was aware are the way that several strands seem to disappear abruptly unexplained at the ending (what of all those journalists who were about to arrive? What of the American's photographs, surely valuable evidence?) and a handful of blue-screen shots against poorer-quality backgrounds that are very obvious when viewed at cinema scale -- it might have been better to have used quick cuts back and forth between the characters and the action, rather than attempting to project them into the picture.

So far as the overall standard of the film was concerned, however, I was extremely favourably surprised; I've seen several turgid, would-be meaningful African epics, and this certainly isn't one of them. Intelligent, humorous, lightly ironic, but also genuinely stirring and mythical, the end product may have disappointed John Huston, but it was far better than I had been given -- even by the cinema's own programming material! -- to expect.

Strange thing

[norbert-plan-618-715813 · 6/10 · 10 April 2022]

These roots of heaven convey an ecological message, precursory, with the defense of the animals. This is the subject of the novel from which the screenplay is inspired.

Otherwise, the film is a bit strange. The character of Juliette Gréco is insipid and only functional. Errol Flynn spends his time drinking; other than that, he is useless; pathetic to watch a star killing himself with alcohol; although his one scene where he has some dialogue is strong and makes his character believable: he explains his supposed betrayal and why he is a banished military man.

Trevor Howard is good, but his character is still a bit hermetic and doesn't necessarily inspire empathy. And to have a French character played by an Englishman is always strange.

We remain hungry, because the dramatic arc, and finally the story does not contain a main character, a hero in the dramaturgical sense of the term. And it is not a choral film. But it does have one or more villains in a way: the hunters, French colonialists, journalists. Orson Welles' character is uninteresting, appears and is quickly forgotten: incongruity of the film.

The film as a whole does not seem mastered. But the film wins for its settings and landscapes, partly shot in Africa, and for its avant-garde subject in 1958.

All in all, the spectator leaves the film saying that there are interesting things, but that it is possible to do better. John Huston is dependent on the story and its scenario, here the story has a strong potential, the scenario is not perfect, far from it; and it is not helped by the cast. Even if it is cosmopolitan, it could have produced a different result. This is a story that could be remade and would be very trendy.

A mess

[davidmvining · 3/10 · 15 September 2023]

Well, this is a complete and total mess. It's weird how a movie about protecting elephants actually has fears of nuclear proliferation at its core, but that goes to show how this film ultimately is so totally out of its mind with competing fears, ideas, and subplots that it really feels like what was being filmed was an afterthought to Huston as he went back to Africa to film another film after The African Queen. This time, though, he had Zanuck and Fox money behind him, which we all know means that Huston will be more radical, daring, and less restrained narratively than if he were spending his own money. And that, ultimately seems to be the problem with Huston at this point: he wanted to experiment, but he was always doing it with other people's money while never caring if he was making something audiences actually wanted to actually see.

The problem starts with the fact that it's really unclear for a very long stretch who the main character ultimately is. It ends up being Morel (Trevor Howard) an elephant lover that seems to do nothing other than protect elephants on the Savannah, starting the film by punching a poacher out to kill the fourth element in a quick string, dropping him off at the bar owned by the guy's boss where the bar is being run by Minna (Juliette Greco). With her, he outlines his theory on life, and it's something of a joke about how humanity needs friends, and the animals are our friends, and we have to do everything to preserve them. The target of this film's ire is big game hunting (which John Huston participated in regularly), but the way Morel talks, it sounds like a call for veganism at best. What underlines all of it, and what gets brought up at least four times through the film, is a fear of nuclear annihilation. That's the factor under it, and it feels so unaddressed and underserved at the same time which, when combined with the kid-gloves treatment of Morel, ends up creating this weird mishmash of ideas and concerns that never really wants to dig into any implications because, I presume, to actually show Morel as a full-on terrorist would make him too unlikeable for audiences.

