1h 43min | Musical, Romance | 22 April 1953 | Color
Director: Norman Foster
Stars: Ricardo Montalban, Pier Angeli, Vittorio Gassman, Vittorio Gassman, Yvonne De Carlo, Cyd Charisse, Rick Jason, Nina Foch, Kurt Kasznar, José Greco.
José Greco ... choreographer
Hermes Pan ... choreographer for Miss Charisse
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046344/
Bootleg, ok print.
Weird combination of comedy and drama. Not a dramedy, but one of 3 storylines is primarily "funny."
3 couples: son of a cheesemaker RM chases PA from rival town, mostly comedically. His buddy, RJ, a candy vendor, falls for the sister (CC) of torrero JG. Meanwhile, 3rd buddy VG, from a prominent family, loves YD from the slum (or worse), but marries NF because he has a terminal brain tumor and she is also from a prominent family and this is what his father wants.
CC & JG are gypsies and very superstitious; he believes that he will survive the bull ring only if she remains pure, so he forbids her from dating or even leaving their hotel room without him. She seeks the help of a witch, who gives her an effigy and instructions, including that she must make sure her intended victim (brother JG) sees the doll, since believers are more susceptible to it power. Sure enough he gets killed in the ring. She feels guilty, and seeks redemption by dancing with a sword on a temple ruin high in the mountains during a thunderstorm.
That dance by CC (~88min) and JG's flamenco dance (~54min) are the best reasons to watch this. This is the 2nd of 5 film credits for JG.
RM injured his back filming Across the Wide Missouri ('51), doesn't dance here, but has lots of action that's probably aided by a stuntman. I don't see a limp, but his actions are so animated that he may be masking it, or maybe we didn't see him walk much. He sang, twice I think, and it sounded like his own voice.
Unfortunately, YD doesn't dance. Her storyline is the most interesting (although she's often just referenced), and its resolution is eyebrow-raising. The comedic RM plot is the least interesting and seems to take a lot of screen time.
5 songs in the Soundtracks with no performers. Some titles suggest dance music.
MGM, dir. Foster; 6+
