This Ernst Hemingway adaptation, one of the better ones, has always flown a bit under the radar. First of two Hemingways with Gregory Peck, it’s less known but far better than his second (SNOWS OF KILIMANJARO/’52, bloated & glossy), holding fairly close to the original short story, THE SHORT HAPPY LIFE OF FRANCIS MACOMBER, about a failing marriage and a safari hunt gone wrong. Peck, playing guide to Robert Preston & Joan Bennett’s miserable couple, was justly pleased with it, doubling as unofficial co-producer and getting Zoltan Korda to direct. Smart move. The hire made all the difference starting with Korda’s strong feel for untamed places, here smoothly matching various location shoots together (only the second-unit went to Africa) in relatively seamless manner, and getting unusually striking, even unpleasant, perfs from everyone. The script is blunt, occasionally sounding like it has yet to leave the page, but Bennett & Preston’s essential bitterness & lack of compatibility, added to her panicked depression once he starts to find his lost macho bearings after initial failure on the hunt (hey!, Hemingway, ya know), remains strikingly raw. Peck gets across how she might be speaking for him, hence half the attraction (looks make up the rest), but elsewise keeps things too close to the vest, missing the edge Trevor Howard might have brought or the mythic quality of a Gary Cooper (Hemingway’s preferred stand-in). With strong work from cinematographer Karl Struss and Miklós Rózsa’s tangy score, the film’s lack of reputation is a puzzle.*
SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY: *An indie from producer Benedict Bogeaus, released by United Artists, it’s possible that film rights complications have kept this from getting proper video distribution.
ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: A more than decent 5'3", Joan Bennet looks positively tiny next to Peck’s 6'3".
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