Duelo na Selva

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.

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.

I am wondering if there was product placement,because I would swear that the native boatmen were singing "I'm with the Abbey National".The Abbey being a big building society.David Farrer as the villain easily steals the acting honours.At the end there is a credit for Elstree Studios over a photo of the studio.So I presume it was they who were responsible for the truly awful process photography.

When I saw the listing on Britain's Talking Pictures TV channel, I predicted that it would include travelogue footage, back projection and a woman remaining glamorous despite the privations of the outback.

So it proved. Dana Andrews plays an insurance investigator suspicious of David Farrar's reported death that will cost his company $2 million ($19 million in 2019). From London he travels to Africa, where he proves a rugged, outdoors type, adeptness with a duelling pistol being one of his skills.

Along the way he shows a great deal of interest in Jeanne Crain, the fiancée of the missing man; in today's politically-correct environment it would be seen as harassment. On arrival in Rhodesia, Crain is escorted by a group of natives to where her fiancé is hiding out. (I did wonder how "politically correct" this would have been in 1950s' Rhodesia?) Back in London she's a personal assistant but seems to adapt to outdoor rigours very easily. Happily when she's reunited with Farrar in a remote native village, she has access to half-a-dozen highly-fashionable outfits, including an evening dress. Andrews also benefits from several changes of clothes, though one might guess that these were loaned to him by Farrar.

The film ends with a chase down the river, ending with Crain falling into the river and getting soaked. A few minutes later, her hair has recovered its elegance and her smart yellow dress (with petticoat underneath) still looks good.

Several well-know actors have minor roles, including Wilfred Hyde White (as charming as ever), Walter Gotell and Paul Carpenter, on his way to starring in B (or C) pictures.

A very average film, then, though the scenes shot on location are better than usual for the period. Almost inevitably, there are incidents (several) with snakes, a lion v tiger fight and a cute monkey.

Dana Andrews stars in this B-grade jungle adventure as an insurance investigator who teams up with the widow (Crain) of a diamond merchant (Farrar) who has apparently drowned after falling from a boat. Cautioned by native guide Vincent (Mataka) that his presence won't be welcome when they reach the village, Andrews persists in his doggedness to uncover the truth about Farrar's disappearance, and in his attempts to seduce the now nubile widow.

Assistant director Tony Kelly died making this picture, so it's of some comfort to know that it isn't a bad little pot-boiler, building some reasonable tension and punctuated with occasional light humour (the scene in which the chimp empties their luggage from the jeep is worth a chuckle). George Montgomery's look-a-like brother Dana Andrews is sturdy without being marvellous, and Farrar plays the obnoxious British git with aplomb.

Superimposing the actors over the white-water rapids backdrop, or in a confrontation with a menacing lion often looks clumsy, but this B-picture isn't staking any grand claims, just mild entertainment for afternoon channel-surfing.