*** This review may contain spoilers ***
A strange film, it has a weary crocodile hunter (a bland Charles Robinson) who goes to a mysterious village to hunt giant crocodiles, but only finds a few locals and a white man (John Huston) who saves his life after getting fever. He stays on and observes the manner of living in the quaint village and of its inhabitants.
It is based on a story by B. Traven (which was the pseudonym of the enigmatic German novelist, whose identity was always hidden, some say he was a German anarchist or thief who left Germany to go to Mexico around 1920. He wrote The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1927), whom John Huston directed in 1948, and B. Traven was even on the set.) The film itself remains curious, but quite basic and elemental, relying on the jungle to sustain its mood. The acting is natural, primitive and elementary. Katy Jurado (Mexican and American film actress) is in it, but not used much. John Huston as Sleigh serves more as an interpreter to the film audience than anything else. Chano Urueta (Mexican film director and actor, see Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch (1969) or Zapata (1970)) is here as well. I even noticed one other familiar face, Jorge Martínez de Hoyos, the actor from The Magnificent Seven (1960).
The film delves primarily into the death of a village boy in the latter half for some reason. It ends on a odd note as well.
Still, worth a look for what it's worth.
A strange film, it has a weary crocodile hunter (a bland Charles Robinson) who goes to a mysterious village to hunt giant crocodiles, but only finds a few locals and a white man (John Huston) who saves his life after getting fever. He stays on and observes the manner of living in the quaint village and of its inhabitants.
It is based on a story by B. Traven (which was the pseudonym of the enigmatic German novelist, whose identity was always hidden, some say he was a German anarchist or thief who left Germany to go to Mexico around 1920. He wrote The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1927), whom John Huston directed in 1948, and B. Traven was even on the set.) The film itself remains curious, but quite basic and elemental, relying on the jungle to sustain its mood. The acting is natural, primitive and elementary. Katy Jurado (Mexican and American film actress) is in it, but not used much. John Huston as Sleigh serves more as an interpreter to the film audience than anything else. Chano Urueta (Mexican film director and actor, see Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch (1969) or Zapata (1970)) is here as well. I even noticed one other familiar face, Jorge Martínez de Hoyos, the actor from The Magnificent Seven (1960).
The film delves primarily into the death of a village boy in the latter half for some reason. It ends on a odd note as well.
Still, worth a look for what it's worth.