The Pride and the Passion (1957)

User Rating:

5.5/10   

Director:

Stanley Kramer

Writers:

C.S. Forester (novel)
Edna Anhalt (screen story and screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

10 July 1957 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Drama | History | Romance | War

Plot:

The story in this movie deals with the perseverance of Spaniards to take back their country from the...

Plot Keywords:

Revolution | French | Historical | Love Triangle | Napoleonic

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Cary Grant	...	Anthony
Frank Sinatra	...	Miguel
Sophia Loren	...	Juana
Theodore Bikel	...	General Jouvet
John Wengraf	...	Sermaine
Jay Novello	...	Ballinger
José Nieto	...	Carlos (as Jose Nieto)
Carlos Larrañaga	...	Jose (as Carlos Larranaga)
Philip Van Zandt	...	Vidal
Paco El Laberinto	...	Manolo (as Paco el Laberinto)
Julián Ugarte	...	Enrique
Félix de Pomés	...	Bishop
Carlos Casaravilla	...	Leonardo
Juan Olaguivel	...	Ramon
Nana DeHerrera	...	Maria (as Nana de Herrera)
Carlos De Mendoza	...	Francisco (as Carlos de Mendoza)
Luis Guedes	...	French soldier
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Barta Barri	...	(uncredited)
Xan das Bolas	...	(uncredited)
Alfonso Suárez	...	(uncredited)

Directed by
Stanley Kramer

Writing credits
C.S. Forester		(novel "The Gun")
Edna Anhalt		(screen story and screenplay) &
Edward Anhalt		(screen story and screenplay)
Earl Felton		uncredited

Produced by
Stanley Kramer	....	producer

Original Music by
George Antheil

Cinematography by
Franz Planer		(photography by)

Film Editing by
Ellsworth Hoagland
Frederic Knudtson

Production Design by
Rudolph Sternad

Art Direction by
Fernando Carrere

Costume Design by
Joe King

Makeup Department
Grazia De Rossi	....	hair stylist (as Grazzia de Rossi)
John O'Gorman	....	makeup artist
Bernard Ponedel	....	makeup artist
José María Sánchez	....	makeup artist (as Jose Mª Sanchez)

Production Management
Stanley Goldsmith	....	production manager
Ivan Volkman	....	production supervisor

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Alfonso Acebal	....	assistant director
Carter De Haven Jr.	....	supervising assistant director (as Carter Dehaven Jr.)
Isidoro M. Ferry	....	assistant director (as Isidoro Ferry)
José María Ochoa	....	assistant director (as Jose Mª Ochoa)

Art Department
Art Cole	....	property master
Gil Parrondo	....	associate art director
Julián Martín	....	painter (uncredited)

Sound Department
Joseph de Bretagne	....	sound engineer
Walter Elliott	....	sound effects
Bates Mason	....	sound effects

Special Effects by
Maurice Ayers	....	special effects
Willis Cook	....	special effects

Camera and Electrical Department
Manuel Berenguer	....	associate camera operator
Fred Mandl	....	camera operator
Morris Rosen	....	chief grip
Don Stott	....	chief gaffer
Ernst Haas	....	still photographer (uncredited)

Music Department
Ernest Gold	....	conductor
Ernest Gold	....	orchestrator (uncredited)

Transportation Department
Eddie Frewin	....	driver: generator (uncredited)

Other crew
Saul Bass	....	title designer
Luis Cano del Portal	....	military advisor (as Lt. Col. Luis Cano)
John Franco	....	script supervisor
Eduardo García Maroto	....	production liaison (as Eduardo Maroto)
Anne P. Kramer	....	dialogue supervisor (as Anne Kramer)
Bob Miles	....	livestock supervisor
Fernando Navarro	....	production liaison (as Fernando Novarro)
Agustín Pastor	....	production liaison (as Augustin Pastor)
Paco Reyes	....	choreographer
Hank Werba	....	production liaison
Tadeo Villalba	....	production assistant (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Stanley Kramer Productions (presents) (as Stanley Kramer Pictures)

Distributors

• United Artists (1957) (USA) (theatrical)
• American Broadcasting Company (ABC) (1962) (USA) (TV) (original airing)
• MGM Home Entertainment (2004) (Germany) (DVD)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (USA) (DVD)

