Bror Blixin got really trashed by his first wife,Isak Dinesen, in the book and movie "Out of Africa." From other less biased sourses, he was among the best of white hunters. I have posted an account of an encounter with an elephant in the Books of Interest forum, for those interested in knowing more about him. He was the first to use airplanes to scout for elephant.

Redbird:

I had a suspicion that what you wrote was true after I saw "Out of Africa" and saw a powerful actor (Brandauer)playing the role of her husband.(I guess that the producers wanted to straddle the fence) (BTW, I thought Redford looked weak alongside of Meryl Streep. I also thought the lion scene in the early part of the movie where lionesses are coming up on the heroine looked ridiculous)

We must keep in mind Blixin's first wife was, by her own admission, a world class spinner of yarns. We have to keep that in mind in reading "Out of Africa" and her opinion of Blixen.

Been a while since I read any of that, but while she painted him as a rather poor husband, to say the least, she did nothing to disparage his hunting skills.

Brent

The closest the movie comes to portraying him in a positive light is when he goes to her house to tell her that Denys Finch-Hatten has been killed. She tells him.," you are surely one brave bastard." Markham remarks that he never got rattled when faced with danger, he just got mad and acted. And, from Markham's description of Finch-Hatten, you are correct that Redford would take no better than second place.

If you want to know more about Bror Blixen i can recomend the book Brev fr�n Afrika it is in swedish
The English version is called The Africa letters I think.
Good book

http://dogbert.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?an=bror+blixen&imageField.y=5&imageField.x=46&ph=2&cmid=hp-search-form&sts=t

Cheers,

Andr�

Read Von Blixen-Finecke's autobiography, "African Hunter". He comes across to me as a real gentleman (and lady's man) as well as a first class hunter, nothing like the character portrayed by Klaus Maria Brandaeur.

JMHO concerning "Out of Africa" the movie. First, it led to a Renaissance of the "Africa" look in clothing which was good . Second, there is absolutely no way in hell Redford should have won the Best Actor Oscar - Harrison Ford should have won it for "Witness", which was bad !

There is a huge difference between the American Hollywood movie "Out of Africa" which I enjoyed and still do and the books "Out of Africa" and "Shadows on the Grass".

If Karen Blixen was a little biased against her husband I guess a wife usually is when he is a inveterate womenizer which is pretty obvious in his own books and others books. It would be a contest between Bunny Allen and Bror Blixen to see whom scored the most trophies .

Some parts of her book's have been questioned. But if you wrote an autobiographical story, would you always tell the truth?

There was no doubt Bror Blixen was a great White Hunter, and indeed he was regarded as the "lion hunter" of the time for clients wanting lion. A very adventurous life including crossing the sahara by car and by plane among other things.

Karen Blixen's writing established her as one of the greatest fictional and semi-fictonal writers of the century. If you need more proof, look to Ernest Hemingway who on accepting his Nobel Prize for literature upset the Nobel Institute by suggesting they had made a mistake by not awarding the prize to Karen Blixen instead.

Read some of her other stories especially on Africa. One of my favourites is "The King's Letter" which is a short true story on a letter she received from the King of Denmark and the blacks' belief in its healing power. The letter thanked her for giving the King a lion skin which had been placed opposite a polar bear skin near the Royal Throne. I have this on audio tapes and it is incredibly enjoyable to listen to while doing mundane tasks. It is actually narrated by the author herself taped during a tour to NY.

Nitrox
Where did you get that tape from ?
I am very interested in Bror and Karen Blixen

Cheers,

Andr�

I am glad the movie was so popular and it really does get you pining to go back....to bad they didn't put a realistic hunt scene in there instead of the 'self defence' situation.
BTW am I correct in guessing that in a hunted area, lions are more likely to run away from a kill rather than defend it?

This is an interesting thread for me. One of the women of Africa who is often overlooked is Beryl Markham. Her books and her life I found very interesting and even did a paper on her for an English class once. It seems that she led quite an exciting life herself.

Shannon
gotogirl3

Did she not have an affair wit Denys Finch-Hatton ?

Cheers,

Andr�

Like I said, I found her life to be overlooked and quite interesting!

Shannon

I have the book West with the night but have not had the time to read it yet. Will soon.

Cheers,

Andr�

There is a book of her short stories of Africa entitled "The Splendid Outcast." I always liked the first part of the back cover. It says "She passionately loved horses, flying, Africa, and men, perhaps in that order." I understand that she blended well in the area and you can certainly see why if that statement is true.

Shannon

Nitrox big bore Bwana
Thank you very much.
I have the Bror Blixen book Brev fr�n Afrika African hunter
I will get the tapes. Master of e-net.

Cheers,

Andr�

nitroX,

I just didn't realize you were interested in so many areas and posted so often.

And absolutely no BS meant, I think you are spot on again about all said.

in his book "white hunters" B. Hernne wrote that Isak Dinsen while married to Blixen had an ongoing love affair with Finch- Hatten. Also that this affair took place while B.Blixen and Fitch Hatten were in partnership in the hunting business, never allowing it to interfer with their own friendship and the business of producing quality hunts for their clients.
Blixen was always broke from his women chasing and rash behavior as well, dying a poor man. ** now there's a man whom knew how to live!!!

Uhhhh, guys! Remember waaaay back when (last week) Saeed asked us to keep this about "African Big Game Hunting"??????? This thread is more like Soap Opera Digest than hunting. JMO.

Dave

So, a guy who cheats on his wife, gives her the clap, which renders her unable to bear children, is a "gentleman and a lady's man" eh? Sounds like a walking, talking pile of shit to me, even if he was a "Great White Hunter".

quote:

Uhhhh, guys! Remember waaaay back when (last week) Saeed asked us to keep this about "African Big Game Hunting"??????? This thread is more like Soap Opera Digest than hunting.

almost-a-cowboy

There are many very interesting hunting accounts in these books.

A lot of these happenings still go on , on safaris even today. Just keep your eyes open.

quote:

So, a guy who cheats on his wife, gives her the clap, which renders her unable to bear children, is a "gentleman and a lady's man" eh? Sounds like a walking, talking pile of shit to me, even if he was a "Great White Hunter".

DC300

There are conflicting accounts as to whether Bror gave his wife syphilis at all. A lot of "Out of Africa" is fiction or fictionalised stories from other true events.

As for the "loose living" it was a sign of the times in Colonial Kenya, the "Happy Valley Set" etc and the lives of the idle upper classes.

Most of these characters were the great White Hunters of the day. Bror Blixen, Finch Hatton among others were those chosen by the visitung royalty and dignitorarti of the day.

Just a note, but I just finished "West With The Night", and if Markum is accurate, she was actually the first person to scout elephant by air. It was Finch-Haddons idea, and he got killed when preparing to try. She took the idea and ran with it, and it was my impression that she did it for several hunters, although hunts with Blixen were the ones covered in the book.

Incidentally, some of here stories of hunts reminded me of JudgeG's buffalo/lion story, at least from the up close and personal side.