DUEL IN THE JUNGLE

(director: George Marshall; screenwriters: Sam Marx/T.J. Morrison/story by S.K. Kennedy; cinematographer: Erwin Hillier; editor: E.B. Jarvis; music: Mischa Spoliansky; cast: Dana Andrews (Scott Walters), Jeanne Crain (Marian Taylor), David Farrar (Perry Henderson / Arthur Henderso), Patrick Barr (Supt. Roberts), George Coulouris (Malburn), Charles Goldner (Martell), Wilfris Hyde-White (Pitt); Runtime: 102; MPAA Rating: NR; producer: Marcel Hellman; Warner Bros; 1954-UK)

“An entertaining adventure film.”

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

George Marshall(“The Mating Game”/”The Gazebo”/”It Started With A Kiss”) skillfully directs. The story by S.K. Kennedy is adapted to the screen by Sam Marx and T.J. Morrison.

Diamond dealer (David Farrar), with a million dollar insurance policy, supposedly drowned in Africa while diving for diamonds, which is cause for the American insurance investigator (Dana Andrews) to be sent by a London insurance firm to go after him for fraud if he’s still alive as suspected. Andrews soon learns that Farrar’s secretary (Jeanne Crain) is engaged to him and after questioning her, she vanishes. Suspecting she’s back in Africa with Farrar, Andrews follows her there. She eludes him on a boat they are both on leaving Johannesburg, but he trails her to the jungle and she leads him to Farrar’s jungle hide-out. Things turn dangerous because Farrar has become unstable.

It’s an entertaining adventure film that’s beautifully shot in Rhodesia by Erwin Hillier. It reunites Dana with his co-star Jeanne Crain from State Fair (1945).

REVIEWED ON 3/28/2016 GRADE: B-