Mogambo

Victor Marswell runs a big game trapping company in Kenya. Eloise Kelly is ditched there, and an immediate attraction happens between them…

• Director: John Ford
• Genre:Adventure / Drama / Romance
• Runtime:111 minutes

Cast

Clark Gable : Victor Marswell Ava Gardner : Honey Bear Kelly Grace Kelly : Linda Nordley Donald Sinden : Donald Nordley Philip Stainton : John Brown-Pryce

Eloise Y. ‘Honey Bear’ Kelly (Gardner) arrives at a remote African outpost, looking for a rich maharajah acquaintance, only to find he has decided to cancel his trip. While waiting for the next river boat out, she toys with hardworking big game hunter Victor Marswell (Gable), who (initially) has no respect for her type. When the river boat returns it brings with it Donald Nordley (Sinden) and his wife Linda (Grace Kelly) ready to go on safari. Miss Kelly departs. Later that day Mr. Nordley is taken ill with a reaction to his tsetse fly inoculations. From this it transpires the Nordleys wish to make the longer and more arduous trip to record gorillas. Marswell declines to take them. Later that night Miss Kelly returns in a row boat after the river steamer has run aground farther down river. There is some friction between Miss Kelly and Mrs. Nordley while her husband recovers after Miss Kelly witnesses Mrs. Nordley and Marswell together.

After Donald Nordley has recovered, Marswell agrees to go up into the gorilla country, taking Miss Kelly halfway to join the District Commissioner and travel back by that route. However, when they get there, they find the commissioner badly wounded by only recently belligerent natives. With a column of reinforcements days away, the small party is able to escape by the slimmest of margins, taking the mortally wounded commissioner with them. Miss Kelly is thus forced to continue with the Nordleys and Marswell.

Meanwhile, a serious romance is developing between Marswell and Mrs. Nordley, and everyone in the party is aware except Mr. Nordley. The situation is so bad that it is leading to clashes between Mr. Nordley and other members of the group. Miss Kelly tries to warn Mrs. Nordley of Marswell’s character but is rebuffed. Marswell himself, while setting up to photograph and capture gorillas with Nordley, even tries to tell Nordley, but a charging “bull” gorilla cuts him off and he has to shoot the beast. Read more