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REPORT THIS AD Anyway, he gets mad when no one in authority will back his ill-defined and highly generic petition to make big game hunting illegal in all of Africa, including the governor of French Equatorial Africa (Andre Luguet), and he begins his reign of terrorism by burning down one ivory shot and shooting some hunters in the butt from hundreds of yards away and with pinpoint accuracy, including the American journalist Cy Sedgwick (Orson Welles) who uses his position of power in the media to rile up the American public against the government and on Morel's side...and we barely see it. It's talked about more than it's actually shown, mostly with a single scene of the governor looking through newspapers that are against him. It's unclear how it's actually affecting his governance or the nation at large beyond a sudden influx of reporters. What is the focus of this film? Heck, this is the section where Morel simply disappears from the film, having escaped into the wilds of the country to hide out and...do nothing?

Minna, given directions by a government minister on how to find Morel for reasons, takes along the rich drunk Major Forsythe (Errol Flynn) to go into the country and find Morel, both of them being the only two people to have signed Morel's petition. The first half of the film is something of a competent but not really interesting look at how a radical moves against an institution, but the second half starts interesting before completely devolving into abject nonsense because it has simply too many conflicting ideas at play that it can't iron out.

There's something in there about colonialism against native populations that's supposed to get manifested by the local leader Waitari (Edric Connor) who teams up with Morel, using Morel's suddenly popular cause to help advance his small movements in a popular revolt (that we never see anything of, by the way). What's this saying about revolutionaries in imperial territories? Nothing? Then why is it there at all? If it's nothing, then what's with Waitari having two separate arguments with Morel about their use for each other, only for Waitari to end up hunting elephants later? Is it a comment on how everyone is too concerned with human affairs to really care about animals (animals that Huston liked to hunt, by the way, even though he said he never hunted elephants)? What about Morel's kid gloves treatment of his terrorism by the film? He goes, gets control of a printing press that immediately does what he says without complaint, goes next door to a swanky party where he has the wife of one of the powerful men spanked. This is the stuff of satire...against terrorists, not a drama in their favor. This is a mess.

The film ends with a big herd of elephants, a stand off, and then Morel getting off scot-free for reasons.

This is easily Huston's worst film up to this point. The actual shoot was long and, apparently, very hard with harsh African conditions that led to sickness for nearly everyone, Flynn mainlining heroin through the whole shoot, and just general issues. Huston would later say that it's proof that bad shoots lead to bad films, and I would more lean towards the script being a complete mess. Maybe it got heavily modified as they went along, shut down for days at a time, and Huston went off to big game hunt in the middle of his film about how big game hunting is bad.

From a purely technical point of view, there's nothing wrong with the actual filmmaking craft. The film looks good as Huston's complex, Wyler-inspired eye continues to degrade slowly over time. The performances are fine, especially from Flynn who seems to essentially just playing himself: drunk. I also found Eddie Albert a welcome addition in the final act, providing some sense of life to the proceedings that the more restrained and less compelling performance from Howard did (he's much better as a stuffy Englishman like in David Lean's Brief Encounter than as an impassioned activist here). Huston did what he could while the cameras were rolling, but he seemed to be otherwise completely disengaged from the film outside of that. The result is a complete mess of a message film that can't get it's own message straight while piling in a bunch of other stuff, confusing itself with its array of characters and bad structure, and doing everything possible to make the nicest terrorist fiction could create.

A superb film based on my all-time favorite novel.

[rtanner-6 · 10/10 · 17 July 2006]

This was an excellent film based on my all-time favorite novel of the same title. Both novel and film were ahead of their time in their concern for the fate of the African elephant specifically and the sustainability of the earth generally. The cast was superb; Trevor Howard and Juliette Greco were perfect. (But then, so was everyone else involved.) An important theme in both novel and film was the tendency for others to analyze Morel's motives through their own eyes. Thus some thought him politically ambitious, some supposed that he detested humankind, and others found other motives. I believe his actual motives were purer, simpler, more altruistic, and altogether as he stated them. I would like to have used this film in my university classes, but like an earlier reviewer I regret that it was not possible to find it. That's a great shame.

Given the apparent unavailability of the film, I highly recommend the book - if you can find a copy! Occasionally I have challenged bright students to tell me why the character Father Tassin is so interested in learning everything he can about Morel. To help them, I have lent them not only the novel but a short book about the real-life "Tassin." One or two succeeded in making the connection and thus understanding the work at its most profound level. And it truly is profound, once you understand that connection.

