User Reviews

A successful writer (Gregory Peck) lays gravely injured and almost dying from an African hunting accident on the Kilimanjaro's skirts . He remembers his past life and women through numerous flashbacks set in Paris (Montparnasse) , Spain (during civil war) and Africa (Kenya , Kilimanjaro) . Peck's relationship with various lovers (Ava Gardner , Hildegard Nef , Susan Hayward , and Gene Tierney , Anne Francis were also considered for these roles) are the spotlights of the movie , while in a safari tent he is awaiting medical attention to save his gangrenous body and caring him Susan Hayward .

It is an Ernest Hemingway's autobiography based on short tales , specially two novels : ¨Fiesta¨ and ¨Farewell to the arms¨, as the film creates a pastiche where is reflected the author's life . The main yarn about Africa develops an original structure in which other stories emerge . The motion picture has spectacular sets and wonderful outdoors , although there are some stock-shot from Africa . The warlike scenario is good , it's very well shot the Spanish civil warfare , we don't know if it's the battle of Guadalajara , Madrid , Teruel o Ebro , but sure that is referred to anyone those terrible wars . The picture has a little bit boring and being slow moving , in spite of different scenarios , thus it is developed in Africa , Spain , France and other European countries . Nice acting by Gregory Peck and Ava Gardner is attractive and enjoyable . Gregory Peck resisted taking the role because an earlier Ernest Hemingway adaptation he had appeared in , as ¨The Macomber affair¨ (1947) had been a box-office flop . Support cast is frankly good , such as : Hildegard Knef , Leo G. Carroll , Torin Thatcher and Marcel Dalio .

Leom Shamroy's cinematography is stylized and colorful , as it is brilliantly shown in the African landscapes and the episode of bullfights spectacle . Nevertheless , there was some adequate second unit work shot in Kenya , the main actors shot their African scenes in Hollywood . The classic musician Bernard Hermann composes a romantic and agreeable musical score .The motion picture was uneven though professionally directed by Henry King . The movie will appeal to romantic drama enthusiasts and Gregory Peck , Ava Gardner fans.

Gregory Peck leads an all-star cast in "The Snows of Kilimanjaro," a big 1952 film directed by Henry King and produced by Darryl F. Zanuck. With a cast that includes Ava Gardner, Susan Hayward, Hildegarde Neff and Leo J. Carroll, and a story based on a story by Ernest Hemingway, one expects something more - much more - than what is delivered by this plodding film.

Peck plays a writer with a severe leg infection. As he lays in Africa waiting for a transport while his wife (Hayward) cares for him, he believes he's dying. He goes over his past life and loves - a girl he disappoints in his youth, then Cynthia (Gardner) the love of his life, followed by Neff, and Hayward, whom he mistakes for Cynthia when he first meets her.

Henry King mixes some beautiful scenery with stock footage of Africa. Since it's Hemingway, the movie has a macho sensibility - a lot of hunting, drinking, implied sex, and a bullfight. It's only in the last couple of scenes that the film's energy picks up - but by then, it's too late. The performances are okay - strangely, Gardner's character seems the most fleshed out. That isn't saying much - one gets the impression a lot was cut, leaving holes in characterizations and the viewer completely detached from them. Altogether, a disappointing experience.

