The Snows Of Kilimanjaro (DVD)

My free copy of the The Snows of Killimanjaro came free with a copy of the Times to celebrate the british Film Industries (BFI) 5th London film festival. The film came as a DVD. It features Gregory Peck as the star of the movie and is based around a Safari experience in Africa. This copy lasts approximately 117 minutes with a copyright - dated 2006. It also stars Susan Haywood as the wife of Harry Street (Peck). The film is PG rated by the censors ...
...maybe unsuitable for young children. The DVD contained some additional features including examples of stuff being presented at the 50th BFI.

THE PLOT

Based on a story by Ernest Hemmingway. The plot centres on the memories of a writer (Harry Street) who is taking a Safari in African. Based in a campsite at the foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro, he is wounded during a hunting accident and develops gangerene. this causes him ... more

My free copy of the The Snows of Killimanjaro came free with a copy of the Times to celebrate the british Film Industries (BFI) 5th London film festival. The film came as a DVD. It features Gregory Peck as the star of the movie and is based around a Safari experience in Africa. This copy lasts approximately 117 minutes with a copyright - dated 2006. It also stars Susan Haywood as the wife of Harry Street (Peck). The film is PG rated by the censors this means it is fit for general viewing but that some scenes maybe unsuitable for young children. The DVD contained some additional features including examples of stuff being presented at the 50th BFI.

Based on a story by Ernest Hemmingway. The plot centres on the memories of a writer (Harry Street) who is taking a Safari in African. Based in a campsite at the foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro, he is wounded during a hunting accident and develops gangerene. this causes him to fever and the ensuing reflection on his failures at love and writing. He realises that although he has seen and experienced many wonderful and astoninshing things during his life. For example, writing, women, big game hunting. He has travelled the globe in pursuit of those from bohemiem Paris, to the battlefields of Spain and the plains of Africa. He had never made a record of the events; his status as a writer is a contradiction by his reluctance to actually write. He recalls his once true love Cynthia Green (Ava Gardener), though she is dead she continues to haunt Street's thoughts. His present, neglected wife Helen (Susan Hayward) tends his wounds, listening to his rantings whilst trying to restore his will to live and fight the illness until help arrives.

Genre : Drama, adventure, death, self - discovery.

Gregory Peck : Harry Street.
Susan Haywood : Helen
Ava Gardener : Cynthia Green

The quality of the digital version still gives away the age of the movie, I noticed occasional flickering which tended to detract from the performance, and the colour looked fairly jaded. This of course could add to what might be called the mystigue of the film. The film starts with some panoramic views of African Mountains and subsequent shots of African countryside and fauna must have had considerable fascination for viewers. I am afraid by todays standards it is all rather lacking. Harry Streets reflections of his past life are shown as a flashback, which help to break up Harry's rambling dialogue.

This lavish big budget blockbuster of its time (1952) is with no doubt competition for other movies of its time. african queen eat your heart out, Bogarts film set in Africa suffers from the same problems as my copy of this movie. Challenging product quality. The romantic, sentimental qualities embedded in the fine script are driven home by Benard Hermann's briliiant musical score. I found the dialogue very amusing. This particular novel by Hemmingway is well suited to a cinema production and Peck turns in an inspired performance. It turned out to be one of the biggest hits of 1952. 

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