Wenn die Marabunta droht

"The Naked Jungle" is the story of a wealthy owner of a big coffee plantation in Brazil's jungle, menaced by an army of warrior ants on the move covering several square miles of ground and eating everything on their way (the Marabunta). The man's unknown mail-ordered wife has just arrived too but something in her past annoys him and a conflict between them is taking place when the ants arrive.

The picture was really original back in 1954 and is very entertaining too. This was probably Byron Haskin's best work as a director with an uneven carrier that included also "I Walk Alone", 1948, and "The War of the Worlds", 1953. The Special effects of Naked Jungle are really good for its time and the fine performances of Charlton Heston and Eleanor Parker as the main couple surely helped to raise the final product. Heston went on to full stardom and Parker continued to keep up her interesting carrier (she had been in some good movies before as "Scaramouche", 1952, and "Detective Story", 1951, and went to good ones too like "The Man with the Golden Arm", 1955). You will also find a good color photography and well designed settings.

A very amusing and enjoyable film with sort of a "B" structure but a real "A" outcome.

THE NAKED JUNGLE is based on Carl Stephenson's story "Leiningen Vs The Ants." There was at least one excellent radio adaptation in which William Conrad (who has a supporting role in this film) played Leiningen. The first half of this screen adaptation is pretty ordinary, centering around the romantic problems of Heston and his mail order bride Ms. Parker. When the ants arrive, this film really takes off. One scene where the ants devour a drunk down to his bones must of looked pretty shocking in 1954.

This film was reviewed in a 1954 issue of The American Museum of Natural History magazine, where the reviewer, an entomologist, stated that while single ant colonies do migrate, and can wreck havoc, migrations of multiple colonies, as in this film, do not occur in real life. Phew! Thats good to know!

George Pal was the ideal producer for a melodrama set in the South American jungles, wherein 20 miles of soldier ants overtake the villages and plantations. Also a perfect fit, Charlton Heston is right at home playing the stubborn, consistently-irritated coffee plantation owner who takes on the ants--and his mail-order bride, a New Orleans widow with a temper of her own! Colorful nonsense has some sloppy editing and dubbing, but plenty of florid dramatics and a tense final reel. As the "proxy bride", Eleanor Parker uses her cool-fire beauty and glinting eyes to good effect; her character (as written) is thinly-conceived, yet Parker's solid acting helps fill in the blanks and we understand a great deal more about this perplexing woman simply from the performance alone. Heston looks good with Parker on-screen, though happy, hairy-chested government official William Conrad looks like he might want to scoop Eleanor up at any moment (and he's so congenial, she may not mind!). The film might have benefited from a longer running-time (this scenario seems condensed, though not distilled), and as a result the love story is rushed along, yet it's a fast-paced, atmospheric, faux-exotic piece of Hollywood escapism, and quite enjoyable. *** from ****

The movie The Naked Jungle was magnificent!! It was extremely

enthralling!! The title "Leiningen versus the ants" was the original story!! It was first broadcast on radio probably in the 1940's maybe even earlier!! The radio show was even better than the movie if that is possible!! The suspense, the intrigue, you bit your nails down to your knuckles!! The radio show was fabulous!! That's why they re-broadcast it over and over again every year or every two years. I listened to it many times!! The movie of course gives a different perspective!! You can actually see The RED ARMY ANTS, or RED ANTS, or ARMY ANTS frighteningly live which of course you couldn't do on radio!! These ants do exist and they are dangerous!! But also let us not forget that this movie is a great love story!! Here we have Charlton Heston, a real hunk!! A strapping six foot four very handsome, very physical male!! Then we have his love interest, Eleanor Parker a ravishing, redheaded beauty, with a fantastic body and figure!! A man and a woman in their prime eventually attracted to each other and falling in love at the end!! What more can you ask for in a movie! RED ANTS and A RAVISHING RED HEAD. That's why this was a great movie in it's time and still is today in my opinion!!

This fine drama is as much about unhappy newlyweds as it is about savage soldier ants that threaten a South American plantation. The killer ants cover a wide area, sweep everything before them and naturally are headed straight for Leiningen's cocoa plantation. The dislike between bride and groom nearly upstages the approaching army of ants. Eleanor Parker and Charlton Heston make a handsome couple but she seems to be everything he is not. Parker is confident, poised and self-assured while Heston is insecure, inadequate and out of his depth in her company. Perhaps this explains why he spends so much time trying to diminish her. The film leans heavily on the verbal sparring between Parker and Heston while building tension for the showdown with Marabunta. William Conrad is good in an early role as a jungle commissioner.