Mogambo

Mogambo is a 1953 Technicolor adventure/romantic drama film directed by John Ford and starring Clark Gable, Ava Gardner, and Grace Kelly, and featuring Donald Sinden.

New York socialite Eloise "Honey Bear" Kelly arrives at a remote African outpost, looking for a rich maharaja acquaintance, only to find he has cancelled his trip owing to unrest in his realm.

[2] While waiting for the next river boat out, she spars with hardworking big game hunter and wild animal catcher Victor Marswell from the United States, who initially views her as disreputable.

Marswell plans to tell him about how he and Linda feel, but has second thoughts after realizing how much Donald loves his wife and perhaps how she would be better off remaining with him.

The next day, the party breaks camp to head back, leaving Marswell behind to try to capture young gorillas to pay for the safari.

In 1946, the Los Angeles Times reported MGM was considering remaking Red Dust with Marilyn Maxwell as a possible star.

[5] The studio had a great deal of success with color remakes of older films shot on location overseas, including King Solomon's Mines (1950) and Quo Vadis (1951).

[15][16] Donald Sinden, then a contract star for the Rank Organisation at Pinewood Studios, recalled:"Ten White Hunters were seconded to our unit for our protection and to provide fresh meat.

Among them were Viscount Mandeville and Marcus, Lord Wallscourt, a delightful man whom Ford treated abysmally - sometimes very sadistically.

In Ford's eyes the poor man could do nothing right and was continually being bawled out in front of the entire unit (in some ways he occasionally took the heat off me).

[17] Before leaving camp on the first morning [of shooting] I had been told to report to the hair-dressing departments tent, where I found the make-up men armed with electric clippers: 'I have to remove the hair from your chest.'

It transpired that Clark [Gable], whose chest was completely devoid of hair, had always insisted that no other actor should appear on film exposing a hirsute breast.

Someone must have pointed out to Ford that he had been thoroughly foul to me during the entire location shoot and when I arrived for my first day's work I found that he had caused a large notice to be painted at the entrance to our sound stage in capital letters reading "BE KIND TO DONALD WEEK".

Mr. Gable is beautifully commanding, in his vicious, sardonic way, and Miss Gardner, as we say, is as enticing as any calculated vampire can be.

…Grace Kelly as the stuffy English dame, Donald Sinden as her pip-pip hubby and Eric Pohlmann as a hand are all right, too.

[18] James Bacon, writing a capsule review for the AP's Bob Thomas' Hollywood on September 16, 1953, had a similar reaction: “It seems everybody both here and around the country has been hoping Clark Gable would get a good picture.

King Gable actually hasn't had one good movie since his return from World War II service.

Gable is virile as ever and makes lusty love to Ava Gardner as well as he did to Jean Harlow when he was a much younger man.”[19] It has a 75% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 12 reviews.

Ava Gardner in Mogambo
Clark Gable and Grace Kelly in Mogambo
Ava Gardner in Mogambo