Incidentally, author (and screenplay writer) Romain Gary lived an adventurous, unique life which made him just about as interesting as Morel. War hero, winner of France's highest military and literary honors, literary prankster, tragic political victim, and much more.

Where are they going?

[schappe1 · 7/10 · 3 October 2021]

When I was a kid I was huge fan of Errol Flynn movies but to me, Errol Flynn movies were The Charge of the Light brigade, the Adventures of Robin Hood, the Sea Hawk, They Died with their Boots on, etc. All of those were part of a package of old Warner Brothers films a local station showed in the afternoons. The newspaper said that an Errol Flynn movie I'd never heard of was going to be shown that night. I was all excited but my parents warned me that this film might not be like the ones I had seen. It was a film make late in his career when he was 'sick'. I wasn't even able to recognize him. I remember that he was playing a drunk and that someone was trying to get his character to guide them through dangerous country. That's all I remember about the film itself. Afterwards, my parents told that Flynn was, in fact dead and that, sadly, he drank too much and that was one of the reasons for his demise, that the films I remember were made a long time ago when he was young and handsome. As I've been going through his films in this project, I've been looking to see which film I saw all those nights ago and I've concluded it must be this one. Flynn is playing a drunk. He's middle aged and looks haggard and bloated. And halfway through, he accompanies Juliette Greco into the Congo to reunite her with the man she loves. This time, there was no reaction of shock and disillusionment. I knew of his personal history. I was more interested in the movie itself.

Most professional reviewers dismiss this film, citing it as more evidence of Flynn's deterioration, leading to his actual death a year later. (The film features the last of Flynn's 9 on-screen deaths: see if you can remember the first eight.) The director, John Huston, never thought much of it - or of his next one 'The Unforgiven', (1960). In both cases he had great difficulties making the films and, in both cases, I think the films are under-rated. I suspect that Huston just didn't like the films he had a hard time making. The cast all came down with dysentery or sunstroke except Flynn, who fortified himself against them with alcohol. According to a note on this site, Orson Welles claimed Flynn was mainlining heroin as well, although it also says that he "did his part in two days at a Paris studio" and "made his cameo appearance via a TV screen", so I'm not sure how he would know that.

The most interesting aspect of the film is that it's about ecological terrorism, decades before that became a thing. The real star of the film is Trevor Howard, playing an elephant lover who wants to stop their slaughter from poachers and big game hunters. When conventional means such as petitions and pleas to administrators fail, he takes to non-lethal forms of violence, such as firing buckshot into hunter's rear ends, scaring off herds by firing guns into the air and invading a society party full of amateur hunters to spank a lady hunter in front of her guests while his followers hold the guests at bay. His group includes Flynn as a former British officer who drinks because when his unit was captured during the way, he was the only survivor because he was the only one who talked, Eddie Albert as a free-lance cameraman looking for a story and Greco, former prostitute and current bar girl who fell for Howard. There's a lost of speech-making with Howard saying that it's not just about the elephants -it's about us. If we keep befouling our environment, we aren't going to make it, a very modern point of view for a 1950's film. What's interesting is that Huston was a big-game hunter himself. When asked about this he said "I never found an elephant big enough to justify the sin of killing one." So for him, it was about the elephants.

Another plot line was that Howard, who is said to "not be in sympathy with independence movements" was nonetheless working with a rebel leader played by Edric O'Connor, (actually a calypso singers from Trinidad but who bears a resemblance to Jomo Kenyatta), who thinks that Howard's crusade will give his movement some much-needed publicity. Later he sells out for some much-needed money from the hunters, guiding them to the herd and leading to the final confrontation with Howards small gang. (One wonders if the idea was to not offend the colonial powers, who represented a major part of the film's intended audience, by making independence movements look bad), That's where Flynn dies in a hail of bullets. Howard and the rest are taken prisoner and I expected the film to end at that point.

I found is an interesting and entertaining film to this point, (Malcolm Arnold's score seems an extension of his Oscar-winning work for 'The Bridge on the River Kwai' the previous year), but the ending made little sense to me. They release Howard and his gang and Howard announces he's going to a certain town to surrender himself to the authorities. They march off through a desert area and show up at the town exhausted, and Greco in a stretcher. She warned Howard that the police are just going to shoot him. He trudges over to them anyway. They decide not to shoot him. Then the whole group trudges through the town and back into the desert, destination unknown. Albert, whose camera contains pictures that would be evidence against the bad guys in any trial, tosses it aside as if he's rejecting what's on it. I've watched it twice and it didn't make any sense either time.

