The defence The Sentimental Softie
“Sincerity is not manipulation.”
The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.
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Elephant Walk
Romance · Adventure · Drama · 1954
Colonial tea planter John Wiley (Peter Finch), visiting England at the end of World War II, wins and weds lovely English rose Ruth (Dame Elizabeth Taylor) and takes her home to Elephant Walk, Ceylon, where the local elephants have a grudge against the plantation. Ruth's delight with the tropical wealth and luxury of her new home is tempered by isolation as the only white woman in the district; her husband's occasional imperious arrogance; a mutual physical attraction with plantation manager Dick Carver (Dana Andrews), and the hovering, ominous menace of the hostile elephants.
Movie details
Elephant Walk
“One man claimed the land. Two men claimed the woman who lived there.”
1954 Romance · Adventure · Drama 1h 43m
Critical arithmetic
One number, for now.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
TMDB
5.9 / 10
Community rating
Colonial tea planter John Wiley (Peter Finch), visiting England at the end of World War II, wins and weds lovely English rose Ruth (Dame Elizabeth Taylor) and takes her home to Elephant Walk, Ceylon, where the local elephants have a grudge against the plantation. Ruth's delight with the tropical wealth and luxury of her new home is tempered by isolation as the only white woman in the district; her husband's occasional imperious arrogance; a mutual physical attraction with plantation manager Dick Carver (Dana Andrews), and the hovering, ominous menace of the hostile elephants.
CriticWise case file
What this film says about your taste.
Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.
The archetype split
Who fights over Elephant Walk?
For the defence
The Sentimental Softie
“You came to feel something, and you will.”
Read their case For the prosecution
The Cool Ironist
“Feeling things is a little embarrassing.”
Read their objectionThe split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.
Taste neighbourhood
Nearby on the taste map.
TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.
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Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
William Dieterle
Written by
John Lee Mahin
Elizabeth Taylor
Ruth Wiley
Peter Finch
John Wiley
Dana Andrews
Dick Carver
Abraham Sofaer
Appuhamy
Abner Biberman
Dr. Pereira
Noel Drayton
Planter Atkinson
Rosalind Ivan
Mrs. Lakin
Court is in session
Put Elephant Walk on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
The prosecution The Cool Ironist
“The strings are showing.”
Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.