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The Snows of Kilimanjaro [1952]

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Director:Henry King
Writer:Casey Robinson
Composer:Bernard Herrmann
Length:114 minutes
(1 hour 54 minutes)
MPAA Rating:UR
Sorting Category:Drama
IMDB Rating:6.3/10
Amazon Rating:3.5/5 stars
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Classifications:
  • Drama
  • Romance
  • Action
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Synopsis: Writer Harry Street reflects on his life as he lies dying from an infection while on safari in the shadow of Mount Kilamanjaro.


Reaction: It's odd to watch a movie that spends so much time in flashback, but once you accept that, the movie is okay and enjoyable enough.


Personal Rating: 6/10

Select Cast and Crew
Henry King => Director
Casey Robinson => Writer
Bernard Herrmann => Composer
Ernest Hemingway => Short Story
Ava Gardner => Cynthia Green
Ava Norring => Beatrice
Gregory Peck => Harry Street
Helene Stanley => Connie
Hildegard Knef => Countess Liz (as Hildegarde Neff)
Leo G. Carroll => Uncle Bill
Marcel Dalio => Emile
Richard Allan => Spanish Dancer
Susan Hayward => Helen
Torin Thatcher => Johnson
Vicente Gómez => Guitarist (as Vicente Gomez)

Random Trivia For This Title:

  • This film was the second ever to be broadcast on NBC-TV's ground-breaking "Saturday Night at the Movies" series, September 30, 1961.
  • [?] Gene Tierney and Anne Francis were considered for the Ava Gardner role.
  • Ernest Hemingway disliked the film because he thought it cannibalized material from his other work to pad the story. He told friend Ava Gardner that the only things he liked about it were her and the hyena. It has been reported, but not confirmed, that director Henry King mimicked the hyena on the soundtrack.
  • In the scene where Gregory Peck lifts up Ava Gardner, he threw out his knee and production had to close down while he recovered. Unfortunately, all the scenes of his lying down in his sickbed had been shot already.
  • Gregory Peck resisted taking the role because an earlier Ernest Hemingway adaptation he had appeared in, The Macomber Affair had been a box-office flop.
  • Although there was some impressive second unit work shot in Kenya, the principal actors shot their African scenes in Hollywood.