Mogambo
Encyclopedia
Mogambo is a 1953
film directed by John Ford
, featuring Clark Gable
, Ava Gardner
, Grace Kelly
and Donald Sinden
. The film was adapted by John Lee Mahin
from the play by Wilson Collison
.
Kelly won a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress (1954), and the film was nominated for two Oscars
, Best Actress in a Leading Role
(Gardner), and Best Actress in a Supporting Role
(Kelly). The film was also nominated for a BAFTA Film Award (Best Film from any Source USA).
Mogambo is a lavish remake of the classic film Red Dust
(1932
). The earlier movie also featured Clark Gable in the lead role. Producer Sam Zimbalist thought of the title by modifying the name of the Mocambo
night club.
to film gorillas. Marswell declines to guide them. Kelly rejoins the group after the steamer runs aground. Tensions run high between the two women when Linda is also attracted to Marswell.
Marswell agrees to take the Nordleys into gorilla country, taking Kelly halfway to join the District Commissioner, who can then escort her back to civilization. However, they find the commissioner badly wounded by recently belligerent natives. With reinforcements days away, the small party narrowly escapes, taking the mortally wounded commissioner with them.
Meanwhile, a serious romance is developing between Marswell and Linda. Only Donald is blind to the situation. Marswell tries to warn the husband, but then a bull gorilla charges, forcing him to shoot the beast, cutting off his confession.
Marswell becomes depressed and begins drinking heavily in his tent. Kelly joins him, and one thing leads to another. When Linda appears, she finds them cuddling. Marswell's dismissive remarks about her infatuation with "the White Hunter" enrage her; she shoots him with his own pistol, wounding him in the arm. Kelly lies to the others, telling them that Marswell had been making advances to Linda for some time, finally forcing her to shoot him in his drunken state.
The next day, the party breaks camp, leaving Marswell behind to try to capture some young gorillas to pay for the safari. Marswell, acknowledging to himself his feelings for Kelly, proposes to her, but she rebuffs him. As a canoe takes her downriver, she suddenly jumps into the water and makes her way back to him. The two embrace.
dropped out due to her health problems. The movie was filmed on location in Okalataka, French Congo
; Mount Kenya
, Thika
, Kenya
- you can see Mt Longonot and Lake Naivasha
, both in the Kenyan Rift Valley
, and Fourteen Falls near Thika
as backdrops - Kagera River
, Tanganyika
; Isoila, Uganda
; and at the MGM
British Studios, Borehamwood
, Hertfordshire
, England, UK
. The film offers some of the best wildlife shots taken of the African continent, at the time. However there were never gorillas in Kenya so the locations are an odd mix from a naturalist perspective. The music
is all performed by local native tribes (except for Gardner accompanied by player piano), unusually for Hollywood, and the film records a traditional Africa and safari style.
Subsequently, the Francoist Spanish censors wanted to hide the issue of adultery
, and changed the dubbing to make the Nordleys brother and sister.
The theme for Mogambo was loosely adapted by Mark Barber for the Auckland University Tramping Club Revue in 1954. A party travelling down the Anawhata on the first Saturday of the May vacation discovered that the cry 'Mogambo' could be produced with great volume and had very satisfactory resonant qualities. It became a club call, of greeting or when making contact on a tramp, for many years.
Comedian Eddie Lawrence
, on his 1956 novelty record "King Arthur's Mines," played a great white hunter named Moe Gambo.
Murray "Murray the K
" Kauffman, popular 1950s and 1960s New York City DJ, used the chant "Ah, Bey, ah bey, koowi zowa zowa" lifted from Mogambo as one of his trademark on-air phrases.
Mogambo was also the name of the main villain in the Bollywood movie Mr India
1953 in film
The year 1953 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*September 16 — The Robe debuts as the first anamorphic, widescreen CinemaScope film.-Top grossing films : After theatrical re-issue- Awards :Academy Awards:A...
film directed by John Ford
John Ford
John Ford was an American film director. He was famous for both his westerns such as Stagecoach, The Searchers, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and adaptations of such classic 20th-century American novels as The Grapes of Wrath...
