Green Mansions

Directed by: Mel Ferrer

Starring: Audrey Hepburn, Anthony Perkins, Lee J. Cobb, Sessue Hayakawa, Henry Silva

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Studio: Warner Bros. (Warner Archive) Year: 1959 Rating: NR Film Length: 104 minutes Aspect Ratio: 2.4:1 Subtitles: None Release Date: Fall 2009

The Film **

Adapted from the popular novel by W.H. Hudson, Green Mansions tells the story of Abel (Perkins), the son of Venezuelan aristocrats who flees Caracas after being driven out of his family home by a violent coup.  Abel escapes and plots his revenge, which he hopes to finance with gold from deep in the jungle.  Abel's search for gold results in his capture by a tribe of natives led by a chieftain named Runi (Hayakawa) and his strong-willed son Kua-Ko (Silva) who was educated by missionaries and serves as Abel's translator.  After a demonstration of his courage, Runi allows Abel to stay with the tribe, but eventually gives him a dangerous assignment: to find and kill the "bird girl" who resides in a forbidden section of forest. She is rumored to have lethal powers that resulted in the death of his son, Kua-Ko's older brother.  Abel discovers the "bird girl" is actually Rima (Hepburn), a kindly wild child who lives in the forest with her grandfather, Nuflo (Cobb).  Abel's arrival and growing affection for Rima begins the unraveling of several secrets tied to both Rima and Nuflo's mysterious past and the true intentions of Runi and Kua-Ko's tribe.

Most reviewers assessing Green Mansions use the term "miscast" within the first two sentences, and I am no exception. Anthony Perkins is out of his depth in this romantic leading man role and never really has a chance to hit the right notes along the way to illustrate his character's journey from revenge-minded exiled son of aristocrats to Indiana Jones-style adventurer to love-struck romantic. While it would have been an uphill battle to elicit an effective performance from Perkins in this role, any chances of this happening are sabotaged by the film's real vice: directorial indulgence.

Director Mel Ferrer, who was Audrey Hepburn's real-life husband at the time, seems to have actively encouraged (or at least failed to discourage) melodramatic overacting in his entire cast. Only Sessue Hayakawa escapes mostly unscathed, possibly because he is not given any English language dialog. Prior to seeing Green Mansions, I was of the opinion that Lee J. Cobb was one of those actors who would always give a good performance even when playing in a poor film. Since seeing the film, I have been forced to revise my opinion to "almost always".

On the surface, one would think that Audrey Hepburn would be perfect as a pixie-like wild child blending in with the forest and cavorting with baby fawns. Unfortunately, her performance works only fitfully and falls apart most often when she is over-emoting the sappy dialog by Dorothy Kingsley.

Similarly, the physically imposing Henry Silva had a lot of success playing heavies of a variety of ethnicities throughout his career, and he fares best during physical scenes when his Pidgin English dialog is kept to a minimum. His best scene is where he smilingly acknowledges a secret that Perkins' character realizes, knowing that the secret is safe from the rest of the tribe since he is the translator. His most disastrous scene is a completely unconvincing fight with Perkins late in the picture that is staged so poorly that it looks more like a run through than a final take.

So why would anyone want to watch actors bombastically overselling bad dialog and stumbling through poorly staged action sequences? Well, in the case of Green Mansions it is because the thing looks and sounds so darn "purty-like". Large chunks of the film were shot on location in Venezuela, Columbia, and Guyana, and they look stunningly beautiful in Panavison and "Metrocolor". The elaborately designed jungle sets are impressive, although they certainly clash with the establishing location shots of the "real thing", sometimes looking more like the actors are in Oz than a real rainforest. One beautiful location shot with Perkins, Hepburn, and Cobb in frame (they are usually doubled on the others) undermines the "magic" a bit since it was shot at the somewhat cinematically overused Vasquez Rocks Natural Area Park location in Agua Dulce, California.

The lush score, mostly from Bronislau Kaper, offers ear candy to match the eye candy of the location visuals. The film even stops in its tracks at one point so Perkins' character can strum guitar and sing the "Song of Green Mansions" title theme while reclining near the hut where Hepburn and Cobb's characters live. Like most things in the film, the score gets laid on a bit too thick, but it is well orchestrated and recorded, and very effective when paired with the more majestic visuals.

The Video ***½

This was one of the first films shot in Panavision and this Warner Archive DVD properly renders it at its 2.35:1 aspect ratio in a 16:9 enhanced frame. The source element used for transfer appears to have been in pretty good shape, which is a good thing since little to no touch-up has been performed on the image in the digital video domain. Source related artifacts include light density fluctuations, occasional light scratches/speckling, and visible "cigarette burn" reel change markers. Some reels seem to have a bit more fade than others, but the color timing skillfully compensates for most of this so it is not distracting. There are no signs of excessive video processing and compression is solid, so it actually scales up pretty well for large projection displays.

The Audio ***½

The English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo track was clearly derived from a magnetic source in good shape. The primary beneficiary of this is the sumptuous, well-recorded orchestral score. Dialog has a directional element to it, but it sounds like it was slightly pulled in compared to other stereo films of the era. I am not familiar enough with this title to know if that is consistent with the original theatrical mix. Strangely, the track is filled with all kinds of ambient jungle noises that are usually mixed dead center in the stereo arrangement. Some of the post-dubbed dialog sounds a bit too forward in the mix, making it stand out awkwardly.

The Extras *

When the disc is first played, the viewer is greeted with a one minute promo for the Warner Archive Collection presented in 4:3 video with Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo sound.

The only proper extra is the film's Theatrical Trailer presented in 4:3 letterboxed video. With respect to Audrey Hepburn, we learn that "No one else would have been so exactly right for this wild primitive beauty". Somewhat insultingly, Anthony Perkins is not afforded one of the hyperbolic adjectives normally applied to MGM leading men in promos, and he is referred to only as "Popular Anthony Perkins".

Packaging

As is the case with most Warner Archive titles, the single sided single layered burned to order DVD-R disc is packaged in the familiar Amaray-sized case with a promotional image from the film set against a blue background. The disc is authored with a sparse menu with only two selections to either play the movie or trailer. Chapter stops are encoded every ten minutes and are selectable by chaptering forward or directly entering the chapter number with the DVD remote.

Summary **

Green Mansions is a large scale misfire that's primary virtues are its sumptuous location cinematography and its score which are easy on the eyes and ears. This burned to order Warner Archive DVD-R features a solid 16:9 enhanced video presentation and a Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo soundtrack with very good fidelity that particularly benefits the score. The Theatrical Trailer is included as the only extra.