THE NAKED PREY
US, 1964, 94 minutes, Colour.
Cornel Wilde, Gert Van Den Berg, Ken Gampu.
Directed by Cornel Wilde.
The Naked Prey is an allegorical adventure. It is a Cornel Wilde film: he produced, directed, starred.
In a 19th. century setting of white safaris, the film shows white arrogance and black reaction. The guide spends most of the film trying to survive, running, pursued by warriors. The film is very physical ? the audience experiences the ordeals and struggles of the Man.
The film has excellent African location photography in Panavision. The film has little dialogue, but is very clear in its message about the human condition. It is a film that is appreciated and understood rather than enjoyed.
1. The impact of the film? Adventure? Allegory about the human condition?
2. The location photography: Africa in the 1840s, the safari, the African warriors and tribes, battle sequences, the hunter and his flight ? the location photography, hazards, helps? The beauty and ruggedness of nature? The editing and pace? Musical score?
3. The setting of the safari: the ivory hunter, his greed, arrogance, the insulting of the tribal chief? The vengeance? Sudden death? The allegorical symbolism of this clash between black and white?
4. The portrait of the Man: his presence in Africa, his skill as a safari guide, his understanding of the land, of the people, his respect for both? His working for the ivory hunter? The clashes with the hunter? The attack and the deaths? His being spared? His courage? Primitive justice: 'Chance of the Lion'? Baked, no food or water, lacking weapons, being given a head start? The pursuit and its effect on him? Physical ordeal, psychological ordeal? Privations? The hazards of nature? His becoming more and more brutalised? The pursuers catching him and his killing them? Growing savagery? The little girl and saving his life? Going together? The village and its being destroyed by the slave traders? The long struggle and his reaching the mission fort, the warriors catching him? The last desperate struggle? His safety? The salute from the pursuing warriors?
5. The picture of the African warriors: tribal life, possession of the land, the clash of the ivory hunters, the insults, the swift and vicious vengeance? The respect for the guide? Giving him the chance to run? Their skills in lion hunting, their tracking him, running, pursuing, being tricked by him? Coming close? The warriors being killed? The effect on the group? The impact of the leader, his strength? The final salute?
6. The African terrain and its strengths, ruggedness, beauty? Nature as hostile to mankind, helping? The villages along the way, the village destroyed by slave-traders? The importance of the little girl helping the warrior?
7. The strong narrative? The importance of action and pace? Audiences identifying with the ordeal of the hunted? His survival and achievement? A fable about the difficulties of human living and survival?
