the leading man is my tpye

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

A Brilliant Conflict

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

I liked this film the first time I watched it, but liked even more this second time around. Of course, our attitude toward big game hunting in Africa has changed in today's world. But that's just the setting...what the film is really about is courage versus cowardice.Robert Preston (Francis Macomber) has decided to do some big game hunting in Kenya, in part, apparently to prove his manhood to his not very loving wife (Joan Bennett). Gregory Peck is the professional hungting guide. Preston runs in fear when a lion attacks, only setting up more disdain on the part of his wife. Bennett seems to have designs on Peck. During a later day of hunting, Bennett shoots her husband in the back of the head when an African buffalo charges. The question is whether it was an accident or intentional. Based on the look of Bennett's face when it happens, it seems perfectly clear that it was an accident. Back in the village, the death is investigated by Reginald Denny, the British Police Inspector. The problem is that Peck began to like the husband and questions whether the shot that killed him was actually an accident...after all, Bennett had every motive.There are a couple of problems with this film. First, it's understandable why Bennett would be attracted to Peck, but why would an intelligent man like Peck's character be attracted to Bennett, who clearly treats her husband so poorly? The other problem is the big game sequences which probably were shot in Africa years earlier. In one, the lion that has been shot with guns only dies from a spear. Huh??? The second problem here is the ending of the film, which I found totally unsatisfactory. It just ended with Bennett walking toward the courtroom door...but we never find out if she was convicted or not. It was almost as if they ran out of money before they finished the film.Joan Bennett is certainly not a very sympathetic character here, but it's a good (if not totally consistent) portrayal. It does show off Bennett's range when you go from this film in 1947 to "Father Of The Bride" in 1950. She was versatile in both drama and comedy. Her best scene here is when she explains why she had such disdain for her husband. In fact, it will change your whole viewpoint toward her and her husband.Gregory Peck is fine here -- wasn't he always? Although it mystifies me why his intelligent character would fall in love with a woman like the one Bennett plays.It isn't often than Gregory Peck was ever out-acted, but he was here by Robert Preston. I wish the script had fleshed out Preston's past just a bit more, but his acting as a man torn between wanting to be courageous, but bordering on cowardice is particularly strong. I wonder if this might not have been his best film. The film has some good points that make it very watchable, but also some real limitations. But if you focus on Preston's character, you realize he is the movie's real strength. It's a strong "7", although the print seen on TCM is not well preserved.

****SPOILERS**** It's in the early dawn hours when an airplane with the body of rich tourist and safari hunter Francis Macomber, Robert Preston, lands at Nairobi Airport that we get the story of what exactly happened to him and how he was killed. Going out hunting cape buffalo with his white hunter guide Robert Wilson, Gregory Peck, and man or macho man hating wife Margaret, Joan Bennett, Francis ended up with a bullet in his back. That while trying to hold off together with Wilson a wounded charging 1,200 pound cape buffalo. In just how Francis ended up that way we go into a long flashback that had to do with his martial problems with Margaret who couldn't stand the very sight of him. Being a coward at heart Francis loved to bully around those who couldn't fight back. But at the same time he looked or sucked up to those who were in positions of power over him. Right away Margaret started to make eyes at the handsome and courageous Robert Wilson in him being everything that her wimpy husband Francis wasn't. Yet at the same time in being a women she hated Wilson for going out in the bush or savanna and gunning down helpless wild animals not for food or protection but just for the sport, and getting paid to do it, of it. Francis who screwed up the hunt for a 400 pound lion by not putting it down with a kill shot later, in tracking the beast down, wet his pants and panicked when the injured lion, that Wilson put down, charged at him with his disgusted wife Margaret not far from the scene. Now more then ever trying to show both Margaret & Robert Wilson what a real man he is Francis was determined to gun down much bigger game to prove to them and everyone else his worth as a both fearless game hunter and macho man.****SPOILERS**** It was at the cape buffalo hunt that Francis did in fact prove to himself as well as Robert Wilson that he's got what it takes but at the same time took a bullet in his back killing him! And that bullet was fired by non other then his now hunting cape buffalo and at the same time macho hating wife Margaret. With Wilson together with the two native guides Kongoni & Abdullah, Earl Smih & Hassan Said, present at the scene of the shooting it was their testimony that would in the end absolve or convict Margaret of her husband Francis' accidental death or cold blooded murder. Margaret, who was already cleared of all charges, who's to tell in what she knows about her husband's tragic death is seen going to testify to an follow up inquiry board but we never get to see or hear what she says. The movie ends abruptly as if the movie projector was shut off and not having the usual "The End" splashed across the screen or even the film's ending credits.

This film deserves a DVD release. Excellent script, direction, and editing carry the film into Hemingway's world. The results are excellent. The three leads do very well with their parts. I particularly liked Joan Bennett. Her cynicism and brazen effrontery towards husband Preston held my attention as she carried on an obvious affair with Peck. The dynamic between the three stars smolders across the screen as Preston attempts to "prove" his manhood by killing wild beasts. In true Hemingway style the "big game" adventure turns into one of more human proportions. Pretty bold stuff considering the Production Code was still in full swing. Reginald Denny plays with authority in a minor role.

In a certain sense this IS the most faithful filming of a Hemingway story. For one thing, it's probably the only one of his short stories that could be made into a full-length movie without adding some creative padding. (Cf. the first movie version of "The Killers," for instance: it's faithful almost to the letter for the first fifteen minutes, but then has to veer off into fantasy land to fill up the rest of the two hours.)But in another sense, "The Macomber Affair" misses the point or theme entirely in the way in which a certain element of the plot turns out. This has to do with the relationship between two of the characters. (If I revealed this change I would probably be including a "spoiler," so will refrain from telling any details. If you ever get a chance to see the movie, you'll understand what I mean.) Furthermore, EVERY character is miscast, though I must say that all three of the Principal actors do their best with the parts they've been thrown. Probably the most interesting thing about the film is that it deals quite directly with Margot's promiscuity--amazing for a movie of its time period. Despite my reservations, I highly recommend the film, and think it would be well worth re-issuing on video or DVD.