Many critics and fans love this movie, the best of all Hemingway stories on film perhaps. I think this film is so because it is honest, somewhat autobiographical and derived from a splendid and mature short story of enduring fame.  The plot line of the film is simple.  In a fever because of an accident, Harry lies perhaps dying, tended by his third wife in a camp in Africa.  His delirium causes him, through a long night spent waiting for help to arrive, to relive in his mind the triumphs, disappointments, sorrows, loves and moments of his somewhat unsatisfactory life as an author. He is bitter and takes it out on his wife; but he does not KNOW that he is going to die--so he continues to pester, ask questions, make demands, and study the reverie in his thoughts--which viewers see as extended flashbacks. As Harry Street, Gregory Peck is mostly very good indeed, exactly right for the role not of Hemingway but of a man who had lived what the author describes in the storyline.  As the wives, Hildegarde Neff is cold, beautiful and skilled, showing us how she tried to control Harry and protesting that she had loved him as much as she could.  The first wife, Ava Gardner, plays her part admirably as a young, not-important woman who wants domesticity not excitement (as Harry does), wrecks their union to have a child and drinks herself to death. The third wife, played amiably and with intelligence by Susan Hayward seems almost the product of Harry's training. And if finally she has come to understand, accept and even want his way of life, we assume that finally all will be well at the end.  The medical help arrives; and Harry will live to write more; he wants in fact very much to live again. There are amazingly enjoyable scenes in this big-appearing film--bullfights, a wartime scene, Mediterranean yachts and villas, Paris, and Kenya; and more. it is beautiful, moving and often thought-provoking.  Also in the cast are veterans Torin Thatcher, Leo G. Carroll and Marcel Dalio, all doing superbly.  Henry King directed; Casey Robinson wrote the script; and Leon Shamroy provided stunningly beautiful cinematography.  Harry may feel in the film that he has compromised something to become a success; but he still talks about the snow leopard once found frozen on Mt. Kilimanjaro at 18,000+ feet. He wonders what the leopard was seeking at that altitude--Hemingway's and Harry's parable for human mental curiosity and the sometimes perverse desire to invest much to achieve eventual greatness.  The film may not quite measure up to this famous conception;  but it is grand in mental scale and interesting throughout.

I usually like old films and the title and cast of this one seemed a good bet. What a disappointment. Peck is grossly miscast - he's just not the gigolo he's portrayed, nor does he look like a man who's dying. Nor does 'Cynthia Green' convince me, even the name is too boring for the beautiful Ava Gardner. And the 'hunting' scene - sorry, standing in front of somebody else's adventure backdrop is again unconvincing as are the actual rhino shots, another time another place. The whole script is endlessly boring and I can't wait to get rid of it to the charity shop where I found it. And the 'Africans' - who are they kidding? 'What's he gonna do, sprinkle me with monkey dust?" Oh Lord, somebody please put him out of his misery and dismantle the set. The 'natives' did try to sound as though they'd learned their lines and that unconvincing chant with the luckless rhino head on a stretcher PULEASE! i don't know how painful gangrene is but Peck sure is bearing up well considering he only had his bandage changed but once and did he utter a sound when Hayward lanced the horrid green swelling? Nope, just looked his normal handsome self. Perhaps Humphrey Bogart might have managed this ponderously awful script better..but even he can't do miracles. The only one who deserved an Oscar was the hyena sniffing around the tent with a view to his next meal.

For some reason, this 'classic' popped up on my radar, perhaps whilst I was reading my Jimmy Stewart bio (Go figure). Anyway, Gregory Peck takes a role that might have better been for suited to a laconic & reflective Jimmy Stewart. He is the adventurous, Hemingway-like male author, Harry Street, reflecting on his life and loves while he convalesces from a nasty infection in his leg. Devoted wife (#3?), played by Susan Hayward attends to his wound patiently whilst the two wait for medical help to arrive, all in the shadows of the mighty Kilimanjaro.

That's it. Harry marries pretty wives Ava Gardner & Hildegard Knef and mistreats both, but his career as an author takes off, allowing him a lavish lifestyle and to travel, as he pleases (with no consideration for his current wife). We see all this in a series of flashbacks. Peck plays a good role, I suppose: it's just that not much happens. There are bullfighting action, and battle scenes from the Spanish Civil War, but at a pedestrian pace. We frequently toggle back to hear frantic chat between Peck and Hayward, prompting my wife to holler, Just die, will ya?

Pacing and script seemed to be lacking. I wonder why the Director chose to make such a lengthy (1:54) cut? The story could have been told in 1 1/2 hours easily, cutting oodles of empty, repetitious talk.

