Harry Black and the Tiger (1958) User Reviews

Granger's own white whale

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 29 April 2013]

Part Snows Of Kilimanjaro, part Moby Dick, Harry Black And The Tiger will never attain the literary ranks of those Hemingway and Melville classics. Still the book turned into a good movie with Stewart Granger giving a good performance in his first film after he was loose from his MGM Hollywood contract.

There's a tiger on the prowl in a remote corner of India and the government has contracted white hunter Stewart Granger for the job of killing it. There's not much you can do with big cats once they've gotten an appetite for human flesh. But the job gets personal with Granger when he discovers the tiger has chosen for its hunting grounds, the vicinity of a tea plantation run by Anthony Steel and his wife Barbara Rush who's always had a thing for Granger in any event.

There are some flashback sequences telling how the three main players have arrived to the point they are now. Steel did not go through with his part of an escape plan during World War II and as a result Granger lost a leg. And both are in love with Rush, but Granger bows out and now they're thrown together again.

Steel was weak during the war, but now Granger questions his own fitness for the job especially after getting mauled by the tiger. Still he has developed his own Ahab like fixation on the beast.

I have to say Stewart Granger sure looks the part, a carryover when he scored such a big hit in King Solomon's Mines. Later on he did a film called The Last Safari in the Sixties and it was hardly a success.

Look for I.S. Johar and Kamala Devi as Granger's guide and his Indian nurse when he is recovering from his encounter with the tiger. Devi has some really sharp observations about what she's around her.

Not the best jungle films, but the Indian cinematography is nice and fans of the leads will be pleased enough.

Jungle adventure and loving drama involving an one-legged hunter and a murderous tiger

[ma-cortes · 6/10 · 23 July 2018]

During a hunt for a carnivorous tiger , the two-fisted white hunter Harry Black , Stewart Granger, comes across his prior wife , Barbara Rush , now married to Tanner , Anthony Steel , an old friend of Harry . Both of whom met long time ago at a POW concentration camp during WWI where they attempted to escape .The motivation grows with each intent to catch the man-eating tiger, but things go wrong when the son , Martin Stephens , is lost somewhere in the perilous jungle. And to make matters worse the dangerous beast goes on attacking .

This is an adventure/drama movie , though I think of being more a loving drama than an adventure film . This is a passable jungle drama of acceptable quality , including a cracking final highlight with the ferocious tiger terrorizing people and other bonus attractions . Decent cast as Stewart Granger as a tough white hunter and ex-army Major , a role that sits easily on his shoulders .Barbara Rush gives one of his best acting as the figure from Black's past .Anthony Steel plays the old friend who teams up with the ex-war buddy . Support cast is pretty good, such as the sympathetic IS Johar who played in Lawrence Arabia , Kamala Davi who performed in Jeronimo , and Martin Stephens , the prodigy boy who acted in such classic movies as The innocents, Village of damned, and A touch of larceny .

Colorful cinematography shot on location in India by John Wilcox, though a perfect remastering being really necessary . Wilcox was a prestigious cameraman and Hammer regular , including known titles as Hound of Baskerville, The last valley , Kung Fu against 7 gold vampires, Chairman , Express Bongo , Zarak , Safari , Black Knight, Secret agent SZ , Operation Robinson , High below Zero , Hysteria, Judith , and Craze. Atmospheric musical score by Clifton Parker , including India sounds , and musical director by habitual Muir Matheson .

Interesting though a little boring script by Sydney Bohem , a prestigious writer who wrote notorious films such as : The big heat , The tall men , The savage, When worlds collide , Branded , Side street and Shock treatment . The motion picture was profesionally , though with no enthusiasm made by Hugo Fregonese and it won a Bafta film award . He was a good Argentinean craftsman who worked in his country Argentina : Pampa Barbara , Hollywood : Wind blow , Man in the attic , Apache drums , Untamed frontier , Decameron nights , Mark of the renegade and directed great stars as Gary Cooper , Barbara Stanwick , Anthony Quinn , Cesar Romero ,Cyd Charysse, Jack Palance. And also worked in Europe in films as Marco Polo , 3 Musketeers , Pampa Salvaje , Old Shatterhand , Dracula vs Frankenstein .Rating : 5.5/10 . The flick will appeal to Stewart Granger fans .

