FAQ

Escaping a revolution in Venezuela in which his father, a government offical, was murdered, Abel Guevez de Arginsola (Anthony Perkins) makes his way into the forests of the Amazon where he meets and falls in love with Rima (Audrey Hepburn), a strange, ethereal 'bird girl' raised by her mysterious grandfather Nuflo (Lee J. Cobb). Unfortunately, the superstitious tribe with which he is staying, sees Rima as an evil spirit and demands that Abel kill her.

Yes. Green Mansions is based on a 1904 novel, Green Mansions: A Romance of the Tropical Forest, by Argentinian-born author and naturalist William Henry Hudson [1841-1922). The novel was adapted for the film by American screenwriter Dorothy Kingsley.

In the movie, Abel tells Chief Runi (Sessue Hayakawa) that he was born in Caracas, Venezuela in 1872, so the year must be in the 1890s. The novel, however, sets the story in the mid-1800s, @1840, as Abel is an old man in 1887 when he tells his story.

Abel's father, the Minister of War, had been assassinated by traitors in his cabinet, and Abel was running for his life. When he heard that a man had seen a fortune of gold in a village on the banks of the Cuyuni River in nearby Guyana, Abel decided that he would look for the gold in an attempt to avenge his father's death.

Yes. Green Mansions was mostly filmed at various locations in Columbia, Venezuela, and Guyana in the northern portion of South America.

Rima called it a Hata flower. The novel explains that the Indians believed that "only one Hata flower existed in the world; that it bloomed in one spot for the space of a moon; that on the disappearance of the moon in the sky the Hata disappeared from its place, only to reappear blooming in some other spot, sometimes in some distant forest. And they also said that whosoever discovered the Hata flower in the forest would overcome all his enemies and obtain all his desires, and finally outlive other men by many years."

In the movie, Rima's origin and abilities are somewhat mysterious. Her full name was "Riolama", named after the village from whence she came. When Rima hears about Riolama, she asks to be taken there. Along the way, Grandfather Nuflo finally reveals that Rima was the daughter of a Riolama woman whom he met on a mountain trail after his band of ruffians had raided and pillaged the village for its gold. She was wounded and later died, leaving her four-year old daughter (Rima) in his care. The novel paints a somewhat different picture in that Rima and her mother came from a peaceful, vegetarian tribe that was wiped out by the Indians. They lived together for seven years, during which time Rima's mother taught her a birdlike language. After her mother's death, Rima went to live with Nuflo in another village, but the Indians found her to be strange, and they didn't like how she shooed away game animals so that they wouldn't be killed, so they tried to kill her. When one of their arrows went astray and killed another Indian, they blamed it on Rima's "magic" and called her an evil spirit, daughter of the Didi.

In the movie, Rima is called "the daughter of Didi" by the Indians. They describe Didi as a "war spirit." In the novel, Rima was known as "the daughter of THE Didi." The Didi is a legendary apeman, similar to Bigfoot and the Yeti, said to haunt the jungles of Venezuela and the Guianas. For more information on the Didi, see here. A photo of a supposed Didi can be viewed here.

Rima leaves Abel in the cave and returns from Riolama alone only to find that Nuflo's hut has been burned to the ground. He dies in her arms, after giving her a bag filled with the gold he stole from Riolama. Suddenly, the natives from the village, led by Kua-Ko (Henry Silva), appear with their torches. Rima tries to get away from them by climbing a tall tree. The natives build a fire around the base of the tree trapping Rima in it. When Abel finally gets back, he calls to Rima but gets no answer. Kua-Ko steps out of the bushes and tells him that Rima is dead. Nothing is left of her but ashes, he sneers. Kua-Ko then tries to kill Abel, too, but Abel succeeds in stabbing Kua-Ko to death. Abel then goes looking for Rima. When he comes upon the smoldering tree, he starts to cry. Suddenly, Rima's voice can be heard, reminding him of the Nata flower and how, when it dies, it reappears somewhere else in the forest. Abel stumbles around in the jungle and notices a new Nata flower growing where it wasn't growing before. In the background, Rima can be heard singing. In the final scenes, Rima can be seen standing on the edge of a cliff, Abel runs to her, and the Nata flower blooms gloriously.

There has been considerable discussion about the ending of Green Mansions. Some viewers interpret the ending to mean that Rima somehow survived, either by magical means, by jumping to a nearby tree and climbing down, or by flying as the bird spirit she was said to be. Others believe that Rima might actually have died in the fire and that Abel was seeing her spirit. Still others say that Abel was actually killed in his fight with Kua-Ko and that his spirit is being reunited with Rima's spirit. In the novel, Rima does perish in the fire. Abel digs through the ashes and finds her bones, which he takes home with him. However, there is yet another interpretation to be made of the novel's ending. Abel was ill during his sojourn into the jungle, and the suggestion has been made that Rima may simply have been an illusion caused by a form of jungle fever.

The movie was made in 1959. Hepburn was born in 1929, so she was @30 years old when she played Rima, the bird girl. Perkins was born in 1932, so he was @27 when he starred as Abel. One year later, Perkins went on to play the role for which he is most noted -- Norman Bates in the Alfred Hitchcock classic thriller Psycho (1960) (1960).

Yes. Green Mansions: a Romance of the Tropical Forest is no longer under copyright protection in the United States. Project Gutenberg has placed the novel online for downloading. It's also available to read on The Literature Network.