Leiningen versus the Ants. I first read it on a lazy late school day after picking it out of the trash as the Teacher was culling.
This book is right up there with some of the best horror-adventure.
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The radio play was also excellent. It aired on Escape in 1948 with, coincidentally , William Conrad (who in this film plays plays The Commissioner) playing the part of Leiningen.
sharenever heard the radio play but as radio lends itself to imagination, that was likely a very harrowing presentation.
I read it in junior high school. Superb tale that needs a re-make WITHOUT the
bloody mail-order wife!
"You cannot erase God with an edict." - Rod Serling
I absolutely agree that a faithful adaptation of the story would be riveting. I doubt they could do it, though. It's not politcally correct enough. In fact, it's scandalously politically incorrect -- which is one of the great things about it.
This film is enjoyable in its own right, but the story is something else.
One of the most gripping stories I read in elementary school.
Do many schools still assign it, I wonder?
Not a book actually, but a short story.
shareExactly--it was a short story originally published in Esquire in the 1930s--and the fact that it's a short story is where its power is. This movie is ridiculous. Other than the fact that the main character's name is Leiningen and that there are ants, it has almost nothing to do with the original story. There's no mail-order wife, none of that stuff. It's 100% about the battle between Leiningen and the ants.
And Heston's feeble acting skills are very apparent here.
Cool.
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