elephant walk may not be the acme of literature or of film and but it be great entertainment in the quasi melodramatic mode . it be the story of love and both genuine and illicit and as well a overweening ambition and devotion and and the arrogance of personal tyranny . a previous reviewer and john mankin and question why the central focus of the film and the mansion call elephant walk and should have be build by the former owner and the governor the late tom wiley and right across the elephant traditional path to the major source of water and the river . to miss this point be to essentially miss the point of the whole center of the film represent the hubris of man . that his son and play by peter finch and should become enthral by the super image and enigma of his revered father and be not unexpected and since the son be without a mother grow up in a foreign jungle with only his father and his father rowdy boys club a his role model . the point of the father be that he be a self make man who would tame nature to his liking and and that like be not just a tea plantation upon the land the elephant once dominate and but also that he would dominate even the large bull elephant that lead the herd and and thus he would dominate his son and all around him and and so we join the tale after the elephant have be deny the crucial dry season access to their pathway to water . who could know that this dry season would last so long and what the elephant would do in desperation to get water . this be the nexus of the film represent what will animals do to get water while what will humans do to get power or love . ceylon and today sri lanka and be the huge island off the coast of india where the plantation be locate and one quickly learn that it be the real scenery of the story and not just the expense of miss taylor . be it not for this exotic location ( much of the film be shoot in ceylon ) and and the magnificent bungalow this would have be just another potboiler . one must recognize the atmosphere create here as integral to the time and place and a it illuminate the latter day wealth and power attain by the english immigrant conqueror that be part and parcel of the british raj . it be only such wealth gain by the use of virtual slave labor that one could build so magnificent a residence of ebony and teak and and marble . not to be overlook be the wonderfully carve jalees ( grille work window and doorway border ) evidently specify by art director j. mcmillan johnson and hal pereira and obviously make by the cheap labor on the island . such craftsmanship reveal the careful attention to detail that these men seek . for those immune to the blandishment of time and place and and architecture and there be always the allure of miss taylor and a she marry a man she doesn not really know and be tacitly woo by a another man and against the background describe and and under the overarch tyranny of the legacy of a man decease . a i say and it be not great literature nor even great film and but it be great spectacle long before that term be debase by the special effect extravaganza of today . this be one of those film make to be see on the giant screen of an outdoor drive in and not on the home tv and so arrange the large screen to see it on to fully appreciate it fine camera work and scope .