Highly Overrated But Still Good

The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

Copyright 29 November 1954 by Loew's Inc. A Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer picture. New York opening at the Mayfair: 24 December 1954. U.S. release: 21 January 1955. U.K. release: February 1955. Australian release: 13 October 1955. Sydney opening at suburban Metro cinemas. 9,013 feet. 100 minutes.SYNOPSIS: An emerald miner in Colombia falls for the young owner of a coffee plantation.NOTES: Location scenes filmed at Barranquilla on the Magdalena River, and in the mountains surrounding Bogota, Colombia.COMMENT: The rush to film stories in CinemaScope resulted in some half-baked adventure dramas whose publicity promised far more entertainment thrills than the movie actually delivered or, as in this case, interspersed those thrills with a routine, lackluster, clichéd and predictable yarn that wasted the considerable talents of the players unwittingly involved in fostering this tedium. Another unfortunate aspect of "Green Fire" is that the climax is entirely contrived by special effects whose miniature sets are painfully obvious on the big screen. This succeeds in dissipating even more of the audience's interest than the sluggish story.Despite background filming in exotic locales (and even these scenes despite the actual presence of the principals in them are presented in a somewhat too pedestrian fashion to rouse all that much interest — and there is one glaringly bad phony backdrop which invites audience derision) and all the efforts of the principals to let loose with their star power charm, virility and lovable, heroic grouchiness (and a nice if all too brief study in villainy from Murvyn Vye) from Kelly, Granger and Douglas respectively, the film succeeds mainly on the strength of its process — namely the box office lure of CinemaScope. Even the promising Rozsa score is dissipated by an inappropriate title tune.

I've never really enjoyed this film when it was repeated on television, and I still haven't changed my opinion. Both Stewart Granger and Grace Kelly are wasted in this film, even though Kelly was past her best after 'Dial M For Murder'. Granger still had 'Moonfleet' ahead of him, but this film does nothing to add to his canon of films except to have the opportunity to work with Kelly. In his autobiography, 'Sparks Fly Upwards', Granger says 'Grace had one phobia, her behind.' Admittedly, I did notice that her behind stuck out when Paul Douglas embraced her. In the final scene when Grace and Stewart kiss, he says in his autobiography that the torrential downpour 'accentuated that fabulous behind. To save her embarrassment, I covered it with both hands.' I bet Paul Douglas would have wanted to do the same thing.Although the film is awful, reading about Stewart's experience of making the film is interesting.

A handsome looking early Cinemascope/colour romantic adventure story is probably about all that makes MGM's GREEN FIRE (1954) an entertaining enough movie. Produced by Armand Deutsch it was routinely written by the usually more astute Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts and directed without an awful lot of spark by Andrew Marton. However it did have its compensations in Paul Vogel's spirited Cinematography and a stunning score by Miklos Rozsa.Starring in the film was a mixed bag of talent! Stewart Granger and Paul Douglas are a pair of Emerald miners prospecting in the hills of Colombia. And Grace Kelly is a neighbourhood coffee planter who Granger has the hots for. The thinly plotted adventure also has some local bandits headed by the infamous El Moro (Murvin Vye) who, of course, wants any and all of the yet unearthed green stones for himself leading to an action filled finale.Although a constantly busy actor Stewart Granger never did have a hugely distinguished career in film. Appearing in a number of unmemorable British films in the forties the London born actor landed himself the lead in Metro's "King Solomines Mines" in 1950 followed by a contract with the studio where - with the exception of the fine swashbuckler "Scaremouche" (1952) and "The Wild North" (1951) - he continued on his merry way of churning out a load of indifferent pictures (including a most unfortunate and ill advised attempt at a western in 1957 called "Gun Glory"). Also Grace Kelly was, to my mind, a quite unremarkable actress! She never really impressed me like she did the public in general. Her role here in GREEN FIRE is tame and forgetful which is probably due to her part being so poorly written. Nevertheless in GREEN FIRE she is quite unimpressive! Two years later the lady would star in MGM's "The Swan" (1956) the story about a girl being groomed to marry a crown prince. The actress then retired from films and did exactly that - becoming a real life princess. How about that?? But Paul Douglas is the most curious bit of casting! He simply doesn't suit the part of the intrepid adventurer! Always a very likable character actor Douglas was more at home in urban dramas and light comedies.The film's most tangible aspect is Miklos Rozsa's music! It is also something of a curiosity! GREEN FIRE is the great composer's most tuneful score and it actually has a theme song which is a great departure for Rozsa. He always had an aversion to theme songs and under no circumstances did he ever wish to go down the Dimitri Tiomkin road. So what ever possessed him to have his pivotal and quite beautiful main theme - with lyrics by Jack Brooks - sung over the titles is anyone's guess! That said, the chorus performing the song do an admirable job and their effort strikingly and vividly adds an attractive harmonic flourish to the piece. Also, with the picture being set in Colombia the music has an engaging Latin flavour and there are plenty of indigenous folk tunes mixed through Rozsa's lovely score. The highlight of the score (and the movie) is the brilliant, exciting and intense cue that comes towards the end for the picture's climax where the composer uses an ingenious, frantic and rhythmic clock ticking sound in the orchestra for the build-up of tension as Granger sets the timer on the explosives charge that will literally bring down the mountain on the marauding bandits.GREEN FIRE is by no means a great movie but with lovely Cinemascope Cinematography, a spectacular mountain avalanche and a great Rozsa score there are, I suppose, worse ways to spend 100 minutes!

The movie really is good enough for its genre. The story well written and paced, the characters well portrayed, especially by Granger and Douglas. Granger was a natural as the adventurous treasure hunting mining engineer , Douglas, solid and humane , played his long time partner and friend. Together, they fought the hardship of mining, the bandits, sometimes each other, and for the girl Kelly. Kelly was a bit out of place here. She though was very beautiful but somehow too civil and too dignified for the south American jungle background. Her romance with Granger lacked intensity and passion. Fortunately, the story and some actions provided enough intensity and excitement , made the movie quite enjoyable