Main Cast: Gregory Peck, Robert Preston, Joan Bennett, Reginald Denny, Carl Harbord
Release Year: 1947
Country: US
Run Time: 89 minutes
Plot
When a man dies under suspicious circumstances, the law must decide if it was murder or an accident. Francis Macomber (Robert Preston) is a wealthy, carefree gentleman who hires Robert Wilson (Gregory Peck), an expert hunter, as his guide when he sets off on a safari in Kenya. Francis' wife Margaret (Joan Bennett) regards her husband as a fool and a coward, and before long, she develops a strong attraction to Robert -- which she does not bother to keep secret. However, Robert informs her that as a matter of personal ethics, he would not consider becoming involved with her. After several weeks on the African savannah, Francis feels himself changing; he's developed a new bravery and sense of confidence, and as a test of himself, he one day stands in the path of a charging buffalo as he prepares to shoot. However, shots ring out from behind him, and Francis falls dead. Margaret insists that she was trying to kill the animal before it could trample Francis and missed, but given her well-documented contempt for her husband, the widow finds herself on trial for murder. The Macomber Affair was based on the short story "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber" by Ernest Hemingway, though director Zoltan Korda found it necessary to rework the material (with the input of the featured cast) in order to appease the industry censors of the day. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review
The Macomber Affair is an unsuccessful attempt to translate one of Ernest Hemingway's best-known short stories to the screen. Hemingway is a hard one to make work on film. If lifted straight from the page, his dialogue can sound stilted. The underlying messages of his stories, which are developed through careful prose stylings, are hard to convey subtly in a different medium. And reduced to their plot essentials, without the genius that his meticulous prose brings to them, they can seem a bit blunt and obvious. All of these problems are present to varying degrees in Macomber, but they are compounded by a Hollywood-ized wrap-up that is amazingly untrue to the spirit of the original -- and to even what has come before it on the screen. On the page, it seems clear that the wife's shooting of her husband was no accident; on the screen, this is cleaned up to allow the possibility that it was an accident, thus negating the impact of the story. Zoltan Korda's direction is surprisingly tame, given the ferocity of the material. Gregory Peck is likewise much too tame, uncomfortable in a role for which he is not ideal casting. Joan Bennett is somewhat better, but she too is not the best choice for the role. Only Robert Preston turns in a good performance, and his makes up for many of the film's flaws. Although modern audiences will deride the juxtapositions of location shooting and studio scenery, the former is quite good. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Earl Smith - Kangoni; Vernon P. Downing - Reporter Logan; Jean Gillie - Aimee; Darby Jones - Masai Warrior; Hassan Said - Abdullah; Martin Wilkins - Bartender; Frederic Worlock - Clerk
Credit
Erno Metzner - Art Director, Greta - Costume Designer, Jerry Bos - Costume Designer, Zoltan Korda - Director, Jack Wheeler - Editor, George Feld - Editor, Miklos Rozsa - Composer (Music Score), Miklos Rozsa - Musical Direction/Supervision, Otis Malcolm - Makeup, Freddie Francis - Cinematographer, Karl Struss - Cinematographer, John Wilcox - Cinematographer, Osmond H. Borradaile - Cinematographer, Benedict E. Bogeaus - Producer, Casey Robinson - Producer, Frank Arnold - Screenwriter, Casey Robinson - Screenwriter, Ernest Hemingway - Book Author
