(1954)
2.5
Craig Butler
Lushly photographed and featuring a stunning (and stunningly costumed) Elizabeth Taylor, Elephant Walk is a fairly ridiculous melodrama that promises much more than it delivers. Fans of soap operas set in exotic locales will lap it up, and it does provide some guilty pleasures, but it's ultimately too shallow to sustain interest. Worse, despite everyone's best efforts to make this a sizzling romance, the heat never really ignites. Part of the blame lies with director William Dieterle. While he has certainly paid a great deal of attention to the film's production values, giving it a sumptuous look, and while he has provided a pace that keeps things moving at a decent clip, he doesn't seem to have spent a lot of time understanding the characters -- or helping the actors to understand them. The talented Peter Finch wanders around rather aimlessly, and Taylor and Dana Andrews are effective but essentially superficial. Still, if one is in an undemanding mood and willing to just drink in the beauty of the sets, costumes, and Taylor, one could do worse than Elephant Walk.
cast-crew for Elephant Walk on AllMovie
Elephant Walk (1954)
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