Blood and Sand

'The Mark of Zorro' and 'Blood and Sand' confirmed Rouben Mamoulian's enduring concern with drama conveyed through movement of characters and camera... The former was a rousing, deliciously ironic swashbuckler; the latter an adaptation of Ibañez's story about a simple country boy whose success as a matador leads him into temptation and towards a violent early death... Rudolph Valentino had scored one of his biggest success with 'Blood and Sand' in 1922, and the same story served as a Tyrone Power vehicle nineteen years later...

Color, and Mamoulian's almost choreographic direction, turned the motion picture into an exquisite melodrama, where all the passes and swirls of the bullring were vividly depicted: The parade of the bullfighters and their entourage, the race of the vicious predator into the arena, the matadors flashing their yellow and pink capes...

Rita Hayworth blood-red lips and scarlet fingernails, contrast the cool colors of her Spanish mansion, and show her off to glittering advantage...

In her sensuous screen Pasadoble with Anthony Quinn, she looks sensational in her rose evening gown, symbolic of the Spanish bullfight flavor...

The arrogant and passionate dance, based on Flamenco dancing that characterizes the man as the matador and the lady as his red cape, is performed with style and surety... The colors, rose and green, are blended to perfection with the amazing prowess of an appealing couple in tune with the balanced perfection of shapes and the sweeping movements of Rita Hayworth...

Quinn is perfect for redoing old Valentino roles... He always demonstrated his grace and remarkable agility on the dance floor... This sequence remains one of the movie's best remembered moments...

Mamoulian begins the film with a 30 minute prologue, establishing the characters ten years before the main narrative...

Juanillo, just a little boy with fire, vigorously illiterate but possessing his father's passion for bullfighting, is seen by night currently taking the bullfighting world by storm... Not least for his exceptional brave and agile style of fighting but also for his age... Juanillo adores the art of bullfighting... Hr runs off to Madrid with his boyhood friends, Manolo, Nacional Pablo and La Pulga...

After winning a certain reputation as a 'flat-footed novillero,' Juan (Tyrone Power) returns years later to Seville to marry his childhood sweetheart, Carmen Espinosa (Linda Darnell - a voluptuous beauty with perfect complexion), and brings her to live in his luxurious home where he has installed his mother (Alla Nazimona) and his sister, Encarnacion (Lynn Bari).

Then he goes on to become the 'first matador in Spain' showing his individual personality by the combination and variations of his passes... Juan brings the bull past his body with the elegance of a premier ballet dancer, making it seem effortless and beautiful...

As his popularity climbs Juan's entourage of hangers-on increases joining his boyhood friends Nacional (John Carradine), Manolo de Palma (Anthony Quinn), La Pulga (Michael Morris), Pablo Gomez (Charles Stevens), Sebastian (William Montague), and his loyal dresser, Garabato (J. Carrol Naish) who left the ring just as he came in to it, 'without a peseta.'

But all is not so perfect in the ranks of Juan's cuadrilla... Nacional is anxious to leave bullfighting for politics, and Manolo, jealous of Juan's success, wants to make his own name in the ring... And then there is the on-going feud Juan has been engaging in with Natalio Curro (Laird Cregar), the famous bullfight critic who had insulted the memory of his father...

When Juan established himself as Spain's most important matador, Curro opportunistically affirms: 'At last Sevilla has a matador. The greatest matador of all history. The first man of the world. The day he was born, there was salt in the air, a great quantity of salt.'

And at one of Juan's 'great afternoon', we are introduced to the stunning Doña Sol des Muire (Rita Hayworth) whose chief passion is bullfighting and, in particular, handsome matadors...

The torrid Spanish beauty had little difficulty, in luring the new risen star away from his home...

Falling under her tempting beauty, Juan begins an affair with her at the expense of both his faithful wife and his career... His skills as a matador go downhill and his bad attitude loses him all his once loyal friends...

'Blood and Sand' is sensitively directed by Mamoulian and might be considered one of the greatest examples of Technicolor film-making... The film won an Oscar for Best Color Cinematography, and was nominated for Best Interior Set Decoration...

20th Century Fox gave Tyrone Power one of his most famous roles as the bullfighter torn between the love of a noble woman, his wife (Linda Darnell), and the tempestuous "other woman" (Rita Hayworth). A technicolor remake of the 1922 classic with Valentino, the studio spared no expense in making this a lavish, well-paced version of the tale depicting the rise and fall of a great bullfighter.

While establishing Power as a romantic hero of swashbuckling roles, it made a star of Rita Hayworth who, up until this time, was seen mostly in low-budget films. If anything, 'Blood and Sand' assured of the stardom she sought.

Especially interesting in one of his more flamboyant character roles is Laird Cregar as the critic of the art of bullfighting, alternately praising and damning the hero and eventually getting his comeuppance from Power.

Directed with great style by Rouben Mamoulian, it is still the best version of the story to date, photographed in the lush technicolor of the 1940s.