, featuring Clark Gable
Clark Gable
William Clark Gable , known as Clark Gable, was an American film actor most famous for his role as Rhett Butler in the 1939 Civil War epic film Gone with the Wind, in which he starred with Vivien Leigh...
, Ava Gardner
Ava Gardner
Ava Lavinia Gardner was an American actress.She was signed to a contract by MGM Studios in 1941 and appeared mainly in small roles until she drew attention with her performance in The Killers . She became one of Hollywood's leading actresses, considered one of the most beautiful women of her day...
, Grace Kelly
Grace Kelly
Grace Patricia Kelly was an American actress who, in April 1956, married Rainier III, Prince of Monaco, to become Princess consort of Monaco, styled as Her Serene Highness The Princess of Monaco, and commonly referred to as Princess Grace.After embarking on an acting career in 1950, at the age of...
and Donald Sinden
Donald Sinden
Sir Donald Alfred Sinden CBE is an English actor of theatre, film and television.-Personal life:Sinden was born in Plymouth, Devon, England, on 9 October 1923. The son of Alfred Edward Sinden and his wife Mabel Agnes , he grew up in the Sussex village of Ditchling, where their home doubled as the...
. The film was adapted by John Lee Mahin
John Lee Mahin
John Lee Mahin was a prolific screenwriter and producer. He was the son of John Lee Mahin, Sr. , a Chicago newspaper and advertising man, and Julia Graham Snitzler....
from the play by Wilson Collison
Wilson Collison
Wilson Collison was a prolific author and playwright. His works include "Up in Mabel's Room" and "Getting Gertie's Garter." Collison’s “Red Dust” became the 1932 Clark Gable film by the same name and the 1953 Clark Gable film “Mogambo.” The Maisie series of motion pictures, with the first in...
.
Kelly won a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress (1954), and the film was nominated for two Oscars
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
, Best Actress in a Leading Role
Academy Award for Best Actress
Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
(Gardner), and Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...
(Kelly). The film was also nominated for a BAFTA Film Award (Best Film from any Source USA).
Mogambo is a lavish remake of the classic film Red Dust
Red Dust
Red Dust is an American 1932 romantic drama film directed by Victor Fleming. The picture is the second of six movies Clark Gable and Jean Harlow made together and was produced during the Pre-Code era of Hollywood...
(1932
1932 in film
-Events:*Cary Grant's film career begins*Katharine Hepburn's film career begins*Shirley Temple's film career begins*Disney released Flowers and Trees, the first cartoon in three-strip Technicolor film.*Santa, first sound film made in Mexico released....
). The earlier movie also featured Clark Gable in the lead role. Producer Sam Zimbalist thought of the title by modifying the name of the Mocambo
Mocambo
The Mocambo was a nightclub in West Hollywood, California, at 8588 Sunset Boulevard on the Sunset Strip. It was owned by Charlie Morrison and Felix Young.-History:...
night club.
Plot
Eloise Y. "Honey Bear" Kelly (Gardner) arrives at a remote African outpost, looking for a rich maharajah acquaintance, only to find he has canceled his trip owing to unrest in his realm. While waiting for the next river boat out, she spars with hardworking big game hunter Victor Marswell (Gable), who (initially) pegs her as a certain disreputable type. When the river boat returns, it brings Donald Nordley (Sinden) and his wife Linda (Grace Kelly). The Nordleys wish to go on safariSafari
A safari is an overland journey, usually a trip by tourists to Africa. Traditionally, the term is used for a big-game hunt, but today the term often refers to a trip taken not for the purposes of hunting, but to observe and photograph animals and other wildlife.-Etymology:Entering the English...
to film gorillas. Marswell declines to guide them. Kelly rejoins the group after the steamer runs aground. Tensions run high between the two women when Linda is also attracted to Marswell.
