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Mogambo Overview:

Mogambo (1953) was a Drama - Adventure Film directed by John Ford and produced by Sam Zimbalist.

SYNOPSIS

Gable, Kelly, and Gardner go on an African safari where they look glamorous enough to have just wandered by for cocktails. Gable plays the magnetic macho great white hunter, and Gardner the woman hunting the hunter while trying to distract the wandering eyes of the cool, married Kelly. A more sensual remake of Red Dust, in which Gable costarred with Jean Harlow 21 years later, aided by the assured direction of Ford and a dazzling cast.

(Source: available at Amazon AMC Classic Movie Companion).

Academy Awards 1953 --- Ceremony Number 26 (source: AMPAS)

AwardRecipientResult
Best ActressAva GardnerNominated
Best Supporting ActressGrace KellyNominated
See More Oscar Winners

Mogambo BlogHub Articles:

Mogambo (1953): John Ford Updates Red Dust

By 4 Star Film Fan on Aug 16, 2021 From 4 Star Films

Whether it’s apocryphal or not the term “Mogambo” is purported to be the Swahili word for “passion,” although it’s difficult to know if this was only hearsay propagated by westerners (now including myself). Regardless, it boasts an intriguing if altogether curious... Read full article

90 Years of MGM- 1932’s Red Dust and 1953’s Mogambo

By Orson De Welles on Jun 26, 2014 From Classic Film Freak

Share This!The battle of the sexes! The battle of the gorillas! These two films basically follow the same general plot but as pieces of entertainment are as different as a hurricane and a drought. And, although this is a reposting of an old post from a few years ago, we have one important change to ... Read full article

“All Sorts of Hunger in the World”: Mogambo

By Brandie on Aug 25, 2013 From True Classics

Two decades after burning up the screen with Jean Harlow in Red Dust (1932), Clark Gable returned to the material that had made him one of the preeminent leading men of the 1930s when he starred in Mogambo (1953). This time around, the action–shot on location and brought to life in splendid ... Read full article

Mogambo(1953).

By Dawn on Jul 2, 2012 From Noir and Chick Flicks

Mogambo(1953). Directer: John Ford. Cast: Clark Gable, Ava Gardner, Grace Kelly and Donald Sinden. The film was adapted from the play by Wilson Colliso. Kelly won a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress (1954), and the film was nominated for two Oscars, Best Actress in a Leading Role (Gardner), a... Read full article

Mogambo

By RBuccicone on Mar 20, 2012 From MacGuffin Movies

Mogambo (1953)      Twenty-one years after Clark Gable made the exotically set romantic triangle drama Red Dust, he made it again. Gable’s rubber plantation owner in Indochina moves to Africa to a job in exotic animal sales for Mogambo. Replace Jean Harlow‘s slutty prostitute with ... Read full article

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Mogambo Quotes:

Victor Marswell: Sometimes it
[alcohol]
Victor Marswell: gets you nasty enough to get a nasty job done.
Eloise Y. 'Honey Bear' Kelly: This is no Sir Galahad who loves from afar. This is a two-legged boa constrictor.
[Vic hoists a young rhinoceros out of a trap]
Eloise Kelly: Hey! A kangaroo.
Eloise Y. 'Honey Bear' Kelly: The only lions I ever want to see again are the two in front of the public library.
Eloise Kelly: Look, Buster, don't you get overstimulated with me!
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Mogambo Facts
Clark Gable did not get along with director John Ford during filming, and at one point walked off the set in protest at Ford's treatment of Ava Gardner. Ford also made several remarks about Gable's age and weathered appearance.
During filming Ava Gardner flew to London to have an abortion after she became pregnant with Frank Sinatra's child.
Although the original trailer for the film explains that "Mogambo" means "the Greatest," in fact, the word "Mogambo" has no meaning at all. Producer Sam Zimbalist came up with the title by altering the name of the Mocambo, a famous Hollywood nightclub.
Donald Sinden (and all male members of the crew who removed their shirts) had to shave any hair from their chests daily, as Clark Gable (who did not have a hairy chest) thought it an affront to his 'manliness'.
The censors in Spain did not allow adultery to be shown on the screen. For that reason, MGM changed the relationship of the characters of Linda Nordley (Grace Kelly) and Donald Nordley (Donald Sinden) from wife and husband to sister and brother in the dubbed version released in Spain. However, they did not delete a scene in which both share a bed together.
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