Elephant Walk

A couple of emailed after yesterday’s post of Robert Standish’s book Gentleman of China to say they loved Elizabeth Taylor but didn’t know the film Elephant Walk. I had no idea I knew several people obsessed (or so it would seem) with Ms. Taylor. Anyway, they can be forgiven as Elephant Walk was far from one of Taylor’s best movies though she looks great throughout (this was 1954 when she was at the height of her powers looks wise if not acting wise). It’s a rather lame ‘white mischief’ sort of thing in Ceylon and comes over a bit odd – really, who, living on a plantation in Ceylon and lonely wouldn’t fall head over heels for Taylor?

There are some elephants and a nasty outbreak of cholera to cause some complications and of course the underlying idea that if you stick a bunch of bored foreigners in a British colony sexual shenanigans will ensue and a dose of infatuation and madness too. Actually the interesting point is that Taylor was a last minute replacement for Vivien Leigh, who pulled out at the last moment due to mental illness incapacitating her. Now if you want British colonials sent off their rockers and into each others beds by a combination of sun, boredom and the East then Vivien Leigh’s your girl really!!

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