Adventure n. 1 an unusual, exciting, and daring experience. 2 excitement arising from danger or risk.
While you could argue that Alice Parker's (Rhonda Fleming) initial journey to the Amazon trading outpost to reach her fiance meets the above requirements for an adventure, that part of her story isn't shown on screen. In fact, the only real adventure here takes place in the final twenty-five minutes. But what a glorious twenty-five minutes! A rope bridge over a raging river, dense jungle foliage with all the layering you could dream of, windswept ruins, hostile natives shooting flaming arrows at the camera: it's exactly what I wanted when I first heard about Jivaro.
The preceding hour-and-a-bit, quite frankly, isn't what was advertised. In fact, it's dramatically quite anaemic. The superbly underplayed romance between Alice and Rio (Fernando Lamas) would be perfect as a secondary plot element if the main story-her quest to find her fiance-had any weight. But it rarely does. And the conflict, provided by lascivious prospector Brian Keith, peaks during a bruising fist-fight but then gets swept up in the final expedition and promptly loses its steam.
As with several of these Golden Age 3-D films, I had to watch Jivaro twice, the first time for what it wasn't, the second time for what it was. On second viewing, I surrendered to the leisurely pace and found I could luxuriate in the sumptuous stereography, colourful production, fine acting, and the imaginative evocation of this Amazon setting on the studio backlot. You could say I jived with Jivaro and became a fan. Plus, I just love the 1950's Technicolor feel.
The 3-D is wonderful throughout. You're always conscious of it but never distracted by it, apart from the flying arrows and such near the end. It reminded me of the intuitive, naturalistic 3-D in Miss Sadie Thompson, which was strong without being ostentatious. The layering of dripping water in Alice's room when the rainstorm hits is one of my favourite effects: it's gritty and dream-like at the same time, and absolutely puts you inside the room with her. The sheeting rain outside is also great, as is the smoke in the saloon. There are several instances of characters jumping into the frame from negative space-remember Igor in House of Wax-and they work every time.
The film fulfils its 3-D action-adventure potential and then some as it reaches the finale, first with the rope bridge sequence and then, one of my favourites of any Golden Age 3-D blu-ray, the Valley of the Winds sequence. It's so exotic and striking and dangerous-looking, it kicks the film up several gears. Combined with the sound effects and some clever stereo touches-raging water, a swaying corpse, the positioning of the actors-it's transportive in all the ways I want a movie adventure to be.
