The Snows of Kilimanjaro is a 1952 film based on the
short story of the
same name by
Ernest Hemingway. The film version of the short story was directed by
Henry King, and starred
Gregory Peck,
Ava Gardner, and
Susan Hayward.
Considered by Hemingway to be one of his finest stories, "The Snows of Kilimanjaro" was first published in
Esquire magazine in
1936 and then republished in
The Fifth Column and the First Forty-nine Stories (
1938).
The film was nominated for two
Academy Awards; for
Best Cinematography and
Best Art Direction (
Lyle Wheeler,
John DeCuir,
Thomas Little,
Paul S. Fox).
Plot summary
Gregory Peck and Susan Hayward
The story centers on the
memories of a
writer Harry (
Gregory Peck) who is on
safari in
Africa. He has contracted a severely infected wound from a thorn prick, and lies outside his tent awaiting a slow death. The loss of mobility brings self-reflection. He remembers past years and how little he has accomplished in his writing. He realizes that although he has seen and experienced wonderful and astonishing things during his life, he had never made a record of the events. His status as a writer is undermined by his reluctance to actually
write. He also quarrels with the woman with him, blaming her for his living decadently and forgetting his failure to write of what really matters to him: his experiences among poor and "interesting" people, rather than the smart Europeans with whom he has been with lately.
Diverging from the Ernest Hemingway's written story, Harry does not die. Despite the unwanted attentions of a
witch doctor, perhaps, or maybe his own will to live and correct his mistakes – whatever the cause, it results in his living to see morning come. He watches vultures gather in a tree as he lies in the evening. He recapitulates his life and talks to his current girl-friend. He tells her about his past experiences; then arguing, then coming to realization about his attitude, and finally reaching a sort of peace, even love, with her.
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