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The Naked Jungle (1954)

| Adventure, Drama, Thriller | 3 March 1954 (USA)
The Naked Jungle Poster
The Leiningen South American cocoa plantation is threatened by a 2-mile-wide, 20-mile-long column of army ants.

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Cast

Complete credited cast:
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Abraham Sofaer ...
...
Romo Vincent ...
...
John Dierkes ...
Leonard Strong ...
Norma Calderón ...
Zala (as Norma Calderon)
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Storyline

It's 1901. At 19, tough, stubborn Christopher Leiningen came to South America and built levees to claim thousands of acres of Rio Negro river land for a chocolate plantation. Now 34, with no knowledge of women, he recruits a mail-order bride in New Orleans. 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 US, they learn that legions of army ants will strike in a few days' time. She 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. Written by <[email protected]>

Plot Summary | Add Synopsis

Plot Keywords:

plantation | ants | widow | river | mail order bride | See All (49) »

Taglines:

The picture about the Marabunta! See more »

Genres:

Adventure | Drama | Thriller

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Details

Country:

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Release Date:

3 March 1954 (USA)  »

Also Known As:

Marabunta  »

Filming Locations:

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Company Credits

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Technical Specs

Runtime:

Sound Mix:

(Western Electric Recording)

Color:

(Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1
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Did You Know?

Trivia

"Lux Radio Theater" broadcast a 60 minute radio adaptation of the movie on June 7, 1954 with Charlton Heston reprising his film role. See more »

Goofs

During the first meeting/"confrontation" between Joanna and Christopher there comes a point in the conversation when he asks her if she is 'laughing at him.' As she turns from the dresser to face him at the very upper left corner for approx. 35 frames the moving shadow of what may well be a boom mic can easily be seen as it follows the motion. See more »

Quotes

Christopher Leiningen: I made a mistake marrying someone I'd never met, but you made a mistake coming here.
Joanna Leiningen: No - I was looking for something, and I was willing to risk anything to find it. The strength and purpose that was missing in my first husband.
Christopher Leiningen: He was a weakling.
Joanna Leiningen: So are you! Your weakness is your pride.
Christopher Leiningen: Yes, I'm proud... too proud to take another man's leavings.
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Connections

Referenced in The Mummy (1999) See more »

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User Reviews

 
Leiningen, A Man With Issues
1 December 2006 | by (Buffalo, New York) – See all my reviews

Given the fact that this is the Fifties and the Code was coming to an end, this is still a remarkably erotic film, almost Tennessee Williams like in its treatment of sexual issues.

Charlton Heston's Christopher Leiningen could have been created by Tennessee Willlams. He came to the South American jungles as a teenager and built up a plantation out of the jungle and it took him over 15 years to do it. He now decides to get himself a wife and begat some children.

Heston says so quite frankly he has pointedly refrained from indulging any lust with the native women because in his society there'a a nasty name for whites who do so. In keeping with his Tennessee Williams like character, he's from New Orleans so his attitude to darker skinned people is understandable.

He has his brother put in an advertisement for a mail order bride and Heston can't believe his luck when the drop dead gorgeous Eleanor Parker shows up on his door. She's not what you would picture a mail order bride to be. But then marital problems arise when he discovers she's a widow, used goods as the common phrase was back in the day.

Parker has a few of her own issues and that and Heston's inexperience in these matters lead to a rocky start and almost an ending. But then come the ants.

As District Commissioner William Conrad says, every generation or two something puts ants in the ants pants and up they come out of their ant hills and go on the march destroying every scrap of life before them. And man has found no way to stop them.

The ants kind of make everyone come together in a crisis. What they do is some of the most frightening stuff ever put on film.

If The Naked Jungle were made today it would be far more explicit about all the sexual problems than this version was. There might be better special effects. But you won't get better players than you will in Charlton Heston and Eleanor Parker as leads.

Unless they resurrected Tennessee Williams to write the screenplay.
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Eleanor Parker is really sexy in this. zxcv-9
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the naked jungle hillary-forgus
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Some binoculars! Florestan51
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