A lethargic melodrama with good Indian backgrounds!

[Nazi_Fighter_David · 7/10 · 12 March 2001]

When a Bengal tiger - a creature of hypnotic power and fascination - causes several death in a poor Indian village, a famous hunter and tracker is brought to kill the beast... The hunter (Stewat Granger) suffers from an artificial leg, the result of a wound received while in a German POW camp...

In starting out on the hurt, Granger meets up with a wartime acquaintance, Anthony Steele, now the manager of a tea plantation... Steel begs Granger to go along, in order to impress his son Martin Stephens...

There is great procession led by jeweled elephants, and hundreds of beaters whose job was to drive the tiger to the skilled hunter...

The manager's cowardice results in Stewart being savagely injured by the formidable predator...

There is an adventurous spirit about this lethargic melodrama, where thrills are carefully staged...

not bad at all

[suppascoops · 19 January 2005]

This is strictly run of the mill stuff, but it passes the time if anything, filmed in India it has good photography and stars one of my favourite actors stewart granger, he looks like his character in 'king solomon's mines' - alan quatermain, he also has a faithful sidekick called Babu.

The story is about a killer tiger on the loose in a local community and the various problems it causes to its captors.In the film granger's character has a steel leg, he lost his real leg in the war, so we get a few exciting flashbacks of his war experiences which are done nicely, these scenes would have to be the best in the film.

He went out tiger hunter with his elephant and gun.

[ulicknormanowen · 6/10 · 27 August 2021]

Needless to say,the star is neither Granger nor Rush, but India : the filming on location is absolutely wonderful ,with an effective sense of space of the wide screen and color, a good use of the natives and an Indian actor as the first supporting actor.

The screenplay blends adventure movie and melodrama with mixed results ;sometimes Granger recalls Gregory Peck in "the snows of Kilimandjaro" (1952):cured by Barbara Rush who plays the role of a married with child Susan Hayward ,he remembers his past during WW2,(Spanish civil war for Peck) , when her husband ,then a coward brother in arm costs him his leg. There are also snatches of 'the lost weekend" (1945)when Rush tries to get Granger out of alcohol hell.

The love affair is bland and not very convincing (the the absence of Jim ,a careerist with bright prospects ,does not help :however ,when the boy tells his daddy that a father's got to be a hero and urges him to follow Harry in his tiger hunt (where he dismally fails and shows his cowardice again) this is a good beginning.

The tiger ,as the film progresses,will become Harry's obsession ,even injured ,crippled and alcoholic , he does not renege on his task : the tiger claimed too many lives and love takes a back seat to this endless hunt.

'I'd believe in God if I could live my life with you'.

[brogmiller · 7/10 · 28 February 2020]

This is definitely one of Stewart Granger's better films following his departure from MGM. Ostensibly about the hunt for a man-eating tiger this is really about two people who, in an ideal world should be together but are not destined to be so. The best scenes by far are those between Granger and Barbara Rush. When they meet again she is married with a son but the chemistry is still there....... The hunt sequences are well-handled and there is a fine score by Clifton Parker. Granger is excellent, Anthony Steel is suitably stolid and I.S.Johar basically plays the same part he was to play in 'North West Frontier' the following year. The film really belongs however to the marvellous Barbara Rush. Both Granger and director Hugo Fregonese were Hollywood 'exiles' who were obliged to seek work in Europe, with decidedly mixed results! Although Granger was disparaging about most of his films he should not have been too unhappy with this one. The next time he was to play a white hunter was in 'The Last Safari' opposite someone named Kaz Garas. The less said about that one the better!

Harry Black and the Tiger Deserved a better script.