You may be interested in looking at my article on Laird Cregar that appeared in the March 2001 issue of CLASSIC IMAGES.

When 20th Century Fox decided to re-make Rudolph Valentino's great silent screen triumph Blood and Sand it probably was Tyrone Power's biggest test as an actor and a box office draw up to that time.

Valentino's performance was still fresh in everyone's mind. Well, Tyrone Power passed the test with flying colors that showed up in Ray Rennahan's fabulous cinematography here.

One of the previous reviewers who was from Brazil expressed a lot of what I would have said. Tyrone Power with three roles, here, in The Mark of Zorro and in Captain From Castile became a Latino cultural hero for those portrayals. Hard to believe since the Power family theatrical tradition goes back a couple of centuries in Ireland. But those portrayals have stood the test of time and to get such an accolade from a Latino viewer is the highest possible praise for his acting.

Tyrone Power as Juan Gallardo whose mission in life is to become an even greater Matador than his father who was killed in the bullring, brings a combination of panache and bumptiousness to the part. He's bold and daring, but not terribly sophisticated and never learned to read and write. And he's got two women all in an uproar over him, Linda Darnell who is his wife and the temptress Dona Sol.

This loan out for Rita Hayworth playing Dona Sol is what really launched her career as sex symbol. Dona Sol was Hayworth's trial run as vamp and temptress, the forerunner of Gilda which was her signature part.

The cast is well populated with some of the best character actors Hollywood had to offer. Anthony Quinn, Nazimova, J. Carrol Naish, Monty Banks, John Carradine, etc., all are perfectly cast.

One I think should be singled out is Laird Cregar. Cregar plays Curro the bullfighter critic and I think Cregar enjoyed playing this part, allowing an actor to exact some revenge on critics as a breed. Bullfighting isn't just some guy going into a ring to kill a bull. It's all in the showmanship and Curro is a critic like a theater critic, not a sportswriter. You really love to hate Curro as the film progresses and I wonder just what made him such an expert? Cregar was fleshing out that old expression about critics being eunuchs, they know how to do it, but can't do it themselves. I think Cregar was paying back every critic whoever gave him a bad review with this one.

Blood and Sand was certainly a jinxed picture. Tyrone Power died so young of that heart attack while shooting Solomon and Sheba in Spain, Linda Darnell died a few years later in a house fire trying to rescue someone she thought trapped in the flames, George "Superman" Reeves who played one of Rita Hayworth's admirers committed suicide, Rita Hayworth had that tragically lingering Alzheimer's Disease and Laird Cregar was the first to go of a heart attack in his twenties. Another great work of art attached to so much tragedy.

As far as I'm concerned Rudolph Valentino starred in the silent version of Tyrone Power's, Blood and Sand.

"Blood and Sand" gave Rudolph Valentino one of the best roles of his career. It also established Tyrone Power as a star in Hollywood. Under Rouben Mamoulian's direction this film translates the novel by Blasco Ibanez into a Hollywood spectacle, so popular in the 40s. It is to Mr Mamoulian's credit, a film that paid attention to a lot of detail about the Spain of the beginning of the XX century.

The story presents us Juan Gallardo, a poor lad from the provinces, who became the greatest matador of his time. He goes from poverty to a life of luxury; a life for which he was ill prepared for. In fact, Juan never learned to read! It's a story of how someone overcomes difficult obstacles to attain fame and notoriety, only to be defeated by those same ambitions when the matador throws everything away in order to pursue a society woman, forsaking the decent wife that adores him.

Tyrone Power in the film was still a bit rough in the acting department, as well as in the cosmetic adjustments that all stars go through. Compare his smile here with later films: major dental work had not been performed yet!. Tyrone Power embodied the best of what a screen idol possessed. He had enormous charisma and no matter who he plays against, his presence is larger than that of the leading lady.

Linda Darnell was very effective as Carmen, a woman in love with the matador. Rita Hayworth's beauty doesn't come across as well here as in other films. Ms Hayworth was more of a siren in the movie. The first rate cast that was assembled is excellent. Anthony Quinn, Lynn Bari, J Carrol Nash, George Reeves, Alla Nazimova, John Carradine, just to name a few, shine in the background of this film.

Tyrone, Anthony, Linda and Rita to name a few await you here in this classic heart-moving story of a boy who wants to grow up to be a man by being a Matador i.e. the best there ever was. That's the intrigue and we are also entertained as we watch childhood friends grow up together into adulthood too. Then there is love both the carnal and the heartfelt. Throw in some poverty, poor boy makes good and you have a decent story to tell. Every time I watch these rags to riches to rags again movies I always wonder why these people don't put something away when on top? Surely what goes up must come down not to mention bad luck and how about early retirement too? That's what hooks you! Its when they don't do it or something goes wrong that you now become a part of the movie world wondering if that could happen to you and how would you handle it? This is called entertainment and they pull it off nicely here. There is a eating scene or two so prepare to eat while watching and of course have a tasty drink and some snack for later. Blood and Sand is an appropriate name for the bullfighter game...