Another film that doesn't deserve its critical shellacking, though admittedly it could be improved by faster pacing. Capucine is a most unlikely jungle mistress and it is hard to believe in the character either as written or played so coolly by a too pretentiously sophisticated actress, who is yet oddly enough not always photographed to best advantage. Cardiff seems to have stuck to directing. A pity he didn't photograph too, though I suppose even he could do little to disguise the obvious use of doubles in the action and some of the location sequences. Still, he would have made the film more visually and attractively stylish. For all the natural beauty displayed, the style of the film is — like the story — rather bland. There is little to it really, though the players strive and partly succeed (especially Howard) to make it more interesting. The trouble, of course, is that we have seen it all in various guises — "Hatari" et al — before.
Review of The Lion
