Il marchio del rinnegato

This proved to be another film I was only vaguely familiar with that, however, resulted in a solid adventure effort: it is a mix of Western and Zorro-like swashbuckler (based, in fact, on a novel by the man who invented that popular avenging figure i.e. Johnston McCulley!) – though the hero's features are only partially hidden here and they are so in order to conceal the branding of the letter 'r' for 'renegade' on his forehead!

The film is immeasurably aided by a splendid gallery of actors: Ricardo Montalban (showing off his virility by frequently baring his chest and, early on, eating perhaps the longest meal this side of Asterix!), Cyd Charisse (the star teaming thus necessitating a gratuitous but vigorous flamenco number!), J. Carroll Naish (playing an ambiguous part), Gilbert Roland (the dashing villain), Andrea King (from THE BEAST WITH FIVE FINGERS {1946}, also with Naish), George Tobias (cast against type as a scowling buccaneer) and Antonio Moreno (as Charisse's eminent father).

The plot deals with Montalban being blackmailed by Roland (who knows of his facial scar) to win the heroine's hand in marriage from her betrothed ostensