Review of Green Mansions (1959) by Kelly H — 21 Feb 2016

I could never get into the tedious book, and the movie version of "Green Mansions" is even less enchanting than the book. Fresh, new Audrey Hepburn must have seemed like a Godsend to those who were attempting to cast Rima, the so-called "Bird Girl," but she is overly made up for the role and looks like a fashion model tip-toeing through the Amazon forest ballerina-style.

If ever there was a movie that should have lilted and soared, this would have been it, but it remains strangely earthbound. Tribal sequences are laughable, with too many naked, muscular men performing a Martha Graham dance centered around a ridiculous straw "Bird Girl" effigy that eventually goes up in flames.

Anthony Perkins was also young a new here, but he has little to do but look bewildered and fascinated other than get captured and tied up by the Indians in a very familiar sequence. Mel Ferrer, Audrey's husband at the time, directed, and it is all very stagey, which can happen when a husband directs a star.