Rent The Naked Prey (1966)

Rich & Interesting Survival Adventure - The Naked Prey review by GI

Director Cornel Wilde was a heart throb actor in the 40s & 50s but reinvented himself in the 1960s and directed and produced a short series of very interesting films. The Naked Prey is perhaps his most celebrated and it's certainly a very rewarding adventure drama with some interesting thematic ideas behind it. Set in the 1800s he plays the unnamed manager of a safari taking a couple of rich and belligerent elephant hunters into the deep African bush in search of ivory. Despite his warning one of the hunters insults a local tribesman and they finds themselves attacked. The tribe ritualistically kill everyone but the man is stripped and set free only to be pursued by the tribal warriors. He has to discover and resort to survival skills in order to escape. Whilst there's a great deal of exciting adventure in the story the film delves deeply into the primal instincts of man and his relationship and place within the natural world. Scenes of death in the wilderness litter the film as the man at first fumbles then finds his natural skills to survive. This is a remarkable film and I cannot recommend it enough. If you've never seen this then seek it out you won't be disappointed.