The Naked Jungle (1954)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

Byron Haskin

Writers:

Carl Stephenson (story) and
Ranald MacDougall (screenplay)

Release Date:

3 March 1954 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

He feared only two things on earth...the MARABUNTA...Nature's deadliest force, and his fiery New Orleans bride!

Plot:

The Leiningen South American cocoa plantation is threatened by a 2-mile-wide, 20-mile-long column of army ants.

Plot Keywords:

Plantation | Ant | Widow | Mail Order Bride | South America

Cast

Eleanor Parker	...	Joanna Leiningen
Charlton Heston	...	Christopher Leiningen
Abraham Sofaer	...	Incacha
William Conrad	...	Commissioner
Romo Vincent	...	Boat Captain
Douglas Fowley	...	Medicine Man
John Dierkes	...	Gruber
Leonard Strong	...	Kutina
Norma Calderón	...	Zala (as Norma Calderon)

Also Known As:

Bushmaster (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

UK:12 (re-rating) (2005) | UK:A (original rating) | Australia:PG | Argentina:16 | Chile:18 | Finland:K-16 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | USA:Approved (PCA #16799)

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

Based on a true story, on an incident in Brazil in which huge swarms of voracious army ants overran parts of a plantation, killing many animals and several plantation workers.

Goofs:

Boom mic visible: 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.

Quotes:

Joanna Leiningen: If you knew anything about music, you'd know that the best piano is one that's been played.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "MacGyver: Trumbo's World (#1.6)" (1985)

Leiningen Versus The Ants!!

The movie The Naked Jungle was magnificent!! It was extremely

enthralling!! The title "Leiningen versus the ants" was the original story!! It was first broadcast on radio probably in the 1940's maybe even earlier!! The radio show was even better than the movie if that is possible!! The suspense, the intrigue, you bit your nails down to your knuckles!! The radio show was fabulous!! That's why they re-broadcast it over and over again every year or every two years. I listened to it many times!! The movie of course gives a different perspective!! You can actually see The RED ARMY ANTS, or RED ANTS, or ARMY ANTS frighteningly live which of course you couldn't do on radio!! These ants do exist and they are dangerous!! But also let us not forget that this movie is a great love story!! Here we have Charlton Heston, a real hunk!! A strapping six foot four very handsome, very physical male!! Then we have his love interest, Eleanor Parker a ravishing, redheaded beauty, with a fantastic body and figure!! A man and a woman in their prime eventually attracted to each other and falling in love at the end!! What more can you ask for in a movie! RED ANTS and A RAVISHING RED HEAD. That's why this was a great movie in it's time and still is today in my opinion!!