[krocheav · 6/10 · 21 January 2018]

This movie looks far better than its script allows the story to become. Great photography by John Wilcox (nephew of Herbert) draws the viewer into some up close and personal situations with a deadly rouge tiger. Interesting Argentinian Director Hugo Fregonese attempts to keep the story moving but a lethargic script defeats him. The majority of the cast is quite good but, an overly melodramatic script offers up too many situations to fully accept - some ethnic observations are well put across and all the animal scenes are also involving. With some serious editing there is a good movie waiting to be released from the overload. The sub-plot involving the hunter's exe's little lad getting lost in the jungle is just one more incident too many. At least the Tiger, Manhunter, and his local guide are convincing throughout.

The highly charged, dramatic introduction is stark and promises something better to come - instead, it ambles on with rather weakly developed characters until some of them become quite uninteresting. Similar situations are also explored in the earlier and just as rare "Man-eater of the Kumaon"

Stereotyped characters mar fine performance from cat

[mkelleher120870 · 5/10 · 8 May 2015]

To be fair, I went into this with something less than an open mind; I was always going to be rooting for the tiger, maneater or not. However, it wasn't hard to maintain my stance, given the lack of any single human character herein who doesn't quickly wear out their screen-welcome and have you baying for their blood.

There are a couple of good scenes, most notably one in which villagers drive the tiger towards the hunters using elephants and making a god awful racket with drums and horns, and the tiger itself exudes charisma (sadly lacking in it's human co-stars) each time it appears.

The love affair between Stewart Granger and Anne Rush, which takes up much screen time including a lengthy flashback sequence, is one reason the film never crackles into life, but there is another factor which puts the fire out altogether.

Child star Martin Stephens plays possibly the most simperingly irritating cute kid I've ever encountered. More sickeningly sugar coated than an Elvis Christmas album, he makes Hamchunk from The Green Berets look like John Wayne from The Green Berets. How I prayed for the tiger to tear him apart every time he appeared on screen.

So anyway, Stewart and his faithful Indian sidekick ("as long as I am at your side, Mr Harry") eventually of course kill the tiger, Granger loves and loses the girl, and to cap it all off the cute kid cutely asks for and receives the tigers skin as a souvenir of his beloved Harry.

Despite these complaints, I did enjoy some of this film, the location shooting and the shots of the tiger especially, and would say it's definitely worth watching once.

One of my favorite movies as a boy

[rcmerrill-1 · 8/10 · 5 July 2006]

As a boy growing up in the 1950's, I was totally fascinated by Great White Hunters and exotic locations such as Africa and India. Stewart Granger was also one of my favorite actors, so this movie quickly became one of my most well-liked. Granger's character of Harry Black is far from infallible. Instead, he is a man who survived WWII, but is still at war with his personal demons as well as a man-eating tiger. Not quite as exciting as some of Granger's other action/adventure efforts (i.e., King Solomon's Mines), it still has the ability to transport the viewer away to a different time, country and culture in such a way that I actually felt as if I was there. My son was a missionary in India, and he felt the same way. Although some of the flashbacks seem to drag a bit (and were much less interesting to a boy of ten than the action scenes), they are nonetheless integral to the plot, and the sexual tension between Harry (Granger) and Christian (Barbara Rush) is palpable. The landscape and wildlife photography is exquisite, and the movie does a fine job of showing the people of India and their culture in a non-prejudicial way. I particularly enjoyed the depiction of the relationship of Harry and his gun-bearer, Bapu (I.S. Johar), which appeared to be built on mutual respect and admiration in spite of the racial prejudice that I'm sure existed at the time between many of the British and the native peoples. This has been a strong point of the characters Granger has played in other movies such as King Solomon's Mines. The only weaknesses I noticed were in some of the scenes where Harry and Bapu are riding along in a jeep or Harry and Christian are riding in a buggy and they are obviously superimposed on stock backgrounds. I'm not sure why the director felt this was necessary after going to the trouble of filming on location in India. All in all, I think this movie is definitely a "must see" for fans of classic action/adventure films.

The Tigers Within.

[rmax304823 · 6/10 · 26 December 2014]

You can call a tiger names -- "maneater" or "killer" -- but you can't very well blame him for moral laxity. After all, he's a secondary consumer, a carnivore, and he can't very well decide to become a vegan after his hunting territory has been invaded by a horde of upright, defenseless, prey animals. He's a slave to his reflexes. The more the human population expands, the more often in comes into contact with resident "killers", and tigers are nothing compared to viruses.

