gridoon2024 Review of The Naked Jungle

The Naked Jungle (1954)

See this for Eleanor Parker in Technicolor - the ants are just a bonus

[7/10 · 8 January 2020]

If you go into "The Naked Jungle" expecting just a killer-ants film, you'll probably be disappointed; the word "ant" is not even mentioned until halfway through the film, and an ant is not seen until the last 20 minutes or so. But do not despair! Beautiful Technicolor, exotic locales, campy dramatics (especially when Heston equates a previously married woman to a used piano (!) and, later, sprays perfume all over her), and a hot (by any era's standards) Eleanor Parker (the scene where she invites Heston to rub her is undeniably erotically charged) in a surprisingly progressive female portrait, carry the movie for the most part; the killer ants are just a bonus. Although the film never really succeeds in making the ants scary, the scenes of their "swarming" in billions, as well as the scenes of flooding at the end, are quite impressive. *** out of 4.