Nevertheless, this would have been a good film for Flynn to end his career on. Unfortunately, he had one more to go.

Why make a serious story with absurd comic touches?

[mark.waltz · 5/10 · 10 February 2024]

Certainly a beautifully made adventure dealing with the protection of African elephants with Jack Hawkins as an environmentalist who's ridiculed for a letter where he proclaims that humans need elephants and other animals as friends and poachers should be stopped. A beautiful idea that I agree with, directed passionately by John Huston but with a reckless screenplay that muddled this adaption of a best selling book.

It's starry for the non-tusked actors but I wonder how embarrassed they were over some undignified lines for a dignified story. Errol Flynn plays a very troubled British officer involved in Hawkins' fight, along with the beautiful Juliette Grecco whose exotic looks are as striking as the opulent African plains. The embarrassing discussions over several people being shot in the buttocks seems really out of place, particularly Orson Welles.

Along the way, there's extended cameos by such talented actors as Herbert Lom, Eddie Albert and Paul Lukas, but the best moments are the semi-documentary like scenes showing the elephants roaming in packs, not doing anything to harm humans, only trying to get from point A to B, raise their families and create their own unforgettable memories. The speech of an upperclassmen British woman declaring her own triumph shooting elephants gives a different perspective to the usual suspects, but I'm afraid that the film just drags far too much and sprinklings of uncomfortable dialogs just gets more bizarre at every turn.

Elephants vs. Humans: Score Zip

[rmax304823 · 22 September 2002]

Spoilers. It's always convenient for scientists to treat the brains -- not to say the "minds" -- of animals as black boxes. We know what goes in ("stimuli") and we know what comes out ("responses") but we don't know what's inside. But anyone who has owned a pet knows that the black box has a good deal of personality inside it. (I once had the world's nastiest canary.) The study of animal consciousness is beginning to take form. Elephants in particular have curious traits that are difficult to interpret without being "anthropomorphic", a bad word in science. But Jeffrey Masson's "Why Elephants Cry" provides a good survey of their quirks. As described in this movie, one of the characters pumps shot after shot into an elephant before killing it. There was just such an historical event in which a hunter, having wounded an elephant and caused it to lean against a tree, put several deliberate bullets into it as an experiment, to see which one would most effectively bring it down. Observers noted that as the animal absorbed these shots he was weeping. They are curious indeed. They take care of their ill or disabled offspring. That much we can identify with. But when a group comes across a long-dead elephant carcass, thoroughly skeletonized, they get extremely excited and noisy, and they try to actually pick up the scattered bones and carry them away. And this we cannot understand -- not you, not me, and not ethologists. But we WILL go on killing them, and other "game" animals, for the most trivial of reasons -- trophies, money, folk medicine.

Morrell, the idealist in this film, says of elephants that they are the largest land animals on earth, but nothing fears them, and they fear nothing. They eat only tender greens and are harmless. The movie makes Morrell and his followers look like loonies in the context of what was then French Equatorial Africa. And sometimes the movie makers turn him into a rabid visionary, the John Brown of the environmentalists. But he's right of course and the rest of Homo sapiens who do not recognize this are self-destructive fools.

The movie doesn't come together as it should. The plot outlines are clear enough. Morrell is waging a lonely battle to save the beasts. Cheswick, a famous American hunter and journalist popularizes his cause. Morrell is then joined by other figures, some idealists and some exploiters who need the notoriety. A number of his valuable colleagues are killed in a shootout with ivory poachers. Morrell and the few survivors march off to carry on their fight. We don't find out what happens to them. And there is a girl, Juliet Greco, whose place in the narrative is uncertain. If we think about it, it seems as if Morrell may go on, but that his cause is lost, which means that the elephants lose as well. The director, John Huston, has inserted some welcome humor. A snobby boastful and very tall white huntress, Madame Orsini, gets thoroughly spanked on her bare bottom for having killed so many elephants.

