The Macomber Affair

1947 "Peck...Bennett...Hemingway...only all three together could create this electric love story...with a vengeance!"
6.6| 1h29m| NR| en| More Info
Released: 20 April 1947 Released
Producted By: United Artists
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
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A big-game hunter takes a rich American couple on an African safari. Film adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber".

Genre

Adventure, Drama

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Director

Zoltan Korda

Production Companies

United Artists

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The Macomber Affair Audience Reviews

Scanialara You won't be disappointed!
Nonureva Really Surprised!
Josephina Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.
Cristal The movie really just wants to entertain people.
blanche-2 From 1947, "The Macomber Affair" is based on a Hemingway short story about a safari. I watched it knowing full well I didn't want to see animals hunted down, so I admit a certain prejudice.Joan Bennett and Robert Preston are Margaret and Francis Macomber, an unhappy husband and wife who go on a safari guided by hunter Robert Wilson, played by Gregory Peck. Margaret is openly derisive of her husband, whom she considers somewhat of a coward, and he apparently is on this safari to prove his masculinity. It isn't very successful at first, as Francis runs like a rabbit when he's charged by a lion. I don't know who wouldn't, frankly.Margaret is attracted to Wilson -- again, who wouldn't be, it's Gregory Peck -- and he falls for her. I don't know why because she's a very unpleasant woman. When a tragedy occurs, Wilson has to decide what really happened - was it an accident or deliberate? This film is somewhat miscast, as it required a Peter Finch or Trevor Howard in the Peck role. Peck doesn't come off as much of a big game hunter. Joan Bennett's character is a little too harsh, which I blame on the director, Zoltan Korda. There doesn't seem to be any reason for his attraction to her; she comes off as emasculating.The film has an ambiguous ending. I didn't care how it ended, which is a major problem -- you should be invested in the characters.This is an old-fashioned macho Hemingway story that received better treatment than most of his work. Still -- Hemingway is very difficult to film due to his spare language and all that subtext.If you like seeing animals shot and killed (though I realize they really weren't) so someone can prove his masculinity, this is the movie for you.
bruno-32 I did not read the short story, so i can only go by what i saw and heard in the movie. It is possible I missed some dialogue along the way that would tell me how long this couple ( Bennett and Preston ) were on the safari, for Peck's character to fall in love with Bennett, who showed a side of contempt of her husband in front of him...now that really should turn a man on, right? The leads do well in their parts, but it was Bennett that surprised me...she was really a 'bitch' as they say. I couldn't see her in this role as her usual natural Blond, but since her transformation of the Hedy Lamarr look ( she dyed her hair black ) cause she was enamored of the Hedy face, as millions of others had at that time, her career got a boost. That said, and the ambiguous ending made an interesting hour and a half for me.
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!
John Braun (kartrabo) The writing team of Casey Robinson and Seymour Bennett adapted Ernest Hemingway's "the Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber" into a solid screenplay which enlarged upon the subtle themes of the original. A wealthy couple(Robert Preston,Joan Bennett) arrive in East Africa ostensibly for a safari vacation but it soon becomes apparent that they are ill-matched and resentful of each other's failings.Their safari guide,Gregory Peck,attempting to conduct things professionally,becomes an unwilling spectator to their petty arguments and vicious insults.But as the party trek through the jungle in search of game the true personalities of the warring couple emerge playing havoc with Peck's sympathies and his growing interest in beautiful Bennett.An ironic twist of events await these adventurers as they pursue game more dangerous than they bargained for. An enriching score by Miklos Rozsa,the superb direction by Hungarian director Zoltan Korda,and fine performances by the 3 principals(especially Preston's paranoid tycoon) all serve the viewer with a gripping drama.