The Snows of Kilimanjaro

I really feel that this movie was trying to say something meaningful - I just couldn't hear it. It'll be a long while before I try it again.

Peck is very good (one of his best performances). Have no idea though why Hayward was billed higher when Ava's was by far the meatier role. Anyway, they might as well have fashioned an original feature out of this, for all the bearing it has on Hemingway's story. The static flashback structure proves a sizeable demerit, and the tacked-on, hooray-for-Hollywood ending deprives both the title and the leopard-carcass fable of much of their point.

A little more Hemingway bio than Hemingway story, this has seemingly dozens of women falling for Harry Street although he gives them absolutely no reason to. (Oddly, the only relationship that felt real was with the uncle.) The incredibly long flashbacks add to the pain long before the Hollywood ending. The Technicolor is almost too good, easily pointing out which scenes were shot in the studio. There is, though, a good Benny Carter performance.

I tend to not like these old Hollywood movies that heavily feature wildlife footage. The cuts to the stock wildlife footage never quite match the shots of the actors and actors back then were generally a lot worse than they are now at reacting to things they weren't physically seeing, probably because it was less common (without CGI, etc.) This is kind of boring. I'm not a fan of the Hemingway story, but this totally misses the themes of it to the point where you wonder why they adapted it.