The Naked Jungle

An old style Hollywood adventure taking place in the Amazon jungles circa year 1901, this is a favorite of mine from TV showings dating back 30 years ago. A portion of the jungles have been tamed by Heston's character as the story begins; he's carved out his own little kingdom with sweat and blood, with the help of local natives, and now his new wife (Parker), married by proxy, arrives. This is one of Heston's better characters: he's well-suited to play this proud, often arrogant male, driven to build a personal empire to perhaps compensate for the inherent failings of such men. His main weakness is he knows nothing about women, and Parker, almost regal in her bearing, represents a kind of strength and sophistication he is obviously not accustomed to. Their meeting and slowly building towards a mutual respect after a very rough beginning is in itself an interesting story, but this exotic adventure throws in a spectacular menace to add suspense to the whole thing. The jungle, as it turns out, allows Heston only 15 years of conquest before fighting back in 'nature-gone-amok' style similar to all the future eco-terror pictures of the later seventies.

By now, everyone knows that this menace is the soldier ant, or 'marabunta' as it's mysteriously referred to in the middle of the story. I think even audiences who saw this back in '54 were probably aware of what the threat was beforehand, as well. But it's not revealed during the film until after several ominous yet uninformative references by the main characters. It comes across as some huge monstrous threat - which indeed it is - billions upon billions of these ants merge together to form a monster 20 miles long and 2 miles wide. As the local commissioner (Conrad) states, with quavering voice, these ants actually think, in military fashion. Nothing stands in its way and we mean nothing. But, of course, if anyone is going to give it the all-American try, it's Heston (yes, he's a character who grew up in South America, but he's strictly the U.S.of A breed - the rugged individual). This builds towards a literal war between Heston's resources and the invading army of ants, and it's a grand finale. It's interesting that this came out about the same time as "Them," a sci-fi tale about giant ants. But the ants here are real - this may make them all the more terrifying. See also "Phase IV," twenty years later, for a different take on even more intelligent 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!!

Before Charlton Heston faced the Red Sea, the Apes, and the anti-gun folks, he was in this picture, where he takes second billing to the Marabunta (sic), army ants that want to eat his plantation. His other problem is his knockout mail order bride with whom he is having trouble communicating. With Heston at his most passionate, running the emotional ladder from A to B, it's hard to tell. Nevertheless, I saw this movie with my sister when we were about 9 or 10 and movies cost 15 cents. We would hide behind the seat in front of us each time the skeletal remains of the alcoholic guy showed up (we sat through the movie four times). The rest of the theatre shrieked. The movie is really a lot of fun. Those ants are a menace which, like the shark in Jaws, don't really have anything personal against us--they are just hungry and eating everything in their path. Heston must find a way to combat them or lose everything he has. As a teenager, one of my top ten short stories was "Leinengen Versus the Ants." This does justice to the story although I don't remember anything about the "experienced" young woman he finds himself with. I chanced upon this film on AMC one day and I was totally caught up in it. Give it a chance. It will keep you on the edge of your seat. If you're looking for a fully developed dramatic piece, forget it.

George Pal was the ideal producer for a melodrama set in the South American jungles, wherein 20 miles of soldier ants overtake the villages and plantations. Also a perfect fit, Charlton Heston is right at home playing the stubborn, consistently-irritated coffee plantation owner who takes on the ants--and his mail-order bride, a New Orleans widow with a temper of her own! Colorful nonsense has some sloppy editing and dubbing, but plenty of florid dramatics and a tense final reel. As the "proxy bride", Eleanor Parker uses her cool-fire beauty and glinting eyes to good effect; her character (as written) is thinly-conceived, yet Parker's solid acting helps fill in the blanks and we understand a great deal more about this perplexing woman simply from the performance alone. Heston looks good with Parker on-screen, though happy, hairy-chested government official William Conrad looks like he might want to scoop Eleanor up at any moment (and he's so congenial, she may not mind!). The film might have benefited from a longer running-time (this scenario seems condensed, though not distilled), and as a result the love story is rushed along, yet it's a fast-paced, atmospheric, faux-exotic piece of Hollywood escapism, and quite enjoyable. *** from ****

THE NAKED JUNGLE is based on Carl Stephenson's story "Leiningen Vs The Ants." There was at least one excellent radio adaptation in which William Conrad (who has a supporting role in this film) played Leiningen. The first half of this screen adaptation is pretty ordinary, centering around the romantic problems of Heston and his mail order bride Ms. Parker. When the ants arrive, this film really takes off. One scene where the ants devour a drunk down to his bones must of looked pretty shocking in 1954.

This film was reviewed in a 1954 issue of The American Museum of Natural History magazine, where the reviewer, an entomologist, stated that while single ant colonies do migrate, and can wreck havoc, migrations of multiple colonies, as in this film, do not occur in real life. Phew! Thats good to know!