Reptileenbu Did you people see the same film I saw?

Jonah Abbott There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

Raymond Sierra The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Janis One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

mark.waltz The brilliant James Whale prepared to wrap up his screen career by directing this adventure yarn with a marvelous cast, giving Saturday matinée audiences loads of pleasure but sadly not utilizing the color that this film so desperately calls for. His story is preposterous but told in such an entertaining manner that the story hardly matters. All you need to do is grab a bag of popcorn, sit back and enjoy an early variation of what audiences in 1981 got a kick out of with "Raiders of the Lost Ark". O.K., so there aren't any Nazi's for Douglas Fairbanks Jr. to chase in the jungles of South America, but there are plenty of arrow-flinging head hunters as well as a tomb filled with golden artifacts, leading to an adventure-filled flick that may not have done its director any good (considering his horror masterpieces such as "Frankenstein" and "The Old Dark House", as well as the marvelous 1936 movie version of the musical "Show Boat"), but remains marvelous entertainment.Joan Bennett enters the scene about a third into the film after her husband (a non-villainous Vincent Price) becomes the first victim of a head-hunter's arrow. Much like Deborah Kerr in "King Solomon's Mines", she brings romance into the story, distracting Fairbanks from chasing the film's one villain (Francis McDonald) and leading to an obvious conclusion. George Sanders is profound as another member of the team who faces death with dignity as the natives approach their fortress, and Alan Hale (Sr.) is the wise doctor amongst the group. Hundreds of extras in native costume fill out the population of guides and head-hunting natives. Considering that he appeared in practically every other Universal film of this nature, it is surprising that Andy Devine wasn't cast here to provide comic relief. The one acting embarrassment is John Howard as a cowardly member of the team. While Bennett is gorgeous in her new Hedy Lamarr make-over, her character here is not as memorable, being rather lady too lady-like and not at all like those vixens she would begin playing a few years later in a series of memorable melodramas and film noir.

TheLittleSongbird Well actually, Green Hell is not as bad as all that, it begins strongly and has some decent battles at the end. But what started off promising goes to dust once the two best actors of the movie, George Sanders and Vincent Price, get killed off early on, and Joan Bennett's very irritatingly dull character gets introduced, making a short spout of perhaps unintentional fun turn to tedium after a while. Green Hell doesn't look that lavish and the sets are rather hokey. The dialogue is unbearably corny and the story is full of predictability, a complete lack of credibility(I agree about people sounding too much like they come from Kansas) and contrived situations. James Whale's direction seems disengaged and does little to make anything exciting or thrilling, the two main things that a jungle adventure does need. The acting looks great on paper, but most take their roles too seriously(Douglas Fairbanks Jnr, Joan Bennett) or try hard but are not in the movie anywhere near long enough(George Sanders, Vincent Price). Overall, not a complete disaster but ludicrous, contrived and corny and possibly the worst films of Whale and Price(possibly Fairbanks as well). 3/10 Bethany Cox

telegonus Director James Whale was nearing the end of his rope when he made the dismal Green Hell, in which he was perhaps trying to do for jungle movies what his earlier The Old dark House did for horror pictures: to spoof the genre with wit and style. But the script isn't there, and the excellent cast, which includes George Sanders, Vincent Price, George Bancroft and Alan Hale, flounder, and play altogether too sincerely for laughs. At his peak, in the early and middle thirties, Whale was one of the masters of film. His reputation was at least as high as Hitchcock's, and there seemed no end to what magic he could do on celluloid. His best work was in the horror field, but there was really no reason why he should have stayed there. One senses in Green Hell a director who wants to get out of the movie business altogether. The film would be sub-par even for a routine studio director. Whale was perhaps eager to get back to his first love, painting. He succeeded.

Sleepy-17 Essentially "Lost Patrol with a Girl"; not enough action to be a true adventure. Nice photography and spotty acting are the main features of Whale's last film. Noble Englishmen exploit grateful natives, finding treasure in an Inca temple. They fight over "the girl" and then are surrounded by savages with poison darts. Good battle scenes at the end. A must for Whale fans, for everyone else it's a moderately amusing time-waster.