Though 1966 standards forced Wilde to keep a lot of the bloodshed off screen, there is never any question about what is actually happening.
#CORNEL WILDE NUDE MOVIE#
The violence that man inflicts upon man in this movie is quite extreme.
Though the picture looks like a Wonderful World of Disney production at its start, it's not long before we realize that this has not been sanitized for Sunday night television viewing. I can't attest to the accuracy of the story once it has been transplanted to Africa, but Wilde does strive for a sense of unflinching realism in The Naked Prey.
The Naked Prey is based on the real-life encounter of an American trapper being pursued by Blackfoot Indians after insulting them in a similar fashion. The bulk of The Naked Prey is this chase, with Wilde's representative Man barely staying ahead of his pursuers, living by his wits and fighting to stay alive. Wilde is saved for the final sport, stripped of his clothing and forced to run for his life. As restitution, they take the lives of the hunting party in brutal, torturous manners, letting the entire tribe participate and performing the acts of cruelty as entertainment for the king. The tribesmen return, lead by a determined warrior (Ken Gampu), and take the men their prisoner. This second slight proves to be the company's downfall. Likewise, when the safari meets a welcoming party from the tribesmen who actually live on the land they are hunting, the financier refuses to pay tribute to their king (Morrison Gampu). When the group happens upon elephants, he fires his gun indiscriminately, not caring whether the target actually has ivory tusks to offer or not. Wilde plays "Man," the manager of an ivory expedition who is stuck guiding a ruthless capitalist (Gert Van Den Bergh) who wants things done his way or not at all. Set in Africa in the nineteenth century, it's a tale of a jungle safari gone wrong, a downward slope of events predicated on an imperialist's lack of respect for the people or the land he is invading. London's identification with nature was so strong that many of his stories crossed from being about the men to the animals themselves.Ĭornel Wilde's 1966 film The Naked Prey feels like one of those old adventure stories for me. Jack London is probably the shining example of this tradition, with his narratives of rugged men in harsh environments and how they managed to adapt. There were a variety of frontiers and timeframes that were regularly covered, with the most common being the colonizing of the Americas and Manifest Destiny, frozen tundras, rainforests, and mountain climbing. When I was a boy, I read a lot of survival stories intended for young men, tales that were meant to show the thrill of exploration and adventure while also showing the often-harrowing consequences of such adventure.
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