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Elephant Walk by William Dieterle
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DVD Cover InformationActor: Abner Biberman, Abraham Sofaer, Dana Andrews, Elizabeth Taylor, Peter Finch Director: William Dieterle DVD: Region Code 1 Audio: English (Subtitled); English (Original Language) Format: Color, DVD-Video, Full Screen, NTSC, Subtitled Picture Format: 1.33:1 Running Time: 102 minutes DVD Release Date: 2005-07-12 Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated) Studio: Paramount
Movie Reviews of Elephant WalkMovie Review: "Elephant Walk" An "Almost" Epic of Drama & Intrigue! Summary: 5 StarsThis sweeping, almost epic film, opens in a quaint little book store in London, England. Colonial tea planter John Wiley (Peter Finch), is visiting England at the end of World War II, and during his visit to the book store, he encounters "love at first sight" with lovely English rose Ruth (Elizabeth Taylor) and after their wedding (which the viewer never sees the courtship or the wedding) he takes her home to Elephant Walk, Ceylon. A vast plantation of beauty and wealth, where the local elephants have a grudge against the plantation house blocking their ritual route to the "elephant graveyard." Ruth's delight with the tropical wealth and luxury of her new home is tempered by isolation as the only white woman in the district. She's challenged by the silently hostile plantation servant Appuhamy (Abraham Sofaer) and the memory of her husband's dead father, who is very much kept alive by constant "toasts" and "traditions," that Ruth notices effects her husband badly and seems to be pulling him away from her! As time goes by, Ruth finds her world spinning into chaos as her husband's occasional imperious arrogance is becoming more resentful and cruel. Ruth finds a mutual physical attraction with plantation manager Dick Carver (Dana Andrews) who see's his friend , John, becoming more distant with Ruth. As Ruth struggles with her emotions "Elephant Walk" is threatened by an outbreak of cholea and by the hovering, ominous menace of the hostile elephants...
Gorgeous photography, sets, and costumes abound in this richly entertaining tale of romance, adventure, and suspense as the viewer is swept into a world of challenging circumstances that is beautifully filmed in glorious technicolor! Each time I watch this film, I am thoroughly entertained and find so many things to like about it! The stage sets of the planatation house are breathtaking! With ivory staircases, ornately carved designs in the walls, ceiling, and doors throughout, with beautifully detailed furnishings. Everything works to accomplish the films overall look as more of an "epic film" than just a two hour melodrama. There's a variety of details and elements to "Elephant Walk" that makes it such an entertaining watch, including- Elizabeth Taylor's gowns by Hollywood costuming legend, Edith Head, are stunning! The mystery of "what's behind the massive locked door?" in the plantation house! The creepy acting servant Appuhamy speaking to John's dead father at his tomb! "Elephant Walk" works on so many levels to bring it's story to an exhilarating finale that you'll want to see it again! Beautifully presented on DVD with a great print and audio! A must own DVD for all classic movie lovers and especially Elizabeth Taylor fans!!
Summary of Elephant Walk It's never been as revered as The African Queen, but Elephant Walk is a similarly prestigious entry in the exotic adventure movie trend of the 1950s. This is one of those glossy Technicolor melodramas that inevitably climaxed in a scene of tragic destruction, typically intended to teach men a humbling lesson about the forces of nature. In this case, a seemingly delicate newlywed (Elizabeth Taylor) joins her husband (Peter Finch) on his tea plantation in Ceylon, only to uncover mysteries about the plantation and her husband's long-dead father, whose ghostly presence looms over the stately estate where elephants once roamed freely. Dana Andrews is the plantation foreman who catches Liz's attention when Finch is injured during one of many drunken interludes with a band of snobby sycophants; she grows intolerant of them, and impatient with the enigmatic Appuhamy (Abraham Sofaer), a Ceylonese valet who knows more than he's telling. After the plantation endures an outbreak of cholera and a drought that sends thirsty elephants into an stampeding frenzy, Elephant Walk delivers a spectacular finale that's still quite impressive; the sight of Liz fleeing from a pack of rampaging pachyderms is enough to make this a worthwhile diversion. With its exotic settings and fashionable wardrobe, Taylor's fans should consider Elephant Walk a must-see, and everyone else will enjoy the fiery climax. It's this movie's version of the burning of Atlanta, which is fitting because Gone with the Wind star Vivien Leigh was replaced by Taylor shortly after filming began, and can still be glimpsed in a few long shots. --Jeff Shannon Elizabeth Taylor plays a newlywed who accompanies Finch to his sprawling tea plantation called ELEPHANT WALK...and falls for overseer Andrews. But this love triangle is soon dwarfed by other events. A cholera epidemic breaks out, drought blights the land and herds of thirst-maddened elephants devastate the plantation in a thundering stampede. The palatial "bungalow" is reduced to rubble as onrushing elephants pound across polished floors, rip walls from their foundations and knock over kerosene drums to ignite a terrifying inferno.
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