Blast from the Past
Zoltan Korda directed The Macomber Affair, a romantic adventure, starring Gregory Peck, Joan Bennett, and Robert Preston.
Grade: B- (**1/2* out of *****)
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Theatrical release poster
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The tale portrays a fatal love triangle set in British East Africa between a frustrated wife, a weak husband, and the professional hunter who comes between them.
The screenplay was written by Casey Robinson and Seymour Bennett and adapted by Bennett and Frank Arnold, based on “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber,” Ernest Hemingway short story of 1936 (one of his best).
Distraught American Margaret (“Margot”, played by Joan Bennett) is unhappily married to husband, Francis Macomber (Preston), when the couple arrived in the Kenya Colony of British East Africa.
As she and their guide, English big-game hunter Robert Wilson (Peck), land in Nairobi, Kenya, a flashback dissolves to him and Robert meeting at the Norfolk Hotel to plan their safari.
Francis, a wealthy man, alienates his wife with his cowardice while on the trip. To prove his masculinity, Francis sets out to kill a lion, but succeeds only in wounding it.
When the wounded lion charges, Francis runs and Robert must dispatch it. Francis is repeatedly emasculated by Robert throughout the day, and Margot humiliates her husband by kissing Robert.
As the couple’s animosity grows, Francis is cruel and abusive to an African servant and Robert has to restrain him. The next morning, Francis wounds a cape buffalo with a courageous shot, comes to terms with his physical weaknesses, reconciles with Wilson (to whom he also expresses forgiveness for his wife), and thereby becomes a man.
Later on, when a wounded cape buffalo charges, and is not dropped by shots from Macomber and Wilson, Margot shoots, but her bullet strikes Francis dead.
Robert tries to get her to admit that the shot was accidental as Margot goes on trial. It is left unclear whether she intentionally shot her husband or merely feels guilt that the accident reflected her inner wish.
At the time, critics praised the use of African footage, but complained about the silly dialogue and contrived plotting (especially the end, which suggests that the shooting was accidental).
The film, which was not very popular in its initial run, was re-released in 1952 by Lippert Pictures as “The Great White Hunter,” to cash in on the commercial success of the better African adventures, King Solomon’s Mines, with Deborah Kerr and Stewart Granger, and John Huston’s The African Queen, starring Katharine Hepburn and Bogart in his Oscar-winning role
Cast
Gregory Peck as Robert Wilson
Joan Bennett as Margaret “Margot” Macomber
Robert Preston as Francis Macomber
Reginald Denny as Police Inspector
Jean Gillie as Aimee
Carl Harbord as Coroner
Vernon Downing as Reporter Logan
Frederick Worlock as Clerk
Credits:
Directed by Zoltan Korda
Screenplay by Seymour Bennett, Casey Robinson, adapted by Frank Arnold, based on “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber,” Hemingway’s 1936 short story in Cosmopolitan
Produced by Benedict Bogeaus, Casey Robinson
Cinematography Karl Struss
Edited by George Feld
Jack Wheeler
Music by Miklós Rózsa
Production: Benedict Bogeaus Company
Distributed by United Artists
Release date: April 20, 1947 (NYC)
Running time: 89 minutes
Box office $1.6 million