The funniest episode is Cheswick's visit. Orson Welles struts around his well-appointed African camp, that sonorous baritone more pompous than ever -- "Oh, it's dangerous," he tells the audience through his microphone, "and it's tough". (Here he grabs a bottle of Vat 69 scotch with his free hand.) "But I like the danger. I'd rather be here than in the crumbling ruins of Greece. Because here is where you stand face to face with the big ones. Yes, they're big alright." (Here, he bends over a table, exposing his broad-beamed rear, which then receives a blast of shotgun pellets.) The performances are pretty uniformly good. It's nice that Trevor Howard, as Morrell, wasn't chosen because of his prettiness but because his face has character. On the whole, despite the humor, and the open-ended final scene, designed to maintain hope, it's a sad movie. It's a shame that, in going about making their livings, human beings can't confine themselves to eating water lillies and green shoots.

The Roots of Heaven

[CinemaSerf · 6/10 · 11 November 2022]

I just wonder how much acting Errol Flynn or Orson Welles actually had to do in this really disappointing and meandering yarn - they both appear as disinterested as the other. Trevor Howard doesn't fare much better as the early ecologist "Morel" who is determined to put a stop to elephant hunting. That's quite a task given he is slap bang amidst French Equatorial Africa where most of the community is employed in this "sport" and most of the establishment takes part. More by luck than judgement, his campaign attracts the attention of "Sedgewick" (Welles) and soon photographer Eddie Albert ("Abe") in on site to capture the images and tell the world the story. What now ensues is a battle with the hunters now having something entirely new to hunt. The story isn't half bad, but the execution is rally poor. Flynn, playing a dissolute former British officer is nowhere near his best form, Welles features but sparingly and the rest of this is looks little better than a glorified episode of "Daktari" (without "Clarence"). It is way, way, too long with production standards that are mediocre at best. It's sad to see such an high profile ensemble cast going to waste like this, but this is really pretty dull and forgettable.

Don't Waste Your Time!

[JLRMovieReviews · 4/10 · 17 November 2014]

Trevor Howard would like you to sign his petition to save the elephant. The elephant is one of Africa's biggest creatures. Yet, he is usually gentle. His only enemy is that of man. Man hunts elephants for his skin, his tusks, for the sport. All this is what Trevor Howard stands up for and wants others to join in his quest to save the elephant. Unfortunately, no one has signed it. Even a man of the cloth rationalizes a reason not to sign it. When someone makes the rather unique remark, that he's going about it the wrong way, he tries another tactic, a more hands-on approach. Featuring a very good supporting cast that includes Errol Flynn, Eddie Albert, Herbert Lom, Paul Lukas and Orson Welles, this should have been better than it was. It does contain a rather earnest performance by Trevor Howard, Errol Flynn with his usual cavalier style, an odd fascination about it (maybe due in part to the mystique of Africa and the elephants) and great photography/cinematography of the elephants themselves, particularly near the end with a dramatic stampede of them. But other than aforesaid attributes, this safari of wannabe criminals gets tiresome by the end and frankly wore me out. If you're watching this just for Errol Flynn, don't!

See Orson Welles as Rush Limbaugh! (in a vastly underrated film)

[neal-57 · 10/10 · 21 December 2006]

Had it been released just a few years later—say, about the time of 1966's "Born Free"—this film might have achieved icon status in the environmental movement. As it stands, it's best known for the appalling difficulties of its location shoot in what was then French Equatorial Africa, and as the last major film appearance of Errol Flynn—who, although playing a distinctly supporting part, was accidentally catapulted into first-place billing when William Holden dropped out of the lead role of Morel, to be replaced by an equally skilled, but less "box-office-boffo," Trevor Howard.

Actually, the book, by the wry ex-diplomat Romain Gary, is a sharp satire of dry, tongue-in-cheek delights, gentle but telling jabs at both the increasingly impotent colonial masters and the wild-eyed, stout-hearted African revolutionaries who have learned all the wrong lessons from their European masters. Some of this attitude survives to inform the film—though not enough.