This is a Hemingwayish story of Stewart Granger, a limping ex soldier with a tin leg who hunts man-eating tigers for the Indian government and loves another man's wife. It's not quite a heroic role and Granger plays it soberly. His passion for Barbara Rush interferes with his occupational skill and, threatened by the tiger, he cries out in horror and takes to drink, determined to quit a job for which he no longer feels fit. Well, in her wimpy husband's absence, Barbara Rush brings his manhood back to life. In the end, he doesn't get the girl but he gets the tiger and carries on gamely, so to speak.

This was shot in the late 50s and both the principals were perhaps past their peaks. Granger was never a bravura actor but he was handsome, sun tanned, reliable, and had a resonant baritone. Barbara Rush -- well, she was the epitome of fresh-faced, Midwestern American beauty. Nobody could have looked better than she in "It Came From Outer Space." She never had any truly great roles but gave a truly superior performance as the horny wife of a rich banker in "Hombre." I. S. Johar is Batpu, Stewart's "Negro" sidekick, always good for a laugh, full of common sense, always keeping an eye on Stewart's welfare, given to exaggeration and nipping at the "whiskywine."

I enjoyed this immensely when I first saw it as a kid. Now, a few questions occur to me. How can Stewart go on a two-day binge of Johnny Walker red, then climb out of bed, shake his head a bit, and feel fine? I'd be wrecked for a week. Second, Stewart and Rush, in the grip of their hormones, get it on together and confess their love for one another. The next day, the dull husband returns, Rush reveals that she intends to stay with him and their son, and Stewart smiles ruefully and shakes it off as easily as he did the hangover. Only in the movies.

It bothered me a little that the tiger, who burned so brightly, wound up nothing more than a skin to adorn somebody's floor. Okay, so he eats a couple of people. There just aren't that many tigers left. And they're stunning animals. Their features look as if designed by a Japanese calligrapher with every brush stroke precisely placed. Jim Corbett wrote the book this story is based on, "Man Eaters of Kumaon," and he felt the same way in the end, giving up big game hunting and becoming a devout conservationist. It's a good read, by the way.

Sappy Soap and a Tiger - Harry Black

[arthur_tafero · 5/10 · 11 April 2024]

Stewart Granger was about the only actor in Hollywood who allowed himself to age gracefully in front of the screen. He had gray hair in his late thirties, and made no effort at all to colorize it, as 99% of the other actors in Hollywood did at the time. He must be given credit for that and being a decent actor.

That being said, the film is dreadful. The love interest is corny and not necessary to the plot. The photography is very nice, but the best actor in the film other than Granger is the tiger.

And what is wrong with this village of hundreds of people? Did they really have to depend on a Westerner for a gun to kill one tiger? How about spending a few dollars on a couple of rifles and shooting the tiger when he takes his daily walk through town? Duh. The bravest man in the film is Granger, however; not for stalking the tiger, but for allowing a native to drive his car.

Best Tiger behavior depicted in movies

[ProfBenson · 10/10 · 31 August 2005]

This is one of my favorite movies because it has the most realistic tiger behavior ever depicted in films. Man-eating tigers still exist in Asia--although now much rarer than they were--and it amazes me how well the director was able to show us how a man eating tiger would really have behaved. I worked with tigers and elephants for 25 years in a zoo (and I wholeheartedly approve of zoos now gradually ending the keeping of these animals in captivity)so I can tell you that this film gives you a uniquely realistic view of a man-eating tiger's behavior. The scene where the line of elephants are being ridden to drive the tiger towards the hunters is nice--when you see those elephants' trunks come up into the air they really are smelling their arch enemy a tiger, and they don't know it is a tame movie tiger so that is absolutely real, too. If you want to read about man-eating tigers, get books by Jim Corbett and Kenneth Anderson--they make fascinating reading. If you want to see similar superb depiction of a rogue elephant's real life behavior on film, get a copy of Jungle Princess, starring Dorothy Lamour (1936).

