No Caminho dos Elefantes

Elizabeth Taylor's role in Elephant Walk reminds me of her role in Giant. She's married to a very powerful man, but she can't seem to quell her rambunctious nature, often starting fights and dishing out what she takes. So, if you liked Giant, try this one, and vice versa.

In Elephant Walk, Liz is wooed and wed by the wealthy Peter Finch, but when he takes her into his world (much like in Giant), she doesn't quite fit in. She moves to the tropical tea plantation in Ceylon, but the cultural and lifestyle changes are difficult. And when hunky Dana Andrews enters the picture, she just might find a distraction from her new surroundings. . .

With Liz and Dana, there's lots of eye candy in this movie. A few strong-willed speeches and some romantic scenes don't make it the most memorable film to come out of the 50s, but it's worth it if you like good-looking people up on the screen.

A beautiful shopgirl in London is swept off her feet by a millionaire tea plantation owner and soon finds herself married and living with him at his villa in British Ceylon. Although based upon the book by Robert Standish, this initial set-up is highly reminiscent of Hitchock's "Rebecca", with leading lady Elizabeth Taylor clashing with the imposing chief of staff at the mansion and (almost immediately) her own husband, who is still under the thumb of his deceased-but-dominant father. Taylor, a last-minute substitute for an ailing Vivien Leigh, looks creamy-smooth in her high fashion wardrobe, and her performance is quite strong; however, once husband Peter Finch starts drinking heavily and barking orders at her, one might think her dedication to him rather masochistic (this feeling hampers the ending as well). Still, the film offers a heady lot for soap buffs: romantic drama, a bit of travelogue, interpretive dance, an elephant stampede, and a perfectly-timed outbreak of cholera! **1/2 from ****

Agreeable romance/adventure film in which a British gorgeous woman marries a wealthy colonial owner and go to live in his huge plantation but it happens to be on the path where elephants roam. This romantic adventure movie in soap opera style was lavishly produced by Paramount Pictures with all-star-cast , glimmer cinematography and luxurious scenarios . As the young bride named Ruth Wiley (Elizabeth Taylor) of a rich planter (Peter Finch) finds herself the only white woman at Elephant Walk tea plantation, British Ceylon . In the plantation Dick Carver (Dana Andrews), works as a right-hand man and she finds certain protection , thanks to Dick the tough foreman , then a mutual attraction emerges each other , soon makes him indispensable . The jungle , of course, is endangered by some kind of wild life and some dangerous elephants , for this reason she finds herself in a strange atmosphere . Furthermore , a cholera epidemic outbursts , followed by elephants destroying the plantation . There takes places a searing story of sudden love and sudden death in the hot green hell of the Ceylon jungle , being threatened by the hovering , ominous appearance of the hostile elephants . One man and several elephants claimed the land , two men claimed the woman who lived there .

This exciting film has emotion , romance , intrigue , exotic landscapes , colonial settings and results to be pretty entertaining . Ceylon's balmy jungles provide the backstage for a triangular torrid love between Elizabeth Taylor , Peter Finch and Dana Andrews , in this post-prime William Dieterle effort . Intelligent and engaging script which uses intriguing situations to give us an acceptable movie in a high sense and intimate sensitivity and that kept me entertained for the almost 100 minutes of duration . ¨Elephant walk¨ is an enjoyable adventure movie , a menace melodrama with a wide view of a huge tropical bungalow , exotic scenarios with rage excessively colorful , big bull elephants , an amazing mansion , a love story , drama and many other things . The movie is very persuasively made , usually rise to a crescendo of emotion and had at the time a remarkable success. Entertaining romance/adventure is visually striking with a spectacular final . I liked everyone in the excellent cast, and the male and female actors , especially Elizabeth Taylor , were all very attractive . The hit of the show is undoubtedly for the fetching and attractive Elizabeth Taylor who gives one of her best screen acting . Elizabeth wears lush gowns splendidly designed by expert costume designer Edith Head . Although Vivien Leigh was originally cast, but her mental illness begun affecting things during filming, and so she was replaced by Elizabeth Taylor ; many long shots and shots from behind are still of Leigh . Furthermore, a thrilling as well as breathtaking climax at the mansion in which the protagonist are besieged by a herd of elephants . This picture bears remarkable resemblance to ¨Escape to Burma¨ (1954) by Allan Dwan that contains a similar jungle scenario (Sri Lanka) , elephants and known actors as Barbara Stanwyck , Robert Ryan and David Farrar . It also has several points in common with ¨The naked jungle¨ by Byron Haskin regarding a woman , Eleanor Parker , who marries a planter , Charlton Heston , living in jungle until a final tragedy takes place . ¨Elephant walk¨ packs a colorful cinematography print in Technicolor 1.37:1 and composed for Widescreen presentation, by Loyal Griggs considered to be one of the best cameramen of the 40s and 50s . Sensitive as well as evocative musical score by the classic Franz Waxman .