One character who does NOT spring from the pages of the book is on-screen for all of four minutes and forty-five seconds, yet he's a colorful springboard for all that is to come: Rush Limbaugh! Okay, El Rushbo had barely been born in 1958, but Cy Sedgwick, American broadcaster and columnist, as etched with relish by Orson Welles, predicts him with pinpoint accuracy: his girth, his pompous self-righteous, and his confident command of the opinions of "right-thinking Americans." Before Sedgwick's attempted safari, the misanthropic Morel's attempts to preserve the African elephants have made him a laughingstock; Sedgwick's broadcasts transform him into a cause celibre—

—and set the stage for the colorful characters who will follow: the haunted "hostess" (Juliette Greco), the "ancient" Danish naturalist (Friedrich von Ledebur), the Baron who has foresworn human speech (Olivier Hussenot), the colonial administrator who has arranged to be reincarnated as a tree (Paul Lukas), the opportunistic Arab (Gregoire Aslan), the would-be "African Napoleon" (Edric Connor), and the alcoholic, disgraced British officer (Errol Flynn, completing the trio of screen drunks that comprised his late-career "comeback" as a character actor.)

And one point that all Flynn biographers have missed is that his character is actually a composite of TWO from the book: Johnny Forsythe, the American who broadcast for the Communists during the Korean War—and Colonel Babcock, the "convivial English military man" whose only companion is a Mexican jumping bean named Toto.

Forgotten films CAN be rescued from obscurity: Universal just recently (December, 2OO6) released the cult classic The Spiral Road (1962) on DVD. Now, if Fox would only follow suit with The Roots of Heaven—!

Root rot

[tomsview · 5/10 · 31 December 2015]

"Roots of Heaven" was an interesting idea, but executed with enough flatulence and hot air to have been a major cause of the increase in Earth's greenhouse gases.

The story of a man, and a small group of followers, who go on what becomes an illegal crusade to stop the slaughter of the African elephant, should have made an inspiring film.

There have been plenty of reasons given why such a worthy project turned out so lacklustre, but I feel the main reason is not necessarily the accepted ones of confused story lines and undefined characters - the problem is more in your face.

The film is full of eccentrics: loud, bombastic, opinionated and declarative ones, and eccentric characters are rarely appealing or even entertaining.

John Huston made some of the best films of all time: "The Maltese Falcon", "Treasure of the Sierra Madre", "Moby Dick" and about a dozen others. They all featured 'larger-than-life' characters, however the 'larger-than-life' characters got away from him on this one and actually became annoying.

Of course Huston may not have noticed what was happening because he was probably a bit like that himself, and often had a hand in the scripts.

He and scriptwriter Romain Cary (the author of the novel) created a character, Morel, played by an uncharismatic Trevor Howard, who seemed to have a number of variations on his expansive character throughout the cast; just look at the performances of Orson Welles, Errol Flynn, Frederick Ledebur, Oliver Hussenot, Gregoire Aslan, Francis de Wolff, and Eddie Albert - definitely a fail in first-term screen writing class.

The film looks good when it steps outside with fabulous shots of elephants and Africa, but of course the cast and crew famously suffered for that authenticity. The interiors back in the London studio were another matter, and look over-lit and fake.

Although Juliette Gréco was apparently forced on the film because she was producer Darryl Zanuck's mistress at the time, her understated performance was a relief from all the histrionics surrounding her.

Like many reviewers I feel that "Roots of Heaven" is fascinating more for what went on behind the camera than in front of it. The good news was that Huston bounced back - "The Man Who Would Be King" and "Fat City", were impressive ways to wind up a Quixotic and sometimes chaotic career.

Interesting story, good actors

[sonnyschlaegel · 8/10 · 15 October 2007]

It's about an ex-soldier, Morel (played by Trevor Howard), who has come to Africa to protect elephants against extinction. He sees them as noble animals and as 'roots of heaven', that is creatures made by God. First, no one is on his side, but later he manages to find some supporters. The authorities are after them, and they also have to defend themselves against some hunters who want to kill a large herd of elephants.

