Green Hell ** (1940, Douglas Fairbanks Jr, Joan Bennett, John Howard, George Sanders, Vincent Price, Alan Hale Sr, George Bancroft) – Classic Movie Review 7421

The exceptional director James Whale and an out-of-the-rut cast (Douglas Fairbanks Jr, Joan Bennett, George Sanders, Vincent Price) lift producer Harry Eddington’s in-the-rut 1940 adventure movie about South American natives attacking a jungle expedition searching for lost Inca jewels in the steamy Amazons regions nicknamed the Green Hell.

Hey, wasn’t that the plot of several Tarzan movies? Frances Marion’s original story and screenplay are often risibly poor, with some unspeakable dialogue, but the movie can be entertaining as it has some camp fun value.

Price said: ‘It was one of the funniest films shot anywhere in the world. About five of the worst pictures ever made are in that picture.’

Fairbanks Jr recalled: ‘Some of us had not thought much of the story, but we were all clients or friends of Harry Eddington, who begged us to make the film at minimum fees and as a special favour.’

Even with a cheap cast and cheaper sets, and with Whale working fast, it cost $750,000 and became an expensive flop.

Also in the cast are John Howard, Alan Hale Sr, George Bancroft, Gene Garrick, Ray Mala, Francis McDonald, Peter Bronte and Lupita Tovar as Native Girl.

Lupita Tovar (1910–2016).

Mexican star Lupita Tovar (1910–2016) died on 12 November 2016, having made the grand old age of 106. She played Eva Seward (the Spanish-language counterpart of Helen Chandler’s Mina) in Universal’s Spanish version of Dracula (1931).

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7421

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