Marswell agrees to take the Nordleys into gorilla country, taking Kelly halfway to join the District Commissioner, who can then escort her back to civilization. However, they find the commissioner badly wounded by recently belligerent natives. With reinforcements days away, the small party narrowly escapes, taking the mortally wounded commissioner with them.
Meanwhile, a serious romance is developing between Marswell and Linda. Only Donald is blind to the situation. Marswell tries to warn the husband, but then a bull gorilla charges, forcing him to shoot the beast, cutting off his confession.
Marswell becomes depressed and begins drinking heavily in his tent. Kelly joins him, and one thing leads to another. When Linda appears, she finds them cuddling. Marswell's dismissive remarks about her infatuation with "the White Hunter" enrage her; she shoots him with his own pistol, wounding him in the arm. Kelly lies to the others, telling them that Marswell had been making advances to Linda for some time, finally forcing her to shoot him in his drunken state.
The next day, the party breaks camp, leaving Marswell behind to try to capture some young gorillas to pay for the safari. Marswell, acknowledging to himself his feelings for Kelly, proposes to her, but she rebuffs him. As a canoe takes her downriver, she suddenly jumps into the water and makes her way back to him. The two embrace.
Production notes
Grace Kelly was not the first choice for the role of Linda Nordley. Gene TierneyGene Tierney
Gene Eliza Tierney was an American film and stage actress. Acclaimed as one of the great beauties of her day, she is best remembered for her performance in the title role of Laura and her Academy Award-nominated performance for Best Actress in Leave Her to Heaven .Other notable roles include...
dropped out due to her health problems. The movie was filmed on location in Okalataka, French Congo
French Congo
The French Congo was a French colony which at one time comprised the present-day area of the Republic of the Congo, Gabon, and the Central African Republic...
; Mount Kenya
Mount Kenya
Mount Kenya is the highest mountain in Kenya and the second-highest in Africa, after Kilimanjaro. The highest peaks of the mountain are Batian , Nelion and Point Lenana . Mount Kenya is located in central Kenya, just south of the equator, around north-northeast of the capital Nairobi...
, Thika
Thika
Thika is an industrial town in Central Province, Kenya, lying on the A2 road 40 km north east of Nairobi, near the confluence of Thika River & Chania River. Thika has a population of 200,000and is growing rapidly, as is the entire greater Nairobi area...
, Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
- you can see Mt Longonot and Lake Naivasha
Lake Naivasha
Lake Naivasha is a freshwater lake in Kenya, lying north west of Nairobi, outside the town of Naivasha. It is part of the Great Rift Valley. The name derives from the local Maasai name Nai'posha, meaning "rough water" because of the sudden storms which can arise...
, both in the Kenyan Rift Valley
Great Rift Valley
The Great Rift Valley is a name given in the late 19th century by British explorer John Walter Gregory to the continuous geographic trench, approximately in length, that runs from northern Syria in Southwest Asia to central Mozambique in South East Africa...
, and Fourteen Falls near Thika
Thika
Thika is an industrial town in Central Province, Kenya, lying on the A2 road 40 km north east of Nairobi, near the confluence of Thika River & Chania River. Thika has a population of 200,000and is growing rapidly, as is the entire greater Nairobi area...
as backdrops - Kagera River
Kagera River
The Kagera River, also Akagera River, is an East African river, forming part of the upper headwaters of the Nile and carrying water from its most distant source....
, Tanganyika
Tanganyika
Tanganyika , later formally the Republic of Tanganyika, was a sovereign state in East Africa from 1961 to 1964. It was situated between the Indian Ocean and the African Great Lakes of Lake Victoria, Lake Malawi and Lake Tanganyika...
; Isoila, Uganda
Uganda
Uganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...
; and at the MGM
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
British Studios, Borehamwood
Borehamwood
-Film industry:Since the 1920s, the town has been home to several film studios and many shots of its streets are included in final cuts of 20th century British films. This earned it the nickname of the "British Hollywood"...
, Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...
, England, UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. The film offers some of the best wildlife shots taken of the African continent, at the time. However there were never gorillas in Kenya so the locations are an odd mix from a naturalist perspective. The music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
is all performed by local native tribes (except for Gardner accompanied by player piano), unusually for Hollywood, and the film records a traditional Africa and safari style.
Subsequently, the Francoist Spanish censors wanted to hide the issue of adultery
Adultery
Adultery is sexual infidelity to one's spouse, and is a form of extramarital sex. It originally referred only to sex between a woman who was married and a person other than her spouse. Even in cases of separation from one's spouse, an extramarital affair is still considered adultery.Adultery is...
, and changed the dubbing to make the Nordleys brother and sister.
Cast
- Clark GableClark GableWilliam Clark Gable , known as Clark Gable, was an American film actor most famous for his role as Rhett Butler in the 1939 Civil War epic film Gone with the Wind, in which he starred with Vivien Leigh...
... Victor Marswell - Ava GardnerAva GardnerAva Lavinia Gardner was an American actress.She was signed to a contract by MGM Studios in 1941 and appeared mainly in small roles until she drew attention with her performance in The Killers . She became one of Hollywood's leading actresses, considered one of the most beautiful women of her day...
... Honey Bear Kelly - Grace KellyGrace KellyGrace Patricia Kelly was an American actress who, in April 1956, married Rainier III, Prince of Monaco, to become Princess consort of Monaco, styled as Her Serene Highness The Princess of Monaco, and commonly referred to as Princess Grace.After embarking on an acting career in 1950, at the age of...
... Linda Nordley - Donald SindenDonald SindenSir Donald Alfred Sinden CBE is an English actor of theatre, film and television.-Personal life:Sinden was born in Plymouth, Devon, England, on 9 October 1923. The son of Alfred Edward Sinden and his wife Mabel Agnes , he grew up in the Sussex village of Ditchling, where their home doubled as the...
... Donald Nordley - Philip Stainton ... John Brown-Pryce
- Eric PohlmannEric PohlmannEric Pohlmann was an Austrian theatre, film and television character actor.Born Erich Pollak in Vienna, Austria-Hungary, he was a classically trained actor who studied under the renowned director Max Reinhardt...
... Leon Boltchak - Laurence NaismithLaurence NaismithLaurence Naismith was an English actor.Naismith appeared in films such as Carrington VC , Richard III , Sink the Bismarck! , Jason and the Argonauts , and Diamonds Are Forever . He also starred in a children's ghost film The Amazing Mr Blunden...
... Skipper - Denis O'DeaDenis O'DeaDenis O'Dea was an Irish stage and film actor.O'Dea was a leading member of Dublin's Abbey Theatre, where his work led to a number of notable film roles, including two mid-1930s John Ford films, The Informer and The Plough and the Stars , and the part of the police inspector in pursuit of IRA man...
... Father Josef
In popular culture
Comedian Eddie Lawrence
Eddie Lawrence
Eddie Lawrence is an American monologist, actor, singer, lyricist, playwright, director and television personality, whose unique comic creation, the eternally and bizarrely optimistic Old Philosopher, has gained him a devoted, although specialized, cult following for over five decades.-Early...
, on his 1956 novelty record "King Arthur's Mines," played a great white hunter named Moe Gambo.
Murray "Murray the K
Murray the K
Murray Kaufman , professionally known as Murray the K, was an influential rock and roll impresario and disc jockey of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s...
" Kauffman, popular 1950s and 1960s New York City DJ, used the chant "Ah, Bey, ah bey, koowi zowa zowa" lifted from Mogambo as one of his trademark on-air phrases.
Mogambo was also the name of the main villain in the Bollywood movie Mr India
Mr India
Mr. India is a 1987 Hindi science fiction superhero film directed by Shekhar Kapur. It stars Anil Kapoor in the title role, Sridevi as his romantic interest and Amrish Puri in one of his best-known roles as the villain Mogambo....