Runtime:

UK:132 min | Germany:125 min | USA:132 min | Argentina:133 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Spanish

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

UK:PG | Finland:K-12 | West Germany:12 | Sweden:15 | Argentina:13

Filming Locations:

Ciudad Encantada, Cuenca, Castilla-La Mancha, Spain

Company:

Stanley Kramer Productions

Trivia:

In an attempt to improve her lingual skills, Sophia Loren underwent a crash course in English on the advice of then agent (and husband-to-be) Carlo Ponti.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: In the night scene when they are camped amidst the windmills, the smoke from the fires just goes up and hangs there but the windmills are spinning madly the entire time.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Magnavox Presents Frank Sinatra (1973) (TV)

A Watchable Epic, despite its Flaws

The Peninsular War has not been a frequent subject for Hollywood, but this is one of the few exceptions. At its heart is a huge cannon which has been abandoned by the defeated Spanish army but which has fallen into the hands of a group of guerrillas who are fighting to keep alive Spanish resistance to Napoleon. Their plan is to use the cannon in an assault on the French-occupied city of Avila. They are assisted by Anthony, a British naval officer and the only man among them who is able to operate the cannon. Much of the drama concerns the rivalry that develops between Anthony and Miguel, the guerrilla leader, for the affections of a young woman, Juana.

The basic premise of this film seems an odd one. Guerrilla warriors, after all, specialise in lightning hit-and-run raids with the aim of taking the enemy by surprise. In order to do this they need to travel light. Huge cannons like the one featured in this film are designed to be pulled by teams of horses into a conventional battle or to be used as siege weapons. For a band of guerrillas to take such a weapon with them would seem to negate the whole purpose of guerrilla war. The large number of people needed to drag the cannon would effectively make them into a conventional army which could be tracked down, attacked and destroyed by the enemy in a pitched battle.

Besides the film's basic implausibility, the acting is not very distinguished. A word that that I have frequently seen used about this film, both on this board and elsewhere, is `miscast'. In my view, in fact, only one of the three main roles is an obvious example of miscasting: that of the passionate Spanish patriot Miguel. Frank Sinatra, more at home playing cynical, worldly-wise Americans, is quite unable to convey his character's courage, idealism and intensity. It was also a mistake to have Miguel speaking in a bizarre foreign accent. Quite apart from the fact that this at times makes his lines difficult to understand, we are presumably to understand that the characters actually speak Spanish to one another rather than English. Anthony states that he has been chosen for the mission because of his fluent Spanish, and Miguel, an illiterate peasant, would have had little or no opportunity to acquire a knowledge of foreign languages. To have Miguel speak English like a native speaker would have been quite acceptable as a way of representing his use of his native tongue.

Although the other two main roles are not so obviously miscast, neither is entirely satisfactory. Although Cary Grant is not normally associated with period dramas, one would have thought that a gentlemanly British officer would be well within his compass. Unfortunately, this is not one of his better performances, and I would agree the reviewer who said that he looked bored. Sophia Loren was by no means out of her depth as a Spanish peasant girl, but the part was not well enough written to enable her to do much with it. Juana is not so much a character as a cliché, the embodiment of the Anglo-Saxon stereotype of the proud, fiery, temperamental Spanish woman. (Or, for that matter, of the, proud, fiery, temperamental `Latin' woman in general. As it is a widely-held belief in both America and Britain that all speakers of Romance languages share the same temperament, the casting of an Italian actress in the part must have made perfect sense to the filmmakers). At least Miss Loren looked less uncomfortable than did Ingrid Bergman in a similar role in `For Whom the Bell Tolls'.

Seen as an action drama rather than a character study, however, the film has its good points. The photography of the wild Spanish landscapes is magnificent, and many of the individual scenes generate a sense of excitement. Particularly notable are the scene where the guerrillas have to manoeuvre the cannon up, and then down, a mountainside, nearly ending in disaster, and that where they manage to hide it in Avila cathedral under the noses of the French. Despite the length of the film, the action does not drag, and tension is maintained to the end. For all its weaknesses, this is a watchable epic war film. 6/10