The Naked Jungle (1954)

In 1901 South America, a mail order bride (Eleanor Parker) by proxy arrives at the large cocoa plantation of the husband (Charlton Heston) she's never seen or met. He's rather cold, aloof and suspicious of a beautiful woman who would marry a stranger she's never met and leave civilization for the jungles of South America. Produced by George Pal and directed by Byron Haskin who had teamed up on WAR OF THE WORLDS the year before. Exotic jungle adventures were very popular at the box office in the 1950s whether the jungles of Africa, India or South America. This is quite possibly the best of the bunch, I know it's my favorite. The adventure is exciting if simplistic but the combination of Heston and Parker, who have a great chemistry together, makes this just pop! The stalwart Heston has never been sexier and Parker positively smolders (the look she gives him as he rubs lotion on her is invaluable). The movie manages to make ants as terrifying as some horror movie monster and if you first saw the movie as an adolescent, its images stayed with you forever. With William Conrad and Abraham Sofaer.