The Naked Jungle

Infobox Film
name = Naked Jungle


image size =
caption = Promotional film poster
director = Byron Haskin
producer = George Pal
writer = Ranald MacDougall
Ben Maddow
Philip Yordan
based on a story by
Carl Stephenson
starring = Eleanor Parker
Charlton Heston
Abraham Sofaer
William Conrad
music = Daniele Amfitheatrof
cinematography = Ernest Laszlo, ASC
editing =
distributor = Paramount Pictures
released = March 3, 1954
runtime = 95 min.
country = USA
awards =
language = English
budget =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
amg_id = 1:34394
imdb_id = 0047264

"The Naked Jungle" is a 1954 film directed by Byron Haskin, and starring Charlton Heston and Eleanor Parker. Telling the story of an attack of army ants on a Peruvian cocoa plantation, it was based on the short story "Leiningen Versus the Ants" by Carl Stephenson.

Plot

As the film opens, Joanna (Eleanor Parker), a New Orleans woman arrives at the South American cocoa plantation to meet her new husband, plantation owner Christopher Leiningen (Charlton Heston) whom she has married by proxy.

Leiningen is cold and remote to her, rebuffing all her attempts to make friends with him. She's beautiful, independent, and arrives ready to be his stalwart helpmate; however, no one has told him she's a widow. He rejects her. During the next week, as she awaits the boat to take her back to the United States, they learn that legions of army ants - the Marabunta - will strike in a few days' time. Leiningen refuses to give up the home he fought so hard to create. Instead of evacuating, he resolves to make a stand against this indomitable natural predator. Joanna joins the fight to save the plantation; their courage and his probable loss of all he's worked for may crack his resolve to send her away.

The screenplay, was co-written by Ranald MacDougall and the blacklisted writer Ben Maddow. The film was produced in Technicolor by George Pal, who also made "The War of the Worlds", "Tom Thumb", and "The Time Machine". The film's title is presumably a reference to how the ants "strip" the jungle and turn it into a wasteland.

William Conrad, who had starred as Leiningen in a 1948 adaptation of Stephenson's story for the radio program "Escape", appears in the film as a district commissioner.

Filming location

Portions of this movie were filmed in Florahome, Florida.Fact|date=July 2008 This small town is located in Putnam County west of the county seat, Palatka. The dynamiting of the bridges was one of the scenes filmed here.Fact|date=July 2008 A local citizen died when he was thrown from his horse during one of the explosions.Fact|date=July 2008

External links

*
* [http://www.classicshorts.com/stories/lvta.html 'Leiningen versus the Ants'] - the original short story by Carl Stephenson
* [http://www.1000misspenthours.com/reviews/reviewsn-z/nakedjungle.htm Extended review of "The Naked Jungle"] at 1000misspenthours.com