***SPOILERS*** Long and tiring movie that chronicles the life and times of world renowned writer and big game hunter Harry Street, Gregory Peck. We get the story straight from the horses, Harry himself, mouth as he lay dying on a sickbed in the African bush country from a gangrenous infection. This happened when Harry jumped into a river trying to save one of the natives who fell in that was a member of his safari. Harry if anything was more responsible then the herd of hippos that attacked and killed the native by having the boat go too close to the hippos in order for him to get some pictures. Helen, Susan Haywerd,Harry's wife who's on the safari with him could only hope and pray for help in the way of medical supply to arrive in order to save his life.

As Harry goes in and out of consciousness we get to see his life story through his thoughts and feelings and how his cold and selfish personality just about destroyed every relationship that he ever had including the love of his life Cynthia, Ava Gardner. Harry met Cynthia Green in Paris when he was a poor and struggling young writer as they lived together in a one room flat that he had in the poor side of town.

As Harry got famous through the books that he wrote he became more and more detached from Cynthia that left her hurt and dejected. Finding out from her doctor that she's with child Cynthia tried to give the good news to Harry hoping that it would bring them both back together. Harry was so cold and unfeeling and at the same time so in to himself when Cynthia was about to announce the coming blessed event to him that not only did she drop the whole subject but fell or jumped down a flight of stairs causing her to have a miscarriage!

Harry, after recovering from the shock of Cynyhina's accident and loss of her and his unborn child, still treated Cynthia more or less like dirt being too stuck up on his own importance to the literary world in the books and article he wrote to really care about her. Cynthia became so disgusted of him and the way he acted toward her that one evening she just got up and walked out on Harry as he was munching on a bowl of veggies. Cynthia did that by leaving Harry for a dancer who was preforming at a restaurant that they were dining at. Harry went on his way to become more famous in the world of books and big game hunting and continued to have more and more affairs with beautiful women like Cynthia who were more or less one night stands to him. But the spark was gone from his life with Cynthia no longer being with him.

Like joining the French Foreign Leagion Harry joined the fight against Fascism in Spain to forget what he did to Cynthia and it was there that Harry was to unexpectedly find her! Cynthia also joined the anti-Facists fighters there where Harry found her dying after she was crushed by the ambulance that ran over a land mine that she was driving as a volunteer!

It in a way did bring out the best as well as human side of Harry when she forgave him for everything that he did to her and he showed real emotions for the first time as she practically died in his arms. Harry then forgot himself and ran the opposite way on the battlefield after the stretcher bearers who were carrying away his beloved Cynthia. It's then that he was shot and wounded by an officer in his unit thinking that he was a coward and deserting his post! By now nothing seems to be going right for him. Even though Harry later married he never forgot the beautiful as well as tragic Cynthia and never forgave himself, even though she did, for what he did to her.

Back to the present in Africa in the shadows of the majestic 19,710 foot high Mt.Kilimanjaro Harry waits for the enviable and as all hope is just about gone for him surviving he still manages to pull a rabbit out of his hat. With darkness falling and Harry in all probability never to see the sunrise again there's still one more surprise that fate, or the script writers, have left for him in the movie that's coming Harry's way and this time for once it won't be all that bad.

Very dull and boring movie that seemed to go on forever and ever more with Harry going through all the stages that one would go through from life to death as he's slowly dying right before our eyes. I myself felt as if I was attending his funeral without him yet being dead. The script writers just should have let Harry die peacefully instead of having the unbelievably ridicules ending that concluded the film. I don't know for sure, since I didn't read the book, that if the ending in the movie to "Snows of Kilimanjaro" was the same as the one in the Earnest Hemingway short story. But I do know that it was one of the worst endings I've ever seen in a film.

The Snows of Kilamanjiro is a moderately touching story of a writer (Peck), who, close to death in Africa, tells his neglected wife of his past love (Gardner), who he can't seem to forget.

The tone of the film is sometimes a tad over dramatic and the first time in Africa shows some technically bad shots of the animals and the rivers. However, if we look at this film from a technical aspect, it has a lot to recommend. I loved the colours in the film, especially the blues of the skies. They are bright and filled me with nostalgia.

Furthermore, the way the story is told is great. We are told of Peck's love life through a series of flashbacks. The actual tale itself is drawn out, but some moments make it worth the ride. The tragedy of Peck's character is one many people can relate to; the artist pursues his "art", but neglects the emotions he speaks so highly of.

