The greatest movie ever!

Really Surprised!

It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

British made Technicolor flick that really shows off Jeanne Crain's carrot top to advantage. She plays Marian Taylor: personal secretary to London-based diamond merchant Perry Henderson(David Farrar), who has recently taken out a life insurance policy of $2 million on himself, with his elderly mother as beneficiary. American insurance investigator Scott Walters is sent to London to check out why Perry would want such a large policy. There, Scott meets Perry's brother, with an office next door, and Perry's luscious private secretary: Marian. Scott takes an immediate personal interest in Marian, but she tries to dissuade his attempts to engage her. He even comes knocking on her apartment door after disturbing most of the other M. Taylors in the London phone book. Eventually, she informs him that she's engaged to Perry. Scott is also interested in her as a likely source of further information on the whereabouts of Perry, somewhere in Southern Africa. Separately, each takes a flight to Johannesburg. Scott discovers Marian has taken the same ship that Perry disappeared from, so Scott intercepts this ship at a small town, and discovers Marian on it. They both arrive at a small town, where Scott discovers Perry's mother. Meanwhile, Marian has hired some natives to take her on an expedition to a native village in the interior, where she thinks(why?) Perry's mother has gone. After discovering Marian's trip, Scott hires a jeep and driver to follow her. Eventually, he finds her, not pleased at first, but they board a canoe and go up the Zambezi River, portaging around impressive Victoria Falls, until they come to the village. They are shocked to find Perry, instead of his mother, there. Seems he slipped off the ship, made it to shore, and took backroads to this village. His plan was for his mother to collect the insurance money, and 'loan' it to him to finance the search for diamonds off the shore of East Africa(He should have chosen Namibia, on the west coast.) After some time, he would come out of hiding, and head this search. This fraud shocked Marian, who began to favor Scott. She and Scott took a canoe down the Zambezi river after a sneaky attempt to kill Scott failed. Near the head of Victoria Falls, they abandoned the canoe and roamed through the 'jungle', knowing that Perry was close behind in another canoe. Perry found them and began shooting at Scott, until another European showed up, with native support. Perry then ran to his canoe and paddled downstream, toward Victoria Falls, but capsized in the rapids, and was in danger drowning or being swept over the falls. Scott dove in and pulled his limp body to shore, where he recuperated. Presumably, the insurance policy was cancelled, Perry was apprehended for insurance fraud, and Scott and Marian strengthened their romance.The first part of the film is rather slow, emphasizing Scott chasing Marian. Once we get into the African bush, things pick up. We see glimpses of various savanna animals, close by the greenery near the river. We also get a decent look at part of Victoria Falls, although an aerial view would be needed to appreciate its vast horizontal scope. Nice to see real Africans, instead of African Americans dressed up like natives, to experience their chanting and drums in the village and on the trail.Jeanne was the token helpless female of the 'jungle' trek. She adequately served as eye candy, and as a bone of contention between the 2 male stars. It's not the most exciting jungle flick out there, but reasonably interesting. For a more exciting viewing experience, I suggest "Duel in the Sun".

Reading here that an assistant director on this film was killed in the rapids no doubt filming the final action sequence of Duel In The Jungle, makes me wonder was it worth it. This poor man didn't exactly die for the making of Citizen Kane.Duel In The Jungle finds Dana Andrews heading the cast of a British production where he's an insurance investigator sent to Africa to investigate the death of David Farrar, a rich adventurer on whom the company has written a million dollar policy. The company doesn't want to fork over that kind of loot without it's own investigation.Andrews also devotes time to harassing and that's the only way you can describe it, Farrar's fiancé Jeanne Crain. That's all right because Farrar is a nasty villain.The film was shot on location in South Africa and Rhodesia and good location shots were wasted on a rather predictable action/adventure film. It isn't The African Queen or King Solomon's Mines you'll be seeing with Duel In The Jungle.

Dana Andrews plays Scott Walter, an insurance investigator from the States. While in London on business, he's asked to stop by and look into an unusually large life insurance policy written on the life of a diamond magnate. It seems Walters' bosses are worried about issuing a million dollar policy. While there doesn't seem to be a lot for Walter to do, he does have a great time sexually harassing the secretary of the man obtaining the policy during his visit. He is actually very boorish about all this.Walter soon is ready to leave for his next meeting abroad when he finds out the insured man (who he hasn't yet me) was reported dead-- washed overboard and no trace of him. This seems fishy...and when the sexy fiancée (Jeanne Crain) leaves suddenly, he decides to follow as she might lead him to the dead man...if he is, in fact, alive. This results in a twisted trail that leads to a merchant vessel, a safari and, eventually, to see the dead man...quite alive and openly admitting the insurance fraud. Obviously, the man has no intention of allowing Walter out of the African back country alive.This is a bizarre film for Dana Andrews as well as Jeanne Crain. You just don't expect to see these actors in such an international film--which filming in the UK, South Africa and Rhodesia (since renamed Zaire). It's a nice chance to see Africa as it once was...as I have visited some of these same regions since the film was made in the 1950s and they have often changed dramatically. That's progress for you.So is it any good? Well, yes...but the first portion is a bit bad. They really have Andrews acting like a sexual harrasser....which is nothing like his usual nice-guy image. His pursuit of the lady before he realizes there might be insurance fraud is pretty sad--and he is a guy who sure won't take no for an answer, at least until she shows him her engagement ring. From here on, it's actually a grand adventure-- filled with thrills and lots of great footage. Sadly, occasionally the filmmakers resorted to some obvious stock footage...though mostly it was real footage in glorious color. And seeing Victoria Falls...well that was a treat as well as all the animals. Plus, the film certainly is unique and exciting.

When I saw the synopsis of this movie showing on our "oldies" channel, I was intrigued because it spoke of Rhodesia, jungle and coast in the same sentence. I was brought up in Rhodesia and there is certainly no jungle to speak of (just rain forests) and it's a land-locked country. So it seemed like a good idea to watch it and see what it was all about.I guess I was hyper-critical of all the inaccuracies because of my background. Things that other viewers may not notice. Such as lions and leopards roaming the rain forest. Neither inhabit the forests in my experience. And neither would be on the prowl during the heat of the day. And a cobra just hanging around in the grass waiting for someone to stand on it by accident! Not likely. And other "dangerous" snakes like the pythons in the pit. If Vincent were to fall into the pit, he would have caused them more harm than they him. And the "monkey" that threw out the luggage looked more like a chimp to me. Not a native of southern Africa.But the thing that amused me the most was the strange mix of languages used. Especially the use of the word "bwana". This is a Swahili (Arabic) word. Swahili is spoken in some parts of eastern Africa NOT southern Africa. So it was funny to hear Vincent say "bwana" followed by him speaking Zulu to his colleagues. In reality he would have said "baba". It was also funny to hear the one guy talking Afrikaans, because this is really only spoken in South Africa (not Rhodesia) although a lot of Rhodesians would have learned it as a foreign language. The license plate of the vehicle (TJ XXXX) they were driving was a Transvaal / Johannesburg plate so I guess they were in South Africa for that scene. I don't speak Swahili, so I can't say for certain if that is what Henderson was speaking. But it wasn't any language I was familiar with. But besides these sorts of things, it wasn't a bad movie. A bit predictable. The plot line contained the helpless, clueless woman of course. Pretty much standard for movies up until very recently, so not unexpected.The views of Victoria falls made it worth watching in my opinion. I have very happy memories of visiting the falls when they were still accessible like shown in the movie. Now there are safety rails everywhere.