Poor Clark Gable must choose between Ava Gardner and Grace Kelly. "Mogambo" is a remake of "Red Dust" (1932) and is not as good, nor as funny, but it's still not bad at all. Fans of the stars should enjoy this one, but be warned-it's not without some serious flaws, mostly due to a weak script. But the use of stock footage is also apparent as are shots of Gable and others before a process screen. It has all the realism of a picture postcard despite the fact that much of it was filmed in colorful Africa. But if you're looking for a real good story, MOGAMBO is not it. She's honest, frank and completely charming in her own way and walks off with every scene she's in, fully deserving her sole Oscar nomination. AVA GARDNER, on the other hand, livens up the story with her sarcastic one-liners and her ability to size up any situation and call a spade a spade. GRACE KELLY still has the affected way of reciting her lines in a prim and princess-like way and is the less interesting of the two females. However, he is more than able to tame both of them. Harlow's co-star, CLARK GABLE, is back reprising his role as the great white hunter (what happened to STEWART GRANGER?), but Gable has mellowed quite a bit and looks a bit too tired to be the love interest of both AVA GARDNER and GRACE KELLY-which is what the plot really boils down to. Some stunning Technicolor photography of African footage and beautiful AVA GARDNER are the sole reasons for watching John Ford's MOGAMBO, a remake of "Red Dust" that starred Jean Harlow twenty years before this was made. For all the unhappiness on the set, the stars and its director did some good work.
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Mogambo because of the location shooting and much bigger budget is better than its predecessor Red Dust. Of course she also was involved with From Here To Eternity if I remember. I'm not sure why MGM just didn't cast a British actress like Deborah Kerr in the part. I don't think Grace Kelly is shown to best advantage here. This was the last of three films she and Gable made. As Eloise "honeybear" Kelly she's as cynical in her own way as Gable was. Ava Gardner was one of the most beautiful women God ever created and a lot of times she could get by with that. When Harry Cohn gave him the word about From Here To Eternity he left with the gratitude of Ford, Gable, Gardner and everyone else, he'd become a royal pain in the neck. To be just Ava kind of encouraged the jealous. He was jealous of Gable as he was of all Gardner's leading men. At the time he was married to Ava Gardner and there's was one of the most tempestuous marriages in Hollywood history. He was waiting on word whether he would get the part he sought in From Here To Eternity. In addition Frank Sinatra was on the set. The usual problems with location in Africa presented themselves. Both portrayals are very good and very different. Gable as Vic Marswell here is a world weary and cynical game hunter and safari guide.
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The plot line stays the same, but in Red Dust, Gable is the hard-nosed manager of a rubber plantation in Malaya. Gable was criticized for reprising a role he did 20 years earlier in Red Dust.
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I was a kid at this time and my first bit of education about Africa came from Ramar of the Jungle. African Queen, King Solomon's Mines, and Mogambo were all shot on location and all show the native Africans in reality. To this day there are people in the United States whose knowledge about things African were gained from Tarzan movies. I like Mogambo because it was the start of a trend in Hollywood to show some realism when dealing with Africa. Finally Gable got MGM to get Ford for his next film and it was Mogambo. Whenever they were together Ford and Gable talked about working together. In a biography of John Ford by his grandson he said that Gable and Ford were friends for years, not particularly close, but friends nonetheless. It's not about the usual themes he normally tackles, it lacks the usual supporting cast from a Ford film. This is a strange, but good picture coming from John Ford.