"Roots of Heaven" was an interesting idea, but executed with enough flatulence and hot air to have been a major cause of the increase in Earth's greenhouse gases.The story of a man, and a small group of followers, who go on what becomes an illegal crusade to stop the slaughter of the African elephant, should have made an inspiring film.There have been plenty of reasons given why such a worthy project turned out so lacklustre, but I feel the main reason is not necessarily the accepted ones of confused story lines and undefined characters - the problem is more in your face.The film is full of eccentrics: loud, bombastic, opinionated and declarative ones, and eccentric characters are rarely appealing or even entertaining.John Huston made some of the best films of all time: "The Maltese Falcon", "Treasure of the Sierra Madre", "Moby Dick" and about a dozen others. They all featured 'larger-than-life' characters, however the 'larger-than-life' characters got away from him on this one and actually became annoying.Of course Huston may not have noticed what was happening because he was probably a bit like that himself, and often had a hand in the scripts.He and scriptwriter Romain Cary (the author of the novel) created a character, Morel, played by an uncharismatic Trevor Howard, who seemed to have a number of variations on his expansive character throughout the cast; just look at the performances of Orson Welles, Errol Flynn, Frederick Ledebur, Oliver Hussenot, Gregoire Aslan, Francis de Wolff, and Eddie Albert - definitely a fail in first-term screen writing class.The film looks good when it steps outside with fabulous shots of elephants and Africa, but of course the cast and crew famously suffered for that authenticity. The interiors back in the London studio were another matter, and look over-lit and fake.Although Juliette Gréco was apparently forced on the film because she was producer Darryl Zanuck's mistress at the time, her understated performance was a relief from all the histrionics surrounding her.Like many reviewers I feel that "Roots of Heaven" is fascinating more for what went on behind the camera than in front of it. The good news was that Huston bounced back - "The Man Who Would Be King" and "Fat City", were impressive ways to wind up a Quixotic and sometimes chaotic career.

Errol Flynn's penultimate film is this overlong snoozer, directed by John Huston, about a man trying to stamp out elephant hunting in Africa. Despite being top-billed, Flynn isn't the lead. That role goes to Trevor Howard. The movie starts with Howard speechifying and there are many more speeches to come, from him and others. The script is little more than a series of speeches. Before you say "so what," keep in mind this movie is two hours long. The production was troubled, to put it politely. The reasons are many and other reviewers have covered them well. The cast looks impressive on paper but most of the name stars have small roles or cameos. Orson Welles is enjoyably hammy in that way he was so good at being. Errol Flynn looks absolutely horrible. I'm sure it will come as no surprise to anyone to discover he was inebriated constantly during filming. He would die the year after this was made. Juliette Greco, Darryl Zanuck's girlfriend at the time, is given the female lead role. Watching her, it's not surprising she didn't become a big star. She, too, is a victim of the horrible script. At one point her character goes on about how many men she has had to sleep with (or been raped by). What could have been an emotional, powerful scene in the hands of a better writer and actress is turned into a risible monologue ("The only thing really sticks in my memory is brass buckles of der belts."). Well-meaning but too long, too dull, and too pompous. The only positive is the location shooting, which is nice. One final note: during the filming of this movie about protecting elephants from poachers, John Huston went big-game hunting. I don't know whether to laugh or cry at that but I guess it goes to show Hollywood has been full of hypocrites since way back.

I can't say I really enjoyed this film but as a fan of both Flynn and Welles it was rewarding to watch. Considering how terrible he looked earlier in "Istanbul" and "The Sun Also Rises" Flynn looks relatively spry and rugged in what would prove to be his last real film role. Although he has little to do his is a likable character and one cannot help but feel a strong parallel between the role of Forsythe and the man portraying him. There is a sense of regret and bitterness in Forsythe that Flynn no doubt felt in his own life. As for Welles, he is amusing in a 5 minute role and his appearance made me immediately think of Jackie Gleason in the "Smokey and the Bandit" films.The film itself is too long and hammers home its point with the delicacy of a sledgehammer. William Holden would have been great as Morel; Trevor Howard is too abrasive and difficult to sympathize with. Eddie Albert & Herbert Lom are wasted while Paul Lukas disappears midway through the film. Juliette Greco is fine as the heroine and manages to look glamorous throughout.The story behind the film sounds much more interesting than the film itself. I particularly liked the story of John Huston decking Flynn after much boozing. Apparently they fought several times when Flynn was younger and in shape with Flynn beating him into submission every time. I guess Huston gained some measure of payback here by taking advantage of the declining star.

THE ROOTS OF HEAVEN, John Huston's 'Save the Elephant' African drama, based on Romain Gary's ponderous novel, was a costly, torturous misfire about which even Huston himself had little positive to say ("The pictures that turn out to be the most difficult to make, usually turn out to be the worst - like ROOTS OF HEAVEN.") While the story, of an almost fanatical idealist and his international band of rag-tag followers, fighting against the poachers who were hunting the species to near extinction, was a timely one, the production suffered so many calamities and setbacks that what finally reached the screen bore little resemblance to the initial concept. But what a back story it had!Originally intended to star was William Holden, who was, in real life, an impassioned activist concerning Africa and it's wildlife. With Holden and Huston attached to the project, an all-star supporting cast was easily recruited, including Errol Flynn, Eddie Albert, Orson Welles, Paul Lukas, and Darryl Zanuck's newest 'protégé', Juliette Greco. Then Paramount politely informed Holden that he had unfulfilled obligations to the studio, and they would not release him to make the 20th Century Fox production. With the other talent under contract, and an inflexible location 'start' date, Fox faced the dilemma of no acceptable 'leading man' being available at short notice...and ended up casting British character actor Trevor Howard in Holden's role. Howard, however, had no 'marquee' value, so Errol Flynn, in a decidedly secondary role, found himself the 'star' of the movie!Huston arrived in Africa with Darryl Zanuck (the often jealous producer may have been a bit nervous having Juliette Greco working with world-class lotharios Huston and Flynn), and the 140-degree inferno quickly took a heavy toll on the cast and crew. Eddie Albert collapsed with sunstroke, and everyone except Huston and Flynn, who had each brought prodigious amounts of alcohol to consume, were soon suffering from amoebic dysentery. With the frequent production delays, Huston went big-game hunting, and philosophized to the world press. Flynn and Huston, both larger than life personalities, started arguing on set (considering the quantity of alcohol they consumed, it was not surprising!), and Flynn dared the director to fight him. While it might have been an interesting contest, twenty years before, when Flynn was in shape and a talented amateur boxer, he was long past his prime, and Huston, who had actually been a professional boxer in his youth, flattened the actor with one punch.It was NOT a happy production!The end result of all the suffering was a film that lacked cohesiveness, with unresolved subplots, and poorly defined characters. Huston would move on to a western with Burt Lancaster and Audrey Hepburn, THE UNFORGIVEN; Zanuck dumped Greco and began preproduction on his epic, THE LONGEST DAY (featuring NEW 'protégé', Irina Demick); and Flynn, after a brief recurrence of malaria, would produce and star in the abysmal CUBAN REBEL GIRLS, and would be dead in less than a year.THE ROOTS OF HEAVEN was a disaster, for all involved!