Duello nella giungla

"Destiny seems to insist on throwing us together," a persistent and cocky Dana Andrews tells his lovely and reluctant STATE FAIR, MADISON AVENUE and HOT RODS TO HELL three-decade co-star in their second feature, DUEL IN THE JUNGLE...

An adventure where Andrews seems more a reluctant gentlemen the likes of Cary Grant or David Niven than an intrepid action star: a proverbial kite in an ongoing breeze instead of a determined salmon moving upstream...

With a touch of character-actor about him, Andrews often tried very hard to stretch beyond the limited leading man persona, even when he played the leading man, so the part as a New York insurance investigator in London, England, about to catch a plane stateside but being called back at the last minute, fits like brand new expensive and shiny gloves. His voice is a tad higher-pitched, as if sped-up while delivering witty and sophisticated one-liners: imagine if his LAURA co-star Clifton Webb were his dialect coach and there you have it...

A British-produced b-movie programmer, DUEL IN THE JUNGLE has three acts in three different locations: first England; then a ship to Africa during a heavy storm; then settling down (albeit far too long) in Africa itself: Making the best scenes in transit or in-between as Dana sticks to Crain, the wife of a missing eccentric millionaire, to find out if he's really dead; at which point her phantom mother-in-law would collect the insurance...

One of several red-herrings to sift through: But his primary target (to whom Dana's instantly attracted, for good reason) is Jeanne Crain as naïve newlywed, Marian. Despite wearing far too much makeup, Crain's as pretty as the prettiest picture - sophisticated, classy, down-to-earth and, ducking away from Dana's strategic advances, the complete opposite of her smitten STATE FAIR lass was to Dana's cocky newspaperman...

But in this hat-tipping, movable feast as our two attractive Americans converse like polite tea-toddlers, there's a pulpy touch of intrigue with attempts at Hitchcock style suspense with a dash of Hemingway machismo, for the villain...

And if DUEL had stuck longer in England or at sea it would have flowed much better...

Within the titular African JUNGLE are random stock footage of wildlife as the actors seem all too studio-safe in front of superimposed backdrops (also a Hitchcock thing): Here's where our hero and heroine bond, and just enough for the British con artist to show his true, lethal colors...

Plus he's got the higher ground on his ground, making Dana finally have to trade in his charming sophistication for a little of that WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS strength and agility.

For its first half, the tone is fairly light-hearted as its American hero ambles about London (complete with a fleeting appearance by Paul Carpenter who would soon make a career out of starring in this sort of nonsense) before taking a slow boat to Northern Rhodesia; which is where the money has really been spent, and the matte work largely ends and the location work starts.

Ripe with saturated Technicolor, some of the jungle photography is magnificent; although you can usually see throughout where the studio ends and the second unit begins.

Interesting adventure in which Dana Andrews plays an insurance investigator who goes to Africa to check out the death by drowning of a man ( David Farrar ) who had a million dollar insurance policy. Also looking for info regarding the allegedly dead man is his wife, Jeanne Crain. Pretty fast paced drama, the last portion of the film set in the African jungle. Dana Andrews & Jeanne Crain were one of the great film pairings. Besides this film, they were also in State Fair, Madison Avenue, and Hot Rods to Hell. I had seen this film as a kid & it had kept me on the edge of my seat. It doesn't get much play these days--but I did find a DVD thru a collector. Seeing the film again was a thrill.

Erwin Hillier's superb photography in Southern Africa, though not always successfully blended with stock footage, is the main asset of this production, one of several of its kind that were so popular in the Fifties, as well as on their British TV airings a decade later. Jeanne Crain and Dana Andrews are reunited a long way from State Fair, the latter an insurance investigator with an apparent freedom to go anywhere in the world at a moment's notice and who turns out to be a crack shot of Olympic standard, as of course one would. Ms Crain shows the ability of leading ladies of the era in this kind of movie to take whatever the jungle can throw at her without a mark on her clothing or a hair out of place, to say nothing of costume changes every five minutes or so. David Farrar plays the type of heel you certainly wouldn't want to go into the jungle with, though it's not easy to see why such an intelligent and resourceful man would go to the risks he does. The hero would now probably be up on a charge of stalking for the way he pursues Ms Crain in the first half, but it was Romance back then. Despite or even because of all the inconsistencies and incongruities I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I would have never net a dime that this film, adventure flick, was directed by an American film maker, especially George Marshall; I woud have bet on Terence Young or even Jack Lee Thompson. I know, there is Dana Andrews here, because it is a co production, but the US touch is not that obvious. It remains however very entertaining and rather light hearted. I saw it a long time ago and totally forgot it. Not bad but far from being the best from this director who seemed to work in a so frantic pace, so many movies in his filmography confirm it. Good time waster taking place in Dark Africa, with some elements of thriller.