The Roots Of Heaven (1958)

An animal rights activist by the name of Morel (Trevor Howard) leads a one man battle in saving the African elephant from extinction. When his peaceful attempts are ignored, he becomes a "terrorist" in his actions and branded an outlaw by the authorities who seek to arrest him. But soon, he is joined by a handful of others who are sympathetic to his cause. Based on the novel by prize winning novel by Romain Gary (who co-wrote the screenplay), this is one of director John Huston's noble failures. But failure or not, this is a film ahead of its time with its environmentalist and animal rights theme and it still packs a punch. Though Errol Flynn is top billed, his is a supporting role and the film belongs to Trevor Howard in one of his very best performances. His Morel is a complex creature, a man who prefers the solitude of elephant to man yet his cynicism doesn't dampen his humanity. Filmed in what was then French Equatorial Africa (now the Republic of Chad), the CinemaScope cinematography by Oswald Morris (THE GUNS OF NAVARONE) does the beautiful African vistas justice. The strong underscore is by Malcolm Arnold. With Orson Welles, Eddie Albert, Paul Lukas, Herbert Lom, Gregoire Aslan, Jacques Marin and Juliette Greco, the only one of Darryl F. Zanuck's mistresses that he tried to make into a star that actually had some talent.