mukava991 Francis and Margaret Macomber, a wealthy, sophisticated American couple whose marriage is on the rocks, go on an African safari under the supervision of Robert Wilson, a professional game hunter. All Macomber wants to do is to be a "real man" and prove it to his wife by facing and killing dangerous wild animals in her presence. But then boom, she "accidentally" shoots him in the back while trying to protect him from the charge of a wounded buffalo. This moment is the culmination of two days of anguish during which we have learned about Mr. Macomber's fears and obsessions, from his panicked reaction to a charging lion, his subsequent turmoil and feelings of personal redemption after a successful buffalo hunt. Finally he is happy, for the few minutes before his death. Hence Hemingway's brilliant original title, "The Short, Happy Life of Francis Macomber." This adaptation is virtually spoiler-proof because it gives away the ending at the beginning. On paper it was a tersely told tale with deep subtext to which the screen version adds dollops of Freudian-tinged expository and explanatory dialogue. For a Hemingway-based film, it's quite talky. Substantial framing material has been added at the beginning and end to explain the Macombers' unstable relationship and a scene midway is awkwardly extended into physical violence to emphasize Macomber's insecurities about his manliness.Wilson has been Americanized and prettified by the casting of beautiful young Gregory Peck, who actually better fits Hemingway's description of Macomber (played ably but unexcitingly by Robert Preston). Trevor Howard would have been a closer match; the character's colonial- era Brit-flavored dialogue, retained intact in the screenplay, often falls flat delivered in Peck's American accent and he is just too clean-cut cute to convince as a veteran hunter in the hot and dusty wilds. (It is said that Hemingway based this character on Denys Finch Hatton, the real-life big-game-hunting English lover of "Out of Africa" author Isak Dinesen; coincidentally, in the glossy 1985 screen adaptation of Dinesen's story Hatton was effectively Americanized and glamourized by the miscasting of Robert Redford.) Also retained from the original story are numerous remarks about the fair-skinned Wilson's "red face" which make no sense because (a) the film is in black-and-white; (b) Peck's complexion does not lend itself to redness, even theoretically; he is basically as cool as a cucumber throughout. Margaret Macomber's screen embodiment is straightforward and loyal to the source: a glamour puss with attitude, just beyond the flush of youth, played appropriately by Joan Bennett during that interesting phase of her career when she was working with Lang, Renoir and Ophuls.The outdoor hunting scenes look authentic. Miklos Rozsa intensifies the proceedings with strong musical strokes, but they sound like borrowings from his "Double Indemnity" score from a few years earlier.

vincentlynch-moonoi I liked this film the first time I watched it, but liked even more this second time around. Of course, our attitude toward big game hunting in Africa has changed in today's world. But that's just the setting...what the film is really about is courage versus cowardice.Robert Preston (Francis Macomber) has decided to do some big game hunting in Kenya, in part, apparently to prove his manhood to his not very loving wife (Joan Bennett). Gregory Peck is the professional hungting guide. Preston runs in fear when a lion attacks, only setting up more disdain on the part of his wife. Bennett seems to have designs on Peck. During a later day of hunting, Bennett shoots her husband in the back of the head when an African buffalo charges. The question is whether it was an accident or intentional. Based on the look of Bennett's face when it happens, it seems perfectly clear that it was an accident. Back in the village, the death is investigated by Reginald Denny, the British Police Inspector. The problem is that Peck began to like the husband and questions whether the shot that killed him was actually an accident...after all, Bennett had every motive.There are a couple of problems with this film. First, it's understandable why Bennett would be attracted to Peck, but why would an intelligent man like Peck's character be attracted to Bennett, who clearly treats her husband so poorly? The other problem is the big game sequences which probably were shot in Africa years earlier. In one, the lion that has been shot with guns only dies from a spear. Huh??? The second problem here is the ending of the film, which I found totally unsatisfactory. It just ended with Bennett walking toward the courtroom door...but we never find out if she was convicted or not. It was almost as if they ran out of money before they finished the film.Joan Bennett is certainly not a very sympathetic character here, but it's a good (if not totally consistent) portrayal. It does show off Bennett's range when you go from this film in 1947 to "Father Of The Bride" in 1950. She was versatile in both drama and comedy. Her best scene here is when she explains why she had such disdain for her husband. In fact, it will change your whole viewpoint toward her and her husband.Gregory Peck is fine here -- wasn't he always? Although it mystifies me why his intelligent character would fall in love with a woman like the one Bennett plays.It isn't often than Gregory Peck was ever out-acted, but he was here by Robert Preston. I wish the script had fleshed out Preston's past just a bit more, but his acting as a man torn between wanting to be courageous, but bordering on cowardice is particularly strong. I wonder if this might not have been his best film. The film has some good points that make it very watchable, but also some real limitations. But if you focus on Preston's character, you realize he is the movie's real strength. It's a strong "7", although the print seen on TCM is not well preserved.

stancym-1 OK, I AM BIASED. I don't celebrate stories that theorize that the way you prove you are a man is you go out and kill a bunch of animals and then mount their heads on a wall. You don't even eat the meat, you just show off what a big man you are, even though you have a jeep, a gun, guides with guns, and everything else on your side and against the animal's.Even with that said, there is not one truly likable character in this movie. We are supposed to believe that Gregory Peck actually falls in LOVE with the Joan Bennett character? She does nothing but make fun of men and snip their you-know-whats down to the size of raisins for most of the movie...then we are supposed to believe at the end that her hubby "made her that way" so it's not her fault. She also whines a lot. Peck's character might lust after her but for him to claim he's in LOVE? A bit much to swallow....In any case the best you can do is sort of like Peck in this film and you can't stand the Robert Preston-Joan Bennett couple. It's hard to feel sorry for either, choosing to make each other miserable. I rooted for the lions and/or buffaloes to kill the whole bunch of them but knew they didn't have a chance. It would have made for a better movie.But just remember, if you kill a lion, that's what makes you a man, according to Hemingway. If you don't, I guess you are not really a man. What an enlightened person HE was!

Neil Doyle THE MACOMBER AFFAIR has to be rated a success for the mere fact that it finally brings a Hemingway story to the screen pretty much intact and the way he wrote it. GREGORY PECK may not be the perfect choice to play the guide escorting a quarrelsome JOAN BENNETT and ROBERT PRESTON on a safari, but he acquits himself well enough in the role.I found it a lot more satisfying than the later SNOWS OF KILIMINJARO in which Peck again was cast in the lead as a Hemingway white hunter in Africa. Although that film had the advantage of Technicolor and more expensive trappings, THE MACOMBER AFFAIR achieves more of an edge by being photographed in somber B&W, even though some of the stock footage and backgrounds are obviously studio shots.Bennett is fascinating as the woman full of scorn for her husband and gradually showing her interest in Peck while Preston's resentment begins to turn paranoid. Miklos Rozsa's score gives it a film noir feeling despite the jungle setting--and it becomes a war of nerves before the satisfying conclusion.Well worth watching for some interesting performances.