The Roots of Heaven ** (1958, Errol Flynn, Juliette Gréco, Trevor Howard, Eddie Albert, Orson Welles, Herbert Lom, Paul Lukas) – Classic Movie Review 8971

Director John Huston’s 1958 adventure drama The Roots of Heaven is a bumpy ride, in which the intelligent dialogue and messages (based on Romain Gary’s novel) take second place to mediocre adventure. It stars the strong ensemble of Errol Flynn, Juliette Gréco, Trevor Howard, Eddie Albert, Orson Welles, Herbert Lom, and Paul Lukas, but even with this cast and Huston at the helm it is still bumpy.

Howard plays Morel, who tries to stop hunters killing elephants and gets drunken Forsythe (Flynn) and singer Minna (Greco) to help, while cynical US media man Cy Sedgewick (Welles) trumpets their cause.

Director Huston had a grand old time filming on location in French Equatorial Africa (Sarh, Chad), but unfortunately his cast and crew were struck down with the extreme heat and fever. The interiors were shot in the studio as Studios de Boulogne-Billancourt/SFP – 2 Rue de Silly, Boulogne-Billancourt, Hauts-de-Seine, France.

Also in the cast are Grégoire Aslan, André Luguet, Edric Connor, Friedrich Ledebur [Friedrich von Ledebur], Olivier Hussenot, Pierre Dudan, Marc Doelnitz, Francis De Wolff, Jacques Marin.

After William Holden pulled out as Morel, Flynn got top billing though Howard has the lead role. Flynn made just one more film (Cuban Rebel Girls) before his early death at 50 on 14 October 1959.

The Roots of Heaven is directed by John Huston, runs 131 minutes, is made by Darryl F Zanuck Productions and Twentieth Century Fox, is released by 20th Century Fox, is written by Romain Gary and Patrick Leigh-Fermor, based on Romain Gary’s novel, is shot in colour by Oswald Morris, is produced by Darryl F Zanuck, is scored by Malcolm Arnold, and is designed by Stephen Grimes and Raymond Gabutti.

Huston left the direction of his previous film The Barbarian and the Geisha (1958) to prepare The Roots of Heaven.

An Open Book by John Huston was published in hardcover on 1 Feb 1984.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8971

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