Mogambo

This article is about the 1953 American film. For the Indian film villain, see Mr. India.

Mogambo
Original movie poster
Directed by	John Ford
Produced by	Sam Zimbalist
Written by	Wilson Collison(play) John Lee Mahin
Starring	Clark Gable Ava Gardner Grace Kelly Donald Sinden
Cinematography	Robert Surtees Freddie Young
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date(s)	October 9, 1953
Running time	115 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Mogambo is a 1953 film directed by John Ford, featuring Clark Gable, Ava Gardner, Grace Kelly and Donald Sinden. The film was adapted by John Lee Mahin from the play by Wilson Collison.

Kelly won a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress (1954), and the film was nominated for two Oscars, Best Actress in a Leading Role (Gardner), and Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Kelly). The film was also nominated for a BAFTA Film Award (Best Film from any Source USA).

Mogambo is a lavish remake of the classic film Red Dust (1932). The earlier movie also featured Clark Gable in the lead role. Producer Sam Zimbalist thought of the title by modifying the name of the Mocambo night club.^[1]

Plot

Ava Gardner

Eloise Y. "Honey Bear" Kelly (Gardner) arrives at a remote African outpost, looking for a rich maharajah acquaintance, only to find he has canceled his trip owing to unrest in his realm. While waiting for the next river boat out, she spars with hardworking big game hunter Victor Marswell (Gable), who (initially) pegs her as a certain disreputable type. When the river boat returns, it brings Donald Nordley (Sinden) and his wife Linda (Grace Kelly). The Nordleys wish to go on safari to film gorillas. Marswell declines to guide them. Kelly rejoins the group after the steamer runs aground. Tensions run high between the two women when Linda is also attracted to Marswell.

Marswell agrees to take the Nordleys into gorilla country, taking Kelly halfway to join the District Commissioner, who can then escort her back to civilization. However, they find the commissioner badly wounded by recently belligerent natives. With reinforcements days away, the small party narrowly escapes, taking the mortally wounded commissioner with them.

Meanwhile, a serious romance is developing between Marswell and Linda. Only Donald is blind to the situation. Marswell tries to warn the husband, but then a bull gorilla charges, forcing him to shoot the beast, cutting off his confession.

Marswell becomes depressed and begins drinking heavily in his tent. Kelly joins him, and one thing leads to another. When Linda appears, she finds them cuddling. Marswell's dismissive remarks about her infatuation with "the White Hunter" enrage her; she shoots him with his own pistol, wounding him in the arm. Kelly lies to the others, telling them that Marswell had been making advances to Linda for some time, finally forcing her to shoot him in his drunken state.

The next day, the party breaks camp, leaving Marswell behind to try to capture some young gorillas to pay for the safari. Marswell, acknowledging to himself his feelings for Kelly, proposes to her, but she rebuffs him. As a canoe takes her downriver, she suddenly jumps into the water and makes her way back to him. The two embrace.

Production notes

Ava Gardner in Mogambo

Grace Kelly was not the first choice for the role of Linda Nordley. Gene Tierney dropped out due to her health problems. The movie was filmed on location in Okalataka, French Congo; Mount Kenya, Thika, Kenya - you can see Mt Longonot and Lake Naivasha, both in the Kenyan Rift Valley, and Fourteen Falls near Thika as backdrops - Kagera River, Tanganyika; Isoila, Uganda; and at the MGM British Studios, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, England, UK. The film offers some of the best wildlife shots taken of the African continent, at the time. However there were never gorillas in Kenya so the locations are an odd mix from a naturalist perspective. The music is all performed by local native tribes (except for Gardner accompanied by player piano), unusually for Hollywood, and the film records a traditional Africa and safari style.

Subsequently, the Francoist Spanish censors wanted to hide the issue of adultery, and changed the dubbing to make the Nordleys brother and sister.

Cast

• Clark Gable ... Victor Marswell
• Ava Gardner ... Honey Bear Kelly
• Grace Kelly ... Linda Nordley
• Donald Sinden ... Donald Nordley
• Philip Stainton ... John Brown-Pryce
• Eric Pohlmann ... Leon Boltchak
• Laurence Naismith ... Skipper
• Denis O'Dea ... Father Josef

In popular culture

Gable and Grace Kelly

The theme for Mogambo was loosely adapted by Mark Barber for the Auckland University Tramping Club Revue in 1954. A party travelling down the Anawhata on the first Saturday of the May vacation discovered that the cry 'Mogambo' could be produced with great volume and had very satisfactory resonant qualities. It became a club call, of greeting or when making contact on a tramp, for many years.

Comedian Eddie Lawrence, on his 1956 novelty record "King Arthur's Mines," played a great white hunter named Moe Gambo.

Murray "Murray the K" Kauffman, popular 1950s and 1960s New York City DJ, used the chant "Ah, Bey, ah bey, koowi zowa zowa" lifted from Mogambo as one of his trademark on-air phrases.

Mogambo was also the name of the main villian in the Bollywood movie Mr India

Notets

1. ^ p.144 Zinsser, William Knowlton Seen Any Good Movies Lately? Doubleday, 1958

External links

• Mogambo at the Internet Movie Database
• Mogambo at AllRovi
• Red Dust at the Internet Movie Database