The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952)

User Rating:

6.3/10   

Director:

Henry King

Writers:

Casey Robinson (screenplay) and
Ernest Hemingway (short story)

Release Date:

18 December 1952 (Australia)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

His Adventures . . . Like His Loves . . . Were Great and Exciting !

Plot:

Writer Harry Street reflects on his life as he lies dying from an infection while on safari in the shadow of Mount Kilamanjaro.

Plot Keywords:

Writer | African | Delirium | Infection | Hunting

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 1 nomination

Cast

Gregory Peck	...	Harry Street
Susan Hayward	...	Helen
Ava Gardner	...	Cynthia Green
Hildegard Knef	...	Countess Liz (as Hildegarde Neff)
Leo G. Carroll	...	Uncle Bill
Torin Thatcher	...	Johnson
Ava Norring	...	Beatrice (model)
Helene Stanley	...	Connie (Harry's first girl)
Marcel Dalio	...	Emile
Vicente Gómez	...	Guitarist (as Vicente Gomez)
Richard Allan	...	Spanish dancer

Also Known As:

Ernest Hemingway's The Snows of Kilimanjaro (USA) (complete title)

Runtime:

114 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | French | Spanish

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Argentina:Atp | UK:A (original rating) | UK:PG (re-rating) (1989) | West Germany:16 (f) | Canada:PG (video rating) | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:Approved (PCA #15807)

Filming Locations:

Cairo, Egypt

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

Ernest Hemingway disliked the film because he thought it cannibalized material from his other work to pad the story. He told friend Ava Gardner that the only things he liked about it were her and the hyena. It has been reported, but not confirmed, that director Henry King mimicked the hyena on the soundtrack.

Goofs:

Continuity: In bringing down the rhino, Harry Street manages to squeeze off three shots from a double-barreled rifle.

Quotes:

Harry Street: [narrating] I suppose it was the elusiveness of Liz which was her main attraction. She was something to hunt down and trap and capture. The Countess Elizabeth - Frigid Liz - the semi-iceerg from the semi-tropics!

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Angels in America" (2003)

Soundtrack:

The Snows of Kilimanjaro

A downer

Gregory Peck leads an all-star cast in "The Snows of Kilimanjaro," a big 1952 film directed by Henry King and produced by Darryl F. Zanuck. With a cast that includes Ava Gardner, Susan Hayward, Hildegarde Neff and Leo J. Carroll, and a story based on a story by Ernest Hemingway, one expects something more - much more - than what is delivered by this plodding film.

Peck plays a writer with a severe leg infection. As he lays in Africa waiting for a transport while his wife (Hayward) cares for him, he believes he's dying. He goes over his past life and loves - a girl he disappoints in his youth, then Cynthia (Gardner) the love of his life, followed by Neff, and Hayward, whom he mistakes for Cynthia when he first meets her.

Henry King mixes some beautiful scenery with stock footage of Africa. Since it's Hemingway, the movie has a macho sensibility - a lot of hunting, drinking, implied sex, and a bullfight. It's only in the last couple of scenes that the film's energy picks up - but by then, it's too late. The performances are okay - strangely, Gardner's character seems the most fleshed out. That isn't saying much - one gets the impression a lot was cut, leaving holes in characterizations and the viewer completely detached from them. Altogether, a disappointing experience.