Peck and Gardner are great as the leading roles. Peck sometimes mumbles his lines, but that is part and parcel of his charm in the film. Susan Hayward is great as the neglected wife.

This film does have moments of brilliance. It has some heart breaking moments, but it is fleshed out by some un-believable events and bum choices by the director. I couldn't help but feel that the THEMES (capital letters, everyone), were slapped on a little too heavily sometimes. Sure, we can be shown reasons of Harry's tragic downfall, but does it have to be spelt out for us? I think the director should have left some of the thoughts and memories for the audience to think of.

Still, a good film, with wonderful colour and some great tear-jerker moments. Worth a watch.

This film has been in the public domain for years and every copy I've seen on video or DVD as well as the ones I've seen on TV all feature a pretty lousy print. Perhaps there is a clean one out there somewhere, but I haven't seen it. And, after watching the film all the way through (something I have attempted unsuccessfully before on several occasions), I could see why no one bothered to protect the copyright on this film. While it isn't exactly bad, it's so dull and uninspired that I am sure nobody even cared to worry about royalties! Now think about it,...the film stars Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner and Susan Hayward and is based on the tumultuous life of Ernest Hemmingway and it still is very dull in places and at best an ordinary film (though I won't be that generous).

So why is it such a disappointment? Well, the biggest problem was just how cheap the film looked. The location scenes clearly look like they were filmed by a second unit without the stars and the close-up scenes appear as if they were poorly staged in front of filmed footage. While I might expect this sort of sloppiness from an old one-reel comedy, I don't expect it from a big-budget film with top Hollywood talent. It really looked as if they spent too much on the stars and had nothing left to make the film! The other problem was that although Hemingway led a very adventurous life and traveled the world, once you dig beneath the exterior, you are left with a pretty rotten person who isn't exactly cuddly and endearing. While his devoted friends and fans probably will care whether Peck survives his injury, I found I just didn't particularly care--as the character Peck played didn't care--nor did I. And what you are left with are a long series of mildly interesting of flashbacks that tell about the author. The only way the film really works is as a psychological study--not as entertainment.

Every time Harry Street (Gregory Peck) starts to light up a cigarette in this film, it seems like a beautiful woman pops out of nowhere and brazenly sticks her ciggy into the flame too. Must be nice to radiate that kind of sex appeal. Little do the ladies know, Harry has an overwhelming personality. It's so strong that his true love, Cyn (Ava Gardener), doesn't want to tell him she's pregnant because it will slow him down. You see he bounces from continent to continent looking for stories for his novels.

The story consists mostly of a series of flashbacks by Street as he lays badly wounded on a cot in Africa. He has a gangrenous leg caused by a minor wound he let fester. He is married and being tended to by a beautiful woman, played by Susan Hayward, whom he cares nothing about. In fact, near the end, he tells her "I've never really seen you before". That's because it's all been about Harry and whatever Harry wanted. For example, he thinks nothing of endangering her and two natives by maneuvering a canoe too close to a group of hippos. One of the natives is mauled and dies in the incident.

This film is a little too overly dramatic for my taste. The last 20 -30 minutes of the movie, after all the major flashbacks are done and his health takes a turn for the worst, seems to drag on and on. The director should have had Harry blow his brains out, as Hemingway did.

Boring, talkative movie, too long, over-acted movie with dull camera work about a wounded, but dull Hemingway-like writer yakking away in an African plain, remembering his dead first wife, while fighting off death.

Half way through you are yelling, "Die Already." When the Hyena shows up, you are hoping that the beast eats the bore.

Nobody shines in this movie.

Peck is awful.

Gardner's character is a cliché.

Hayward isn't even interesting.

King's direction is stuck in the mud.

Big budget bloated bore.

I saw this as a kid and thought it was an OK adventure movie. But seeing it again in middle age just blew me away. It really is the story of a man's life: looking back on lost opportunities, failed loves, and (as it's so beautifully described in the script) "losing the scent" in your life's direction. Gardner is mesmerizing; Hayward is dynamic. The Bernard Herrman score hits the mark again. And the set decoration and cinematography are superlative examples of the studio system at its most artistic.

