Green Mansions [DVD] [1959] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]

I saw this film in my childhood on TV, only once I think. And I was too little to remember it consciously until now. But now that I bought it and saw it, my memories came back to me, and I must confess I was very moved! I think that both the story and the film are made with a lot of psychology in mind... It is like a dream that you can interpret afterwards and understand some important truths. If you're into Jungian psychology, you will love watching this and trying your hand at an interpretation! But even if you aren't into that, this film will touch your heart and you will probably never forget it. (Anyway I never will!) I'm not saying that you won't understand the film unless you know psychology! Quite the contrary! It's just that the story can be interpreted on two different levels, one that is simply a story and the other that has a higher, or deeper, value!

Green Mansions [DVD] [1959]
This movie was not a success at the box office but I think any movie with Audrey Hepburn can't be bad. It's like a movie directed by Steven Spielberg, even his bad movies are good and worth watching. Audrey is such a very good actress and one of the most beautiful women of all time. Her voice is charming like anything else with that woman. Only one important feature is missing, it has no subtitle in any language. There are a lot of Audrey's fans who are not English speaking and would like to enjoy that movie.

It is many years since I first watched "Green Mansions", and for some strange reason it stuck in the memory, so it was nice to catch up with it again after many years. It has a unique fresh look that has not dated, and although I have to admit it contains a lot of absurd nonsense, it is still strangely watchable. It is based on a book of the same title by W H Hudson, an author born in Argentina. I have read some of his books including his excellent "A Shepherds Life", and his evocative account of his youth in Argentina "Far Away and Long Ago". He was better known for his natural history books than romance, so "Green Mansions" is an odd one in his canon of work. Mel Ferrer bravely decided to make a film of this in 1959 using his then wife Audrey Hepburn to play the part of Rima, the jungle girl. He was keen to film on location in Venezuela, but the logistics proved too difficult, so he had to settle for including some footage taken on the Orinoco. The rest was filmed on Hollywood sets. Ferrer even had animals captured and brought from Venezuela to use in the film for authenticity. None of Johnny Weismuller's rubber crocodiles on show in this film!

The story concerns a young adventurer, played by Anthony Perkins, who is fleeing from a revolution in Caracas, Venezuela in the 1840's. In the jungle he meets a young girl and an old man. Their origin is a strange mystery. The young man is at first interested in the gold that the old man has knowledge of, but then of course he falls in love with the beautiful jungle girl. But their happiness is threatened by a tribe of local indians who want the evil jungle spirit Rima killed at all costs. We head to an ambiguous ending that does not follow the book.

One should applaud Mel Ferrer's attempts at authenticity, although this noble aim falls flat on its face. The ravishingly beautiful, fair skinned Hepburn with her immaculately groomed hair does not look much like any jungle dweller I have ever see. The jungle itself looks as if it has been painted by a Walt Disney artist. At other times I thought the filming might have been taking place in the palm house at Kew Gardens. Some of the flowers looked a bit like the ones my mum used to get free with washing up powder back in the sixties, if you remember back that far? Lee J Cobb who plays the old man with a past, hams it up something awful. There is also a weird exotic mix of studio shots with location ones. But despite all this I found myself enjoying the film. It was both a critical and commercial failure. Perhaps it was just a bit too strange for people to accept. It is certainly unique in its odd look, but that is part of its charm. This is the jungle of fairy tales, not the jungle of David Attenborough. Audrey Hepburn tip toes barefooted through the conservatory style jungle with great femininity and grace. Cobb's over the top performance brought a smile to my face. Good support was given by Henry Silva, playing a bad indian this time instead of his usual bad Mexican. Sessue Hayakawa plays a very Japanese looking indian, and Nehemiah Persoff gives an entertaining but brief cameo. It is a film that I am almost ashamed to admit that I enjoyed watching. Cinema doesn't have to ooze realism, sometimes it is sufficient that it brings a smile to your face. A sheepish four stars.