It was interesting to see how and for what motives some of the characters change their attitudes towards Morel. Some of his pursuers stop pursuing him or even start to help him, and some of his followers leave him and take part in hunting the large elephant herd. I found the character Waitari, an African freedom fighter, to be especially interesting. He has many difficulties. The French colonial authorities are after him, he wants to protect the elephants because they are a symbol of African freedom, he needs money for weapons, and he has to try to control his followers, who want to start an armed fight against the French although it is (probably) too early for that.

At first I didn't like Morel very much. I thought that the priest was right who scolds him for loving animals more than human beings, who need help more than animals. (And as far as I know elephants can be very dangerous. I've seen a documentary about that. When you are in a forest that they see as their territory (that you have trespassed on), they first approach you, and you can't hear them because their feet are so soft. Then they grab you with their trunks and hurl you through the air. A few people die that way every year.) But later in the movie one learns how Morel came to love elephants so much: he was a soldier in WW II, and during the years he had to spend in a prison camp, he read books about elephants. They became a symbol of freedom for him. So I understood and liked him better, and there's nothing wrong about protecting animals anyway (although I think that fighting hunger in the world is still more important.) Plus Howard acts really well in my opinion.

The main reason I watched this movie is that I have been a fan of Errol Flynn ever since I first saw him in 'The Sea Hawk'. In this one, he gets top billing, but he is a supporting actor only. (As I've said before Trevor Howard plays the hero, but the producers probably thought he was not famous enough to get top billing). I think his acting is good. But I think some scenes were very easy to play for him anyway; he plays an alcoholic, and in some scenes he looks as if he was really drunk (when he arrives, with Greco, at the tribal village). (That's what's called 'method acting' ;)

I also usually like films starring or directed by Welles or Huston. Welles only has a small part and I think he overacts, but that doesn't matter because he is really funny in my opinion. The direction is mostly good, as far as I can tell, but some of it could have been done better: there are some long shots of elephants that don't seem to fit in very well with the other shots. Or is this perhaps the editor's (not the director's) fault? I don't know. (There are also some blue-screen shots that don't look very good.)

All in all, I really liked this movie. I think it has some minor flaws, and I didn't like it as much as, for example, 'The Sea Hawk' and 'The Maltese Falcon'. But, as I've said before, I liked both the story and the actors, so I have given this one eight points. I also liked the music (by Malcolm Arnold).

If you like this one you might also try 'White Hunter Black Heart'. It stars Clint Eastwood as John Huston (although he's called 'John Wilson'). I liked it, too, but I liked 'The Roots of Heaven' better. And if you also find the character Waitari interesting, try 'Queimada'. It has a similar character and he's more central to the story. It's not as unknown as 'The Roots of Heaven', but still rather unknown, which is a mystery to me. It stars Brando, has music by Morricone, is directed by Gillo Pontecorvo (of 'La Battaglia di Algeri' fame), and, most importantly, its story is extremely interesting in my opinion.

"I've been waiting all my life for somebody to spit on me."

[utgard14 · 4/10 · 7 September 2014]

Errol Flynn's penultimate film is this overlong snoozer, directed by John Huston, about a man trying to stamp out elephant hunting in Africa. Despite being top-billed, Flynn isn't the lead. That role goes to Trevor Howard. The movie starts with Howard speechifying and there are many more speeches to come, from him and others. The script is little more than a series of speeches. Before you say "so what," keep in mind this movie is two hours long.

The production was troubled, to put it politely. The reasons are many and other reviewers have covered them well. The cast looks impressive on paper but most of the name stars have small roles or cameos. Orson Welles is enjoyably hammy in that way he was so good at being. Errol Flynn looks absolutely horrible. I'm sure it will come as no surprise to anyone to discover he was inebriated constantly during filming. He would die the year after this was made. Juliette Greco, Darryl Zanuck's girlfriend at the time, is given the female lead role. Watching her, it's not surprising she didn't become a big star. She, too, is a victim of the horrible script. At one point her character goes on about how many men she has had to sleep with (or been raped by). What could have been an emotional, powerful scene in the hands of a better writer and actress is turned into a risible monologue ("The only thing really sticks in my memory is brass buckles of der belts."). Well-meaning but too long, too dull, and too pompous. The only positive is the location shooting, which is nice. One final note: during the filming of this movie about protecting elephants from poachers, John Huston went big-game hunting. I don't know whether to laugh or cry at that but I guess it goes to show Hollywood has been full of hypocrites since way back.

