Just perfect...

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

I read the book and watched the movie and I must say the movie did more harm to the book than gaining it attention. What was original a gem of literature is turned into a cliché of white man saving, or trying to save, a natural paradise. It ended up a farce. Of course, Audrey was wonderful, as she always was. But the adaptation was so bad that the original message, of relationship between human kind and environment and the danger of the former on the latter, was totally lost. Of course, the beautiful description of the land in the book is nowhere to be found. I strongly advise those who are interested to go and read the book itself. Understandably, this film was made in 1959 but the script is really so horrible that even the presence of Audrey could not save it.

It's the early 20th Century down in the jungles of Columbia, and a young man (Anthony Perkins) escapes from a revolution. He ends up being befriended by a group of natives, even though only one of them (educated by missionaries) speaks English. They believe Perkins has magical powers (because he owns a cigarette lighter) and order him to kill a mysterious girl in the near-by forest. This girl (Audrey Hepburn) is a waif-like creature with mystical qualities that they believe is a witch. Raised by her grandfather (Nehemian Persoff), she falls in love with Perkins and longs to leave the forest to return to her mother's hometown.There's not really a lot of story except the apparent conflict between Hepburn, Persoff and the natives outside the village. The majority of the film is the romance between Perkins and Hepburn, a bit of philosophizing and the truth about Hepburn's identity. But the last third explodes into questions about everything you've been wondering about up until that point and the journey outside the forest where all will be revealed. Most people will be more enthralled by the colorful painting like photography, shots of some rare creatures (most interestingly an aardvark) and the National Geographic like nature shots. Who Hepburn is will be the film's biggest mystery in this film similar in theme to "Lost Horizon" and "The Portrait of Jennie".

This film from 1959 still remains, to me, of what movies used to be. Not jammed full of violence, sexual situations and high tech computer/animation skills. Just a simple story with wonderful cast members. Audrey Hepburn and Anthony Perkins left us with a wonderful film that the entire family can enjoy. Anthony Perkins should be remembered for much more than his role in "psycho". Audrey Hepburn's legacy is somewhat richer than his, but together in this film they leave a wonderful memory of what once was. Forget that it is not "high tech". Just allow yourself to remember all the great old films that are still out there.

I was 13 in 1959 but was unaware of this film when it came out. Of course, I knew about Anthony Perkins and Audrey Hepburn in those days. I became aware of Green Mansions when I read the novel at age 23. It was after that, that I saw the film on television. I was captivated. It has everything: romance, adventure, politics and mysticism. Audrey as Rima the bird girl is mesmerizing. Her innocence is as much a part of the 1950s as it is Hudson's nature girl. Nature pervades this film. The South American rainforest envelops us. It is an exercise in green. Green Mansions is a work of art, beautiful to behold, yet one step ahead of raw reality at all times. Both Perkins and Hepburn died relatively young. Perkins, a bi-sexual, died of AIDS.