Cornel wilde beard8/31/2023 ![]() In the winter of 1964-65, Wilde, his wife, actress Jean Wallace, and co-producer Sven Persson traveled to Northern Transvaal to begin filming The Naked Prey with location shooting in the Kruger National Park, Botswana, Mozambique and Rhodesia. But the constant movement in The Naked Prey really appealed to me, and the challenge of keeping it different all the time, so that each section of the chase had a different kind of excitement in it." They certainly can be, because even in a room you can do wonderful things with a camera. Not that I think dialogue films are not true motion pictures. The Naked Prey was essentially a motion picture, instead of a transplanted play. ![]() If you apply the yardstick of asking yourself continually whether what you are doing is proving a thesis, then you remove all extraneous things. The action was inherent, but so was what it had to say: that man must learn to understand his fellow man, no matter how different he is, or all men will live like the animals in the jungle. That and the fact that it had a realistic quality, and that I could find a theme in it to work toward all the time. ![]() The main idea was using man as a beast and hunting him." It was Wilde's intention to make The Naked Prey a movie that told its story through visual terms and little dialogue, a fact that is borne out by the dialogue continuity script which was only nine pages long.Īccording to an interview with Gordon Cow for Films and Filming there were also other reasons why he wanted to make the movie: "This reliance upon the visuals attracted me, of course. According to Wilde, "I bought it, changed the site to Africa and read Stanley's diary and some material by Livingstone. He is given a brief head start and then the chase begins, one which will test his strength, endurance and cunning repeatedly as he attempts to reach safety.Ĭornel Wilde began the project in earnest after reading a story taken from a radio play that was, in turn, an adaptation of "John Colter's Escape," a 1913 record of a fur trapper's escape from Blackfoot Indians in Wyoming. Only the safari guide is allowed to live.if he can outrun a group of armed warriors in pursuit. When the arrogant ivory hunter (Gert Van den Bergh), who is financing the safari, refuses to pay homage to a group of tribesmen for entering their territory, there is bloody retribution. Only now, almost twenty years after his death, is his work as a director being reappraised as some of the most original and compelling work in the American cinema with his fifth feature, The Naked Prey (1966), regarded as possibly his finest achievement.īearing similarities to the 1932 film version of Richard Edward Connell's short story, The Most Dangerous Game, a movie that had a profound effect on Wilde as a young boy, The Naked Prey follows a safari guide (Wilde) as he leads his party through the South African jungle. As he does so, he looks back and sees the chief tribesman award him with a salute of respect.Īlthough he directed and produced eight feature films during his career, Cornel Wilde was better known to movie audiences as an actor who excelled in swashbucklers ( At Sword's Point, 1952) and athletic action roles ( The Greatest Show on Earth, 1952). Although he is almost caught, his luck and courage carry him through, and he crawls to safety. ![]() After days of fighting both the jungle and his pursuers, the man reaches sight of a mission fort. He wards off starvation by eating raw plants and snakes and stealing food cornered, he uses his cunning to escape when trapped, he saves his life by killing his foe. Given a headstart, he is to compete in "The Chance of the Lion," an ancient game of survival in which he will be hunted by tribe members who have killed 10 lions. The hunter's punishment is to be stripped of his clothing, weapons, and food and set free. Through the rudeness of the hunter's employer, the natives are stirred to anger and revenge, and as a result, he and his party are attacked and brutally tortured to death by the tribesmen. In the 19th century, a white hunter is preparing to lead a safari into the South African jungle.
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