much much better than its rep

[loydmooney-1 · 10/10 · 18 June 2006]

Actually this is one of my favorite neglected films, Huston having one more of the same ilk, Kremlin Letter. Just why it and the other film have fallen so low is part of the usual blindness of the unwashed masses, often the best taking time to sift out the flashy from the good. There are very many interesting moments in this one, a lively cast, great theme, all the way from Trevor Howard to Juliette Greco. Everything is overdone in it and it makes for pretty good watching. The worst thing about it in fact is its astonishing unavailability. There has never been a film quite like it, and coming from Huston, well, it borders on the criminal that it is almost impossible to find. We can only hope that all its negatives are not also lost.

To call it a masterpiece is to trivialize it

[jromanbaker · 10/10 · 25 April 2021]

I am not a fan of John Huston, and I am not surprised he did not like it. Many have given away the plot, but it is, as some have observed, way before its time. I cannot simplify it by saying it is just about the legal slaughter of elephants, hunting and extinction. It is that, but it also shows how we human animals are the worst of all, and humanity itself is put on trial in this film. Find it if you can and treasure it and ask if humanity has made a great leap forward or are we in terminal decline? As for the cast, Trevor Howard is excellent in arguably his finest role. Juliette Greco only has to say a few words and she shines far greater than many other supposedly great French actors. Errol Flynn is equal to both of them, raw in his truth about those around him, and in his humanity. I for one forget his swashbuckling image. Quite simply a film that depicts we are as human animals made up of both good and evil, and I asked while watching it if evil would in the end triumph, and the roots of heaven, which is the earth itself would ultimately be destroyed. A truly necessary film shamefully hard to find.

Elephants can remember

[dbdumonteil · 18 January 2008]

Based on a novel by Romain Gary (who was Jean Seberg's husband ;she was the star of one of his obscure works "Les Oiseaux Vont Mourir Au Pérou" ),"Roots of Heaven " is generally dismissed ,even by Huston's buffs.And nevertheless....

It was an ecological movie,at a time it was not trendy :as Nicholas Ray ,at about the same time,was filming "wind across the everglades" ,a heartfelt plea for the defense of Florida 's wildlife,Huston did the same for the elephants ,victims of the poachers .THe odd couple,who is one of Huston's recurrent features is present:Morel ,who is championing the elephants cause ,is joined by a prostitute (played by glorious actress/chanteuse Juliette Greco).

"Roots of Heaven" was a definitive improvement on "the Barbarian and the Geisha " and paved a reliable way to works to come such as "the unforgiven" , "the misfits" and the highly superior "Freud" and "Night of the Iguana" .This is an overlong movie,but even if it cannot be ranked among the director's best ,it's worth at least a watch .

Roots of Heaven: A muddled Script?

[elsaesser3 · 9/10 · 7 May 2002]

Have lately been reading Zolotow's Book about Billy Wilder wherein he relates the following: Wilder encountered by chance Romain Cary in John Huston's office and told him(in so many words) that he didn't think the shooting script for "Roots," was very good. Naturally, Cary was less than thrilled with this remark and riposted with several remarks of his own that were probably less than well thought out. I've always been a fan of Wilder and respected(nay, admired)most of his work; obviously feel the same about Huston and "Roots," so how does one "digest," all this,ie what's the point? No doubt, there's some problems with the script. It does have a on site improvised feel to it-when we see Errol Flynn on screen, the dysfunction's palpable-which shouldn't be all that much of a bad thing. After all, Wilder himself usually started production with most of the script still in his head, so why the problem. Probably because "Roots," is about people searching for something-if the title hadn't been retired with Robert Ruark's novel and film,also about African themes-Something of Value. Morell, one of the few in the film who's entirely clear about what's real and valuable in this life, knows that it's the animals that need protecting and conserving and sometimes not the people. Muddled perhaps? Probably, but clearly at odds with 50's era sentiment. Still, after all this time(64 maybe, since I first saw it NBC's Saturday Night at the Movies)the visual ambience holds up admirably as does Malcolm Arnold's score-as transcendent as anything he's ever written for film. I wish it were available on VHS.