Green Fire (1954)

Really Surprised!

Just what I expected

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Copyright 29 November 1954 by Loew's Inc. A Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer picture. New York opening at the Mayfair: 24 December 1954. U.S. release: 21 January 1955. U.K. release: February 1955. Australian release: 13 October 1955. Sydney opening at suburban Metro cinemas. 9,013 feet. 100 minutes.SYNOPSIS: An emerald miner in Colombia falls for the young owner of a coffee plantation.NOTES: Location scenes filmed at Barranquilla on the Magdalena River, and in the mountains surrounding Bogota, Colombia.COMMENT: The rush to film stories in CinemaScope resulted in some half-baked adventure dramas whose publicity promised far more entertainment thrills than the movie actually delivered or, as in this case, interspersed those thrills with a routine, lackluster, clichéd and predictable yarn that wasted the considerable talents of the players unwittingly involved in fostering this tedium. Another unfortunate aspect of "Green Fire" is that the climax is entirely contrived by special effects whose miniature sets are painfully obvious on the big screen. This succeeds in dissipating even more of the audience's interest than the sluggish story.Despite background filming in exotic locales (and even these scenes despite the actual presence of the principals in them are presented in a somewhat too pedestrian fashion to rouse all that much interest — and there is one glaringly bad phony backdrop which invites audience derision) and all the efforts of the principals to let loose with their star power charm, virility and lovable, heroic grouchiness (and a nice if all too brief study in villainy from Murvyn Vye) from Kelly, Granger and Douglas respectively, the film succeeds mainly on the strength of its process — namely the box office lure of CinemaScope. Even the promising Rozsa score is dissipated by an inappropriate title tune.

I've never really enjoyed this film when it was repeated on television, and I still haven't changed my opinion. Both Stewart Granger and Grace Kelly are wasted in this film, even though Kelly was past her best after 'Dial M For Murder'. Granger still had 'Moonfleet' ahead of him, but this film does nothing to add to his canon of films except to have the opportunity to work with Kelly. In his autobiography, 'Sparks Fly Upwards', Granger says 'Grace had one phobia, her behind.' Admittedly, I did notice that her behind stuck out when Paul Douglas embraced her. In the final scene when Grace and Stewart kiss, he says in his autobiography that the torrential downpour 'accentuated that fabulous behind. To save her embarrassment, I covered it with both hands.' I bet Paul Douglas would have wanted to do the same thing.Although the film is awful, reading about Stewart's experience of making the film is interesting.

This colorful picture is set in Columbia, South America , and specifically at the treacherous jungle . There prospector Rian Mitchell (Stewart Granger) comes across what he thinks may be an important emerald site . A bit later on , emerald miner Mitchell is wounded by some bandits , however meets plantation owner named Catherine Knowland (Grace Kelly) and nursed back to health . Catherine along with her brother Donald (John Ericsun) runs a coffee plantation. Rian goes back to get his colleague Vic Leonard (Paul Douglas) to join him in his mining venture . When they come back to the location , they must deal with a nasty native , El Moro, who claims he has rights for the land the major mine is on . Meanwhile , Mitchell and Catherine fall in love and they subsequently are threatened by El Moro . This exciting film contains adventures , thrills , a love story and colorful outdoors well photographed by cameraman Paul Vogel . Plenty of a Hollywood all-star cast as Granger, Kelly , Douglas and Ericsun ; however ordinary script complications muddle the tale . Director Andrew Marton likes lots of big , noisy explosions , especially at its finale , when he doesn't know what else to do . Heat and ills affected the crew and main actors but they surprised for her resistance . During location shooting in Columbia actors lived aboard a huge barge moored in a river , when the river suddenly into spate , the boat broke loose and was drifting at speed down the river when the natives in canoes rescued the players . Special mention to musical score by the classical Miklos Rozsa , a great composer expert on impressive atmosphere in Noir cinema and epic films . The motion picture was professionally directed by Andrew Marton , though with no originality and some moments result to be a little boring . Marton was a specialist on Wartime movies as : ¨The thin red line¨ , ¨The longest day ¨and adventure movies as ¨African Texas style¨, ¨Around the world under the sea¨, ¨Clarence , the cross-eyed lion¨, and ¨King Salomon's mines¨(1950) co-directed by Compton Bennett and Andrew Marton directed the second unit , he then was tasked with replacing Compton Bennett as director after the latter had been taken ill . One of his more prestigious assignments came about by chance to lay in some excellent work as second-unit director , notably in charge of the chariot race for William Wyler's ¨Ben-Hur¨ (1959), as well as of the Normandy invasion sequences for the World War II . After his contract with MGM expired in 1954, Marton founded his own production company in conjunction with fellow Hungarian émigrés Ivan Tors and Laslo Benedek . He later concentrated on TV adventure series, helming the pilots, respectively for "Daktari" (1966) and "Cowboy in Africa" .

The movie really is good enough for its genre. The story well written and paced, the characters well portrayed, especially by Granger and Douglas. Granger was a natural as the adventurous treasure hunting mining engineer , Douglas, solid and humane , played his long time partner and friend. Together, they fought the hardship of mining, the bandits, sometimes each other, and for the girl Kelly. Kelly was a bit out of place here. She though was very beautiful but somehow too civil and too dignified for the south American jungle background. Her romance with Granger lacked intensity and passion. Fortunately, the story and some actions provided enough intensity and excitement , made the movie quite enjoyable