The Roots of Heaven is a 1958 American adventure film made for 20th Century Fox, directed by John Huston and produced by Darryl F. Zanuck.

The film stars Errol Flynn, Juliette Gréco, Trevor Howard, Eddie Albert, Orson Welles, Paul Lukas, Herbert Lom and Grégoire Aslan.

"[5] In French Equatorial Africa, crusading environmentalist Morel sets out to preserve the elephants from extinction as a lasting symbol of freedom for all humanity.

He is helped by Minna, a nightclub hostess, and Forsythe, a disgraced British military officer hoping to redeem himself.

[9] Zanuck said that the theme of the film was "simple... A man comes to the conclusion that if we don't stop killing people we destroy ourselves."

[10]Huston said that he wanted to direct the novel before Zanuck approached him: After my experience with Selznick [on A Farewell to Arms] – all those memorandum!

[21] Juliette Gréco, who had appeared in Zanuck's version of The Sun Also Rises and became his lover, was signed as the female lead.

Some days required a four-hour drive to the location and back, and all water was transported to the set by aircraft.

[29] The film earned rentals of $3 million in the United States and Canada[3] and recorded admissions of 1,266,452 in France.

[30] The Los Angeles Times wrote that "John Huston may have bitten off more than he could chew in 'The Roots of Heaven', but much of it makes for thoughtful mastication... it sometimes seems too strange to be real.

[citation needed] The film was first released on Blu-ray in 2011 by Twilight Time (home video label) in a limited edition of 3,000 units.