The Naked Jungle (1954)

The Naked Jungle (1954) really needs an in-depth look at its themes though I'm not sure this simple movie would survive it.

On the one hand, we have a very paternalistic and conservative figure in Heston (Leiningen).

So extreme is he he's almost evil...

But wait! There is someone who is even more extreme than he (Gruber, even his name evokes a Nazi better!), so maybe Leiningen is not so bad at all.

(So let's just forget about the threats, insults, and the bluffing that almost results in the double murder of two innocent, runaway natives.)

On the other hand, we have a woman, a native village, and an army of killer ants that our hero must dominate at all costs.

By the end, the woman falls for him and his dominating personality is accepted by the audience.

Did the character actually change for the better? That's really hard to say.

The fantastic element is the marabunta, carnivorous ants that, somehow, also de-forest gigantic tracts of jungle as they travel - never mind that it makes no ecological sense that any particular species be that destructive.

The film takes its time to develop the relationship between Leiningen and his sorta mail-order bride, and whether it's believable at all will depend on how much the contemporary viewer is willing to suspend his/her disbelief.

The highlight is, of course, the final confrontation between Leiningen and the Insect horde - probably the only reason why a Monster Kid would wanna see this - where Natives, Ants or Nature may very well stand for the Feminine principle and Colonialistic Leiningen for the Male Principle.

Leiningen's wife turns out to be the perfect Colonialistic wife, after all.

Again, this seems the very theme the movie is built on, but any scratching at the surface might very well reveal that there is not much underneath.

I saw the movie version of Kon-Tiki (2013) only a night later and the themes of Man adapting to Nature ("We'll do exactly the same as the pre-Colombian boat builders did!") are in stark opposition of the Colonialistic attitudes here ("They were savages out of the forest until I came here!") but strangely fitting, as the cacao plantation ends up being destroyed in order to save a handful of humans - Man does not win (possibly because of his hubris.)

I also read the story this was based on some decades ago, but all I really remember was the one character who trained the ants to stand on their heads.

It probably had no resemblance to George Pal's cinematic adaptation..

Fun, and likely effective for the time, but in our liberal times Leiningen could be naught but an utter villain (of the likes of Beauty and the Beast's Gaston character.)