Of course, the fact that jazz immortal Benny Carter plays tenor sax during a Paris party scene adds an enormous amount of cool points to this movie for me!

Over his distinguished half-century career, Gregory Peck convincing played advertising executives, small-town lawyers, foreign correspondents, missionaries, generals, and even a Nazi murderer; however, the hard drinking, womanizing, big game hunter of Ernest Hemingway's "The Snows of Kilimanjaro" was a miscasting beyond his grasp. Peck plays best-selling author Harry Street, who lays gravely ill on the African plains beneath a snow-capped Mount Kilimanjaro. As he tosses feverishly on his cot, Harry reviews his life, or rather his tumultuous romantic affairs, in bursts of memory-induced flashbacks.

Cool, remote, and polished, Peck is unconvincing as the adventurous hot-blooded lover of Ava Gardner, Susan Hayward, and Hildegard Knef; a man who shot rhinos in Africa and fought in the Spanish Civil War, without ruffling his hair. Based on Hemingway's 1936 short story, the film adaptation was directed by Henry King, a 20th Century Fox contract director, who elicited fine performances from Peck in "The Gunfighter" and "Twelve O'Clock High," and who would go on to direct another Hemingway adaptation, "The Sun Also Rises."

The choppy film jumps back and forth in time and place as Street's stream-of-conscious memories flit between Paris, Madrid, and Africa, between Gardner's dark haired Cynthia, Knef's blonde Countess, and Hayward's fiery red Helen; at least Harry likes variety. The three romantic liaisons portray three women who tolerate much in Street, who puts his writer persona first and his relationships second; when a handsome passionate Spanish flamenco dancer flirts with Gardner, one wishes the young dancer were playing Harry. Gardner's Cynthia was supposedly the love of Street's life, and Gardner is arguably the most memorable of the cast, although, as the wealthy possessive Countess, Knef is convincing, if unlikeable, while Hayward's caring rich widow, Helen, is typical Hayward. Unfortunately, Street's memories involve much talk and little excitement. The sole action sequence centers on Street's unexplained involvement in the Spanish Civil War, during which he appears to wander a battlefield dazed and charge the enemy armed with a rifle and a blank look; an improbable eye-rolling encounter on the field of battle passes unexplained.

This adaptation of Hemingway's story often strays from the original, although fleeting traces remain in an introductory narration and an intrusive hyena. However, the character of Cynthia was fabricated for the movie, and the endings are completely different. Although the cast evidently remained in Hollywood and obvious rear projection and long shots of doubles abound, the film boasts fine cinematography by Leon Shamroy and a Bernard Herrmann score. Unfortunately, saddled by a miscast Peck and a script that deviates too far from the short story, seeking out the Hemingway original may be a better option that looking for this film.

An adventure romance drama based on the 1936 short novel with the same title by Ernest Hemingway (1856-1925).

The film starred Gregory Peck, Susan Hayward and Eva Gardner.

A writer, Harry Street, feverishly reflects on his life failures, as he lies dying at a campsite in the shadow of Kilimanjaro, from an infected thorn prick in the leg, while on safari. Caring for him is his wife Helen (Susan Hayward).

Through his delirium, Harry reflects on Cynthia (Ava Gardner) who is no longer alive. Harry had lost Cynthia as a result of his obsession to roam the world in search of stories to write about.

Harry's on and off delirium plays out on the screen in flashbacks that take the moviegoers to Spain, Italy, France, and Africa. His devoted wife Helen listens to Harry's rants and endures his talk of lost romances (it wasn't only Cynthia) as she stubbornly nurses and watches over him, and tries to instill in him the resolve to fight his illness. She even drains the swelling on his leg with a knife which likely saved him from dying until help arrives.

The cinematography and the music score were great as would be expected from a studio movie set in Africa.

The acting was also good, but the script was very abrupt and melodramatic at times. The flashbacks failed to properly develop exciting subplots. Consequently, the entire movie comes across as rather slow and flat. It falls way below expectations. I rate it a 6. It is on YouTube.

