Massacre pour un fauve

¨Rampage¨ is an entertaining mixture of moving story , sunny adventure and loving drama about some wild-animal trappers . A team of professionals who holds each other to high standards in their job have a common objective , the animal trapping in . As German menagerie hires big game trapper , a zoo-suppling wild animals called Harry Stanton (sober Robert Mitchum) and renowned big game hunter Otto Abbot (sad-looking Jack Hawins) to travel to Malaysia to capture wildlife for the zoo , but the main object of the safari is to catch a special piece . As they are also tasked with capturing a very particular animal , a specie known as the Enchantress , a half tiger , half leopard that boasts the movie but when appears , it's rather a disenchantment , as she proves to be a simple leopard with her back dyed pink . Accompanying them is Abbot's mistress , gorgeous Anna (Elsa Martinelli) , an orphan who Otto adopted long time ago . Harry goes for her ; then , Anna falls in love for him . They fly into the jungles of Malaysia, an area that Abbot knows well having hunted there many times before , but it's Stanton who arranges to get the local tribal leader's cooperation and being helped by a native scout (Sabu) . Later on , it occurs thrilling scenes of the tigers hunt , when two of the animals are caught in nets at the same time . Then , there take places the old eternal triangle .

This jungle adventure yarn is full of spectacular scenes , thrills , an usual triangular drama and results to be quite entertaining , though mediocre with a lousy sense of pace and some holes in the screenplay . Hunting scenes through the footage of the capture of wildlife is made by stock-shots in that the risk of the hunters is none at all , as the Rhino hunt is filmed by transparency . Filmmaker Phil Karlson shot this tawdry jungle romance and Mitchum and Hawkins star in it , which should guarantee a high quality excitement and entertainment , but doesn't . This stirring picture effortlessly switching between love story and hunting scenes . All sounds a mite too familiar , it is because the picture is merely a blending from previous films such as ¨Red Dust¨ (1932) by Victor Fleming , ¨The Macomber Affair¨ (1947) by Zoltan Korda , ¨Mogambo¨ (1953) by John Ford and the best , ¨Hatari¨ (1962) , by Howard Hawks . This is a moving though average adventure movie in which a trapper and a white hunter go after a wild animal , a cross between a tiger and a leopard . For more exciting are the scenes of the leopard hunt on a modern building and over the attic . Foot-tapping and lively soundtrack by the classic Elmer Bernstein and glamorous color photograph by cameraman Harold Lipstein , though filmed in Hawai ; all contribute towards compensating for the flaws and gaps in the plot .

The motion picture was regularly directed by Phil Karlson . There were no half measures in this filmmaker . He would make adventure movies or violent and noir films . As he directed Western as ¨Gunman's walk¨ , ¨They rode west¨, ¨Texas rangers, ¨Iroquois trail¨ and Gansters genre or Noir films as ¨Phoenix city story¨ , ¨Kansas City confidential¨ and ¨Scarface mob¨ . Karlson was never able to capitalize on them and raise himself out of the B-picture mire , and he was stuck making things like ¨The Young Doctors¨ (1961), a Elvis Presley vehicle as ¨Kid Galahad¨ (1962) and a pair of failures Matt Helm films with Dean Martin such as ¨The silencers¨ , until he hit it big with Walking tall . Flops alternated with hits through his career , though Karlson's direction was more than successful in ¨ Walking tall¨ (1973) with invaluable help of Joe Don Baker , this was his biggest commercial success and which , since he owned a large part of the picture, made him rich . ¨Rampage¨ rating : 5,5/10 passable and acceptable ; Robert Mitchum fans will enjoy his idol .

British big game hunter Otto Abbot (Jack Hawkins) and American trapper Harry Stanton (Robert Mitchum) have been hired to hunt for big cats including a legendary one known as the Enchantress. Anna is Otto's 'general staff'. The trio travels to the jungle of post-British Malaya.

The most compelling is hunting the animals. The jungle is not the deepest and darkest jungle. It's the wilds of Hawaii. It's beautiful but it doesn't look dangerous. The movie is generally flat for it. Harry is a static character. He has one mode. There is no romantic triangle possible and yet the movie forces one. Otto has a semi-interesting relationship with Anna. A better script would have them deal with their relationship. That's the drama in this story. This should really be a movie about their companionship with Harry as the outside observer. The movie does have some good looking cats.

