roots of heaven

A Darryl F. Zanuck production of a John Huston film - with Errol Flynn in his last significant role – The Roots of Heaven is yet another example of the popular Hollywood expression “the story behind the film is more interesting than the film itself.” Shot in Chad over the course of six months, the perpetual heat and diseases took their toll on cast and crew, requiring a constant stream of replacements. Both Zanuck and Huston’s biographies feature anecdotes about the experience and Flynn’s excessive drinking (the actor would die a year later). How could any fictional movie compete with that sensationalist reality?

Roots does have its strong points, but they’re a long time coming. Trevor Howard plays an idealistic elephant defender who uses guerilla tactics to defend the continent’s dwindling herds. A famous media personality (quick cameo by Orson Welles) turns him into an international celebrity and his cause is co-opted by other indigenous revolutionaries who use him for their own ends. It doesn’t help that Howard (second-billed but still the film’s star) disappears for nearly half the movie as we jump from one bland conference room conversation to the next. By the time Huston starts putting the natural beauty of Africa to use, the story has been splintered in several different directions.

Roots becomes a film of semi-successful scenes that never coalesce into a whole. The public spanking of an ivory-poaching debutante. The well-choreographed elephant hunt thwarted by Howard and his gang. And the messianic march towards justice that concludes Howard’s inevitably lost cause. When Eddie Albert enters the picture in the final third as a quick-talking freelance photographer, you almost wish the film would just follow him instead. But Roots is committed to its cause, no matter how heavy handed, and Huston is determined to see it through to the end.

Twilight Time’s limited edition Blu-ray (only 3000 copies) over-delivers in terms of visual quality. Once the film finds its visual palette, you’ll be amazed at the color and clarity popping from this transfer, originally filmed in Cinemascope. The addition of informative liner notes and an isolated music score make this one heck of a home video debut.