The film was the 3rd highest grossing movie of 1952.

Feels almost like an autobiographic movie about Ernest Hemingway that is set against the beautiful backdrop of Kilimanjaro, Paris and Spain. It is about how he (Gregory Peck) is bed-ridden and thinking about his past women conquests and how he lost them. The movie has a good cast that is watchable, but the movie is terribly edited which makes the film feel slow and the film is uninspired in how it is shot.

The Snows of Kilimanjaro gives Gregory Peck a privilege afforded only Gary Cooper previously, a second chance to be an Ernest Hemingway hero in a film. Just as Cooper had done A Farewell to Arms and For Whom the Bell Tolls, Peck had previously starred in The Macomber Affair.

This was also his second film with both Susan Hayward and Ava Gardner. It's a pity that the film did not call for the two of them to be sharing any scenes, that would have made it a better film.

Peck is novelist Harry Street, a man modeled by Ernest Hemingway on the character of Ernest Hemingway. Or at least some of the less attractive aspects of him. He's at a safari camp at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro in Kenya and slowly dying of blood poisoning while his second wife, Susan Hayward attends him and awaits for a plane that can do a medical evacuation, hopefully in time.

Hayward knows that she's always come up second best in Peck's eyes to his first wife Ava Gardner. In his feverish delirium Peck's mind starts wandering back over his life and especially to his early days in Paris as part of Hemingway's lost generation. And the relationship with his first wife.

The problem I find with this film is that Peck's character is so self involved that I can't see why these two beautiful women are falling all over for him. Maybe that's an occupational hazard with authors or artists of any kind, but it prevents The Snows of Kilimanjaro from being a first rate film or first rate Hemingway.

Nevertheless the stars are just fine in their parts and another part you should look for is that of Leo G. Carroll who is Peck's uncle and mentor. It's a kinder, gentler version of Elliott Templeton from The Razor's Edge. For that reason I'm sure it must have been offered to Clifton Webb.

There are some gorgeous sets and terrific color cinematography and not surprising that The Snows of Kilimanjaro was nominated for Oscars in both categories.

If you want to see Gregory Peck as a Hemingway hero, check out The Macomber Affair before this one. And if you want to see Ava Gardner as a Hemingway heroine, check out The Sun Also Rises. As for Susan, this was her one and only shot with Papa.

This movie is based on the memoirs of Ernest Hemingway and is directed by Henry King. In a nut shell the story arises from a injured man who's leg is infected from a thorn lodged in it. The dying man is Harry Street (Gregory Peck) who believes he is dying and begins to reflect on a wasted life. With his third wife (Susan Hayward) at his side, Harry recounts what he considers are the highlights of his writing career. Each segment illuminates the drama of Bullfighting in Madrid, participating in the Franco Spanish war, boating in the Mediterranean sea and on safari in Africa. However, despite all his adventures and having to write his personal exploits, he feels that none of them ever measured up to his real ambition or success. Further, none ever brought him closer to answering his uncle's riddle of 'the snow leopard on the summit of Kilimmajaro.' For fans of Gregory Peck, this movie is slow to excite or entertain as Peck is known as a man of action. Indeed, his cast members which include Leo G. Carroll and Torin Thatcher neither lend or detract from the film. As a result, Peck's death bed recollections are anticlimactically to his other screen roles. Still, his screen appearance is enough to warrant audience attention. Taken as part of his life works' this film is a must, to see or to put it on a shelf as a Classic. ****

The director makes it very easy to not care about this film. True, the story is based on an essentially unsympathetic character...but there seems to be no message or point to telling the story of the wasted life of a writer who finally realizes how much frittered away his energy on meaningless definitions of success. But even that message is carried poorly in the film. The women are all one-dimensional and overly-devoted to Harry who basically drinks and throws himself into any adventure to distract himself from important writing. There is a lot of excess footage. Uninteresting and long "takes" of hyenas walking around. Vultures in trees. Musicians playing soullessly... the film is a sad waste of talent and time.