Harry Black and the Tiger

[CinemaSerf · 6/10 · 15 November 2022]

When a tiger takes a penchant for snacking on the locals, it falls to the intrepid "Harry Black" (Stewart Granger) and his sidekick "Bapu" (I. S. Johar) to stop it in it's tracks. Now were that to have been the thrust of the film then it could have been quite a decent adventure movie. As it is, though, it is really only a guise for a rather tepid melodrama that revolves around him and "Christian" (Barbara Rush). She is married to the high-flying "Desmond" (Anthony Steel) and have a young lad "Michael" (Martin Stephens). As the yarn develops, we discover that they have some history and the tin-legged "Black" is turning, increasingly, to the bottle to deal with his frustrations given that she is married to another. Luckily, the tiger is still munching away with impunity and when the young boy might be it's latest meal, there must be renewed focus! Barbara Rush just reminded me of Jean Simmonds the whole time, the young lad was seriously annoying and Steel features only sparingly in what is really just a vehicle for Granger to offer us something of his "Allan Quartermain" from 1950 - when he was on both better form and in better shape. Lots of rather obvious greenscreen - especially when they are driving - and some jungle scenes where you can almost see the cue dots on the studio floor don't help this much, either. Though it is my kind of film, and Granger does have charisma in spades, this is a rather lacklustre romance masquerading as an action film that need only be watched the once, and left me completely in agreement with the tiger!

This is a man's movie.

[mrcrashhappy-1 · 9/10 · 20 August 2013]

I won't cover the ground concerning the setting and the main conflict. This movie is about the theme, the importance of ethical standards in a man,the ability to make difficult decisions, personal sacrifices, moral choices, and confront danger with courage. Courage doesn't mean the absence of fear, rather the ability to suck it up when necessary.

Not unlike other movies with similar themes, such as, The Mountain, Zulu, The Ghost and The Darkness, Battle Los Angeles, and The Naked Prey, Harry Black and the Tiger deals with the personal traits inherent in the nature of men, and what separates them from adult males.

There's nothing phony in this story. The characters' true selves and motivations are laid bare like raw nerves. The tension is incredible for those who appreciate the essence of the interactions and inner struggles of the characters. If you think this movie moves too slowly, you don't get it.

Harry Black tracks a murderous tiger in the Indian jungle

[snicewanger · 5 May 2017]

Stewart Granger is essential replaying his Allan Quatermain role in this jungle epic. The setting is India however. A man eating tiger is terrorizing a village and the Indian government hires professional hunter Harry Black to kill it. Black also finds that his ex-wife, Christian, is now remarried to the manager of a tea plantation located in the area and they have an eight year old son. To further complicate the situation it turns out that the plantation manger, whose name is Desmond Tanner, had been a POW with Black during the war. During an escape attempt from the POW camp Tanner had chickened out and remained behind. Black attempted to get Tanner to to join the escape but the delay led to him be shot in the leg.His escape has a success but his leg had to be amputated. He now has a hollow steel leg which adds to his tough guy reputation.

Black lets Tanner accompany him on his first attempt to put down the tiger. As the elephants and beaters drive the tiger towards to shooting blind. Tanner panics and makes a bad shot throwing off Harry's aim. The Tiger attacks Harry and badly mauls him.He convalesces at the tea plantation with Christian nursing him. They both realize that they still have strong feelings for each other. Tanner realizes it too.Because of his and the severity of his wounds, Black starts to doubt himself and his ability to take down the tiger and goes on a drinking binge.

*****************SPOILER******************

Christian and his faithful gun bearer Bapu help him get back on his feet and the two former lovers realize that they they are committed to the present live can't go back to what was. Harry finally gets the tiger and presents its hide to the Tanners young son, who hero worships him, as a rug for his bedroom.The movie ends with Harry and Bapu driving through the village as they celebrate the death of the tiger.

Granger certainly looks the part of a white hunter. Steel who usually played daring-do chaps is awkward in the role of a coward. American Midwest born Barbara Rush is out of place as the woman between them I S Johar as Bapu provides the comedy Relief. The tiger scenes are well done and the Indian scenery is breathtaking. Some judicious editing and a tighter script would have helped this movie a great deal. As it is, its a pleasant way to pass an hour and a half just not memorable.