La selva dei dannati

Underseen Bunuel movie starring Simone Signoret and Michel Piccoli, among others. These two, playing a prostitute and a priest respectively, are joined by Charles Vanel, Georges Marchal and Michele Girardon as a group of people in South America trying to escape an oppressive government. Marchal and Vanel, both diamond miners, are two men taken as revolutionaries by those in charge. The first half of the movie is about their getting into trouble, and their attempt to find a way out of the country. The second, and more interesting half takes place in the jungle, where the group gets stranded during their escape attempt. Many of Bunuel's pet themes come up, and there's a lot of his signature visual trademarks. The most potent image is that of a python Marchal kills with a machete, thrown down to the ground while they try to start the fire. Piccoli looks over at it and its corpse is writhing with fire ants. It's a pretty good story, very gripping in its latter half. It may not rank alongside Bunuel's best, but it's certainly a worthy film in his canon.

Bunuel doing an adventure movie is fine in my book. Why do people have to be such snobs when it comes to pigeonholing directors? Some of the films Bunuel made during this period, he may have been personally disappointed because he might have rather been making pix with subject matter more of his choosing. Nevertheless the things that Bunuel brings to this movie - the subtle deadpan humor throughout, the irreverent politics, the surreal touches (especially in the last third of the film when our fugitive protagonists are in the jungle) -- make this a gem.

Plus Georges Marchal, Charles Vanel and Michel Piccoli are stupendous. And Signoret is in a class by herself. Not only was she one of the most stunningly gorgeous and sexy actresses in movies anywhere in the world in the 1950s, she was also a great actress and perfect here as the unrepentant, mercenary whore who falls in love. The last jungle sequence has some of the most beautifully surreal images in any film from the decade. The new DVD is highly recommended. A really perfect balance of elements.

Saw the complete film in new york in the 80's. 140 min. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> if you see the cut version they are using on dvd you get a very watered down story. Why does IMDB not list the 140 min. version? Everybody must know that is the official French version!? there is alot more to explain the beginning, the army, the jungle. its way better.

on tv in the 90's on kgo-7 Movie Greats Network appeared a dubbed version called DIAMOND HUNTERS. it said 1978 and ran 88 min.

Probably Bunuel's most straightforward movie. There is very little of the usual strangeness from the director but as usual the characters are more than one dimensional. Michel Picolli as the priest and Signoret , Vanel, the entire cast are excellent with the exception of the deaf daughter who is a little sentimentalized. Still it's a gripping action adventure movie that one wouldn't expect from the master of surrealism.

This is not what we would call 'vintage' Bunuel although it is one of his earlier films and made only a couple of years before Nazarin (1959) which would prove to be the start of the most amazing run of cinema classics, certainly half a dozen of the finest films ever made and quite possibly a dozen. This is more mundane, although always of interest and those little Bunuel trademark signs do creep in. Indeed without wishing to spoil anyone's viewing it does turn out that salvation at the end is at the cost of some 50 lives. It is also interesting to see how the priest is ridiculed throughout and that the seeming good and kind turn out to have interests much closer to their own hearts. It surprises me that after the wondrous El (1953) and hilarious Criminal Life of Archibaldo de la Cruz (1955) Bunuel should decide to make this more straightforward literary adaptation but there were undoubtedly financial restraints and it is well documented that he would rather make a lesser film for someone than make nothing at all. And it is surely this perseverance that would lead to that aforementioned fantastic run of films that would establish him as one of the greatest filmmakers of all time.