The story... if you can call it that, unfolds as a plodding series of flashbacks while Harry lies fevered on a cot in Africa, suffering from gangrene.

The fetid stench of his leg draws the attention of vultures which foreshadow his demise as well as a hyena that seems to laugh at his condition: rotting from the inside out. The title of the film alludes to a "riddle" of why a leopard carcass might be found on top of a tall mountain with snow. But Harry's "answer" is some poorly recorded mumbling about getting back to the jungle, which makes no sense. It would have been simple to say that the leopard perished trying to travel where he is not made to go... achieving pointless heights. Or even a romantic justification could be offered; the leopard seeks his mate, but he cannot find her anywhere and begins to look in places where she cannot be in sheer desperation to quench his longing for her. But no. The filmmakers saved the literary license for the ending of the film, where a rescue is implied. The film suggests that he lives, but it is a delusion of Harry's that any plane ever arrives.

Director Henry King is what keeps this movie from getting 10 stars. Yet, despite his poor cinematography, poor directing and failure to take advantage of scenic backdrops (yet they shine through occasionally), the cast and the story save the film.

Peck portrays former Chicago Times journalist Harry Street, a fictional character penned by Ernest Hemmingway, portraying a strong glimpse himself . . . a bit ego-centric while feigning humility and modesty. Peck is superb at bringing Harry Street to life . . . and Hemmingway is always looming in the background of Street's character, like a phantom . . . the boozing womanizer, masking his insecurities with alcohol, egotism, aloofness toward other's feelings and needs. The beautiful, sexy, gorgeous Ava Gardner, one of the VERY few Hollywood starlets who could actually act, gives an excellent performance as the emotionally insecure, very dependent, sexually charged, less than moral, love of his life. Co-dependency could have been based on her character, Cynthia Green. Cynthia was too insecure to let Street live his life . . . Street was too self-centered and aloof to recognize Cynthia's emotional needs . . . very Hemmingway!

As he lay delirious on a bed in Africa, from a thorn scratch infection, snow covered Mt. Kilimanjaro looming in the background, Street recalls the lost loves of his past years, with Cynthia dominating his memories, as his one true love. His current wife, Helen, portrayed by Susan Hayward, tries desperately to find her place in his life, always feeling herself in the shadow of Cynthia and a later love, Countess Liz, played by Hildegard Neff, a selfish and insecure socialite, desperate to hang onto Street. Feverishly, Street flows in and out of consciousness, the scenes from his memories playing out in his mind, as Helen compassionately wipes his sweaty brow and tries to care for him, as he pushes her away.

This is a good film! Hemmingway fans should receive it well, as should fans of Peck and Gardner.

Ernest Hemingway, one of the most admired writers of the last century, was alive when this movie came out in 1952. One wonders what did Mr. Hemingway think the creative 'geniuses' behind this film did to "The Snows of Killimanjaro"? Hollywood didn't do so well in adapting Papa's novels to the screen, but who knows, he must have been able to pay for another safari to Africa, or maybe another fishing trip with the "old man" in Cuba with the money he got after he sold the film's rights. As a novel, "The Snows of Killimanjaro" was not one of Mr. Hemingway's best works.

God only knows that what director Henry King and his team had in mind when they undertook to do the film based on Hemingway's novel? Maybe Mr. King wanted to travel to all the places in which the action is set. The only thing one can say is that after more than fifty years this wasn't a good film then, or now.

The acting is bad in general. Gregory Peck, an otherwise brilliant actor, does nothing to bring Harry Street to life. The Helen of Susan Hayward is at times horrible and completely silly. Ava Gardner's as a driver for the Republican forces in the Spanish Civil War? Give me a break! There is one scene in which Harry and Cynthia are dining and drinking in a Madrid restaurant which features a male flamenco dancer who bears an uncanny resemblance to Tyrone Power, and we wondered if this Richard Allan, who is credited with the dancing and charming Ava, was in reality Mr. Power performing an inside joke? Did anyone notice it, or was it me?

At any rate, "The Snows of Killimanjaro", is a film to watch at the viewer's own risk.