Film

Movie theaters, reviews and showtimes in New York, plus articles, trailers and more

 

The African Elephant (1971)

Director: Simon Trevor

Average user rating
No reviews

Movie review

From Time Out Film Guide

Wildlife adventures often work like Disney cartoons - they're most successful when the animals, the heroes, are humanised to the point of being excessively charming. This documentary, which was shot in East Africa, works along these lines, especially in the way it describes the matriarchy of the elephant world and the idiosyncrasies of other socially rejected creatures. In fact the commentary written by Alan Landsburg is so full of humanly innuendos that one begins to suspect a heavy 'people' message; and it would be fair to simply dismiss the film for being into disguised (and dishonest) 'noble savagery'. Still, there's some fine photography, and some delicate observations which make this film a trillion times better than any zoo.

Author: JPi 0000-00-00 00:00:00

Time Out Film Guide


  • Print this page
  • Send to a friend

What do you think?
Post your review now

clear rating
Min 1 star. Zero stars will be treated as unrated.

*mandatory fields


Cast & crew

Director: Simon Trevor

Producer: William N Graf, Monty Ruben

Genre(s): Documentaries

Duration: 92 mins




Features

Making a name for himself

Making a name for himself

Sin Nombre's Cary Joji Fukunaga learned his lessons well.

To the letter

Forty years later, Costa-Gavras's Z still brims with fury.

Mind over matter

David Cronenberg reflects on a most bizarre body: his own corpus of work.

Fool's gold

Can an Oscar win lead to a cursed career? Here are five stories of postaward professional meltdowns.

We are the championed

Terrorists and teens abound in this year's "Film Comment Selects."

A history of violence

Matteo Garrone's kaleidoscopic Gomorrah wallops you with Italy's crime crisis.

True romantic

James Gray exchanges urban amorality for amour in Two Lovers.

Playing in the dark

MoMA salutes pianist Stuart Oderman's 50 years as the one-man sound of silents.

Junk bonds

Cast and crew recall the making of the classic NYC drug drama The Panic in Needle Park.