Big game hunt for a trophy wife with Robert Mitchum and Elsa Martinelli

This adventure film by Phil Karlson (1908-1982) is also known in German-speaking countries as "IM BANNE DER ROTEN TIGERIN / Under the Spell of the Red Tigress". The beautifully photographed images come from Harold Lipstein. Elmer Bernstein contributes the music. The Warner Brothers film studio spared no effort.

The famous Wilhelma Zoo from Stuttgart in West Germany (but was filmed in the San Diego Zoo!) commissions an animal catcher (Robert Mitchum, 1917-1997) to catch two tigers and a rare big cat called "The Queen" in the jungle of Malaysia. There is supposed to be support from a notorious big game hunter (Jack Hawkins, 1910-1973), who is in a relationship with a much younger woman (Elsa Martinelli). Even before they go to Malaysia, a bitter fight breaks out between these two alpha men over the beautiful woman, who of course goes on the expedition...

Elsa Martinelli (1935-2017) looks beautiful in this film and is decked out in the most elegant costumes. Nevertheless, the way in which she is portrayed here as a woman trained by men is rather unpleasant. The viewer learns, for example, that she met her older partner as a 14-year-old orphan. Creepy! The year before, the Italian actress, who in those years regularly commuted between Hollywood and the Roman Cinecitta, was seen in a film of a similar nature, "Hatari".

In the jungle itself (all exterior shots were shot in Hawaii), the focus is on capturing the animals, but the conflict over the beautiful trophy wife continues to simmer. The great actor Sabu (1924-1963), who is unforgettable for his appearance in "The Thief of Bagdad" (1940), can be seen as a local helper. Here he can be seen in a very unworthy role as a submissive servant of the two "master men", who even offers his own wife (Cely Carillo) as a lover to the unwomanly Robert Mitchum. You can feel the colonialist look there!

In addition to the questionable gender image, the animal scenes are certainly no longer to everyone's taste. It's all excellently staged and photographed, but capturing animals for zoos (as a West German company from the idyllic Alfeld an der Leine did in particular in those years) was simply a ruthless business.

Incidentally, the enchanting Hercules star Sylva Koscina (alongside Steve Reeves in the first two Hercules films) as a stewardess and the German-born Stefan Schnabel (1912-1999) as the chief of the Sakai can also be seen in smaller roles.

At some point the ordered animals (the queen turns out to be a leopard painted red!) will be captured and will be ceremoniously handed over to the zoo in beautiful Stuttgart. But now the eponymous "killing spree" (in the original English the film is called RAMPAGE) finally occurs: one of the two alpha males completely freaks out and there is a fatal showdown with Leopard.

Fortunately, this film has now fallen out of time. The sexist, racist and animal cruel undertones are very noticeable these days. Nevertheless, the film is excellently directed in its own way. And men's stalking behavior is not glorified either. Still acceptable as an adventure film with the drawbacks mentioned.

I watched the film because of the cast. I am a fan of Mitchum, Martinelli, and Hawkins, All of them were at their best physical condition when they made the film, making the film worthwhile if you were a fan of any of the three. Silvia Koscina, the Yugoslavian actress, has a small role as a stewardess during a business class flight sequence. Interestingly, the noted Italian film director Mauro Bolognini had chosen both Martinelli and Koscina to act in his movies by a coincidence. .The film Rampage was ordinary, if not dumb with a story that has a very predictable ending,

Why is the film stupid? "The Enchantress" in the film is a leopard that apparently attracts Asian tigers in the story. The fact is a leopard is smaller than a grown tiger and they don't like each other and have different habitats. The film and the story suggest something else.

Finally to have a German actor Stefan Schnabel play an Asian village chief was poor casting.

"Rampage", made in 1963, starred Robert Mitchum, Elsa Martinelli, and Jack Hawkins. This film, set in the jungles of Malasia, had the two professionals, Hawkins an animal hunter, and Mitchum, a trapper, hired by a zoo in Germany to capture a rare species of jungle cat and bring the animal back alive for a major exhibition. Mitchum sees the chance to do as the zoo wishes, while Hawkins only desires the killing of the animal for the newest addition to his collection of kills and trophies. Adding to the mixture is Hawkins' mistress, played by Elsa Martinelli. She goes on the hunt as well, and finally decides to leave Hawkins, tiring of his desire to only kill.

The hunt in Malasia goes well, the animal is captured, but Hawkins' jealousy gives vent to revenge on the two, Mitchum and Martinelli. The film features a stirring music score by Elmer Bernstein, and the scenery in Malasia is breathtaking. Mitchum portrays cool as only he could, and Martinelli and Hawkins add a style to the film. Sadly, not on VHS or DVD yet.