| Complete credited cast: | |||
| Clark Gable | ... | ||
| Ava Gardner | ... | ||
| Grace Kelly | ... | ||
| Donald Sinden | ... | ||
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Philip Stainton | ... | |
| Eric Pohlmann | ... | ||
| Laurence Naismith | ... | ||
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Denis O'Dea | ... | |
| Samburu | ... |
Themselves
(as Samburu tribe of Kenya Colony)
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Wagenia | ... |
Themselves
(as Wagenia tribe of Belgian Congo)
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Bahaya | ... |
Themselves
(as Bahaya tribe of Tanganyika)
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M'Beti | ... |
Themselves
(as M'Beti tribe of French Equatorial Africa)
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Victor Marswell runs a big game trapping company in Kenya. Eloise Kelly is ditched there, and an immediate attraction happens between them. Then Mr. and Mrs. Nordley show up for their gorilla documenting safari. Mrs. Nordley is not infatuated with her husband any more, and takes a liking to Marswell. The two men and two women have some difficulty arranging these emotions to their mutual satisfaction, but eventually succeed. Written by Rob Hardy <[email protected]>
This fifties remake of Red Dust' casts Clark Gable again as the man trapped by the attention of two very different women. Instead of Mary Astor we have Grace Kelly as the repressed rich girl, while Jean Harlow's earthy character is portrayed by sensual Ava Gardner, a predatory animal in the hot jungle. The fourth player in the quartet (playing Kelly's husband) is Donald Sinden.
Aside from re-setting the action, changing the name of Gable's character, and giving the movie a Technicolor treatment, Mogambo doesn't update the 30s classic that much. Gable is still portrayed as irresistible to women as he was when twenty years younger, and the plot still simmers in the way it did before.
Naturally all the stars went on to other interesting things after this Gable left MGM to spend his last few years as a lucrative freelance; Kelly had a couple more major roles before marrying into Monaco royalty; and Gardner moved into more mature sexpot roles (such as her similar role opposite Richard Burton in The Night of the Iguana' a decade later). Sinden remains best known for his television work but on film he was more than adequate with the more showy co-stars in Mogambo.
This movie is not bad at all if you have a couple of hours to spend wondering how the various twists and turns will unfold.