This adventure yarn from the golden age of Hollywood was well directed by William Dieterle as a classic example of drama/romance/adventure of the fifties . Dieterle is a German director who was in Hollywood by 1930s and directing dramas (Scarlet down, Fog over Frisco, Fashions) , costumer (Hunchback of Notre Dame,Kismet,Omar Khayyan) and biopics (Life of Emile Zola, Dr Ehrlich, Juarez, Madame Curie, Reuter) that were a revelation at the box-office. Rating : 6,5/10 , better than average . Well worth watching . The picture will appeal to Elizabeth Taylor fans .

ELEPHANT WALK may not be the acme of literature or of film, but it is great entertainment in the quasi-melodramatic mode. It is the story of love, both genuine and illicit, as well as overweening ambition, devotion, and the arrogance of personal tyranny. A previous reviewer, John Mankin, questions why the central focus of the film, the mansion called Elephant Walk, should have been built by the former owner, the "governor" the late Tom Wiley, right across the elephants' traditional path to the major source of water, the river. To miss this point is to essentially miss the point of the whole center of the film: the hubris of man. That his son, played by Peter Finch, should become enthralled by the super image and enigma of his revered father, is not unexpected, since the son was without a mother growing up in a foreign jungle with only his father and his father's rowdy 'boys' club' as his role models. The point of the father was that he was a self-made man who would tame nature to his liking, and that liking was not just a tea plantation upon the lands the elephants once dominated, but also that he would dominate even the large bull elephant that led the herd, and thus he would dominate his son and all around him, and so we join the tale after the elephants have been denied the crucial dry season access to their pathway to water. Who could know that this dry season would last so long and what the elephants would do in desperation to get water? This is the nexus of the film: what will animals do to get water; what will humans do to get power or love? Ceylon, today's Sri Lanka, is the huge island off the coast of India where the plantation is located and one quickly learns that it is the real scenery of the story, not just the expenses of Miss Taylor. Were it not for this exotic location (much of the film was shot in Ceylon), and the magnificent "bungalow" this would have been just another potboiler. One must recognize the atmosphere created here as integral to the time and place, as it illuminates the latter day wealth and power attained by the English immigrant 'conquerors' that were part and parcel of the British raj. It is only such wealth gained by the use of virtual slave labor that one could build so magnificent a residence of ebony, teak, and marble. Not to be overlooked are the wonderfully carved Jalees (grille work window and doorway borders) evidently specified by art directors J. McMillan Johnson and Hal Pereira and obviously made by the cheaper labor on the island. Such craftsmanship reveals the careful attention to detail that these men sought.

For those immune to the blandishments of time, place, and architecture, there is always the allure of Miss Taylor, as she marries a man she doesn't really know and is tacitly wooed by a another man, against the background described, and under the overarching tyranny of the legacy of a man deceased. As I said, it is not great literature nor even great film, but it is great spectacle long before that term was debased by the special effects extravaganzas of today.

This is one of those films made to be seen on the giant screen of an outdoor drive-in, not on the home TV, so arrange the largest screen to see it on to fully appreciate its fine camera-work and scope.

Although not nearly as ludicrous, this could be seen as Paramount's companion piece to its 'Naked Jungle' from the same year and instead of hordes of killer ants we have herds of marauding pachyderms. The presence of William Dieterle in the director's chair is a definite plus.

Distinct echoes here of 'Rebecca' with Peter Finch and Elizabeth Taylor as Maxim and Mrs. De Winter and Abraham Sofaer as Mrs. Danvers. Ironic indeed that Mr. Finch was Laurence Olivier's protegé as Olivier was prevented by prior commitments from appearing in this. Miss Taylor was replacing the indisposed Vivien Leigh whose interest in Mr. Finch was more than purely professional.

The film itself boasts the customarily splendid Paramount production values, is beautifully shot by Loyal Griggs with a suitably dramatic score by Franz Waxman. Mr. Finch glowers magnificently, Miss Taylor at twenty-two is in the full bloom of her beauty and the always excellent Dana Andrews has a thankless role as 'the other man'. Following his 'greylisting' William Dieterle was to find worthwhile directorial assignments increasingly elusive but he does his very best here with the material at his disposal.

People see films in surprisingly different ways and an earlier reviewer has suggested that the stampeding elephants represent 'resistance to British colonialism.' Yes, well.....