Pop Culture 101 - MOGAMBO

Mogambo was one of the first Hollywood features released without a musical soundtrack. Instead, director John Ford ordered the soundtrack filled with animal and bird sounds and native shouts that punctuated the action and set the mood. Earlier, Richard Fleischer had scored his film noir The Narrow Margin (1952) entirely to train sounds, but that film was considered a B-picture. The use of natural sound instead of a musical score would later be utilized by Robert Wise on Executive Suite (1954).

Some critics have suggested that Mogambo gave director Howard Hawks the idea for his own African safari adventure, Hatari! (1962).

by Frank Miller