Director:

John Huston
 

Writers:

Romain Gary (novel)
Romain Gary (screenplay)
 

15 October 1958 (USA)

 

Genre:

Adventure / Drama 

In Fort Lamy, French Equitorial Africa, idealist Morel (Trevor Howard)launches a one-man campaign to preserve the African elephant from extinction, which he sees as the last remaining "roots of Heaven." At first, he finds only support from Minna (Juliette Greco), hostess of the town's only night club, who is in love with him, and a derelict ex-British Army Major, Forsythe (Errol Flynn.) His crusade gains momentum and he is soon surrounded by an odd assortment of characters: Cy Sedgewick (Orson Welles), an American TV commentator who becomes impressed and rallies world-wide support; a U.S. photographer,Abe Fields (Eddie Albert), who is sent to do a picture story on Morel and stays on to follow his ideals; Saint Denis (Paul Lukas), a government aide ordered to stop Morel; Orsini (Herbert Lom), a professional ivory hunter whose vested interests aren't the same as Morel's; and Waitari (Edric Connor), leader of a Pan-African movement who follows Morel only for the personal good it will do his own campaign

 

 

Errol Flynn	...	Forsythe
Juliette Gréco	...	Minna (as Juliette Greco)
Trevor Howard	...	Morel
Eddie Albert	...	Abe Fields
Orson Welles	...	Cy Sedgewick
Paul Lukas	...	Saint Denis
Herbert Lom	...	Orsini
Grégoire Aslan	...	Habib
André Luguet	...	Governor
Friedrich von Ledebur	...	Peer Qvist (as Friedrich Ledebur)
Edric Connor	...	Waitari
Olivier Hussenot	...	Baron
Pierre Dudan	...	Major Schölscher
Marc Doelnitz	...	De Vries
Francis De Wolff	...	Father Farque (as Francis de Wolff)
Dan Jackson	...	Madjumba
Maurice Cannon	...	Haas
Jacques Marin	...	Cerisot
Habib Benglia	...	Korotoro
Bachir Touré	...	Yussef
Alain Saury	...	A.D.C
Roscoe Stallworth	...	N'Dolo
Hassane Fall	...	Inguele (as Assane Fall)
Colin Drake	...	Journalist (uncredited)
Hans Verner	...	(uncredited)

 

 

Runtime:

121 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (DeLuxe)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1 more

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (Westrex Recording System)

 

Company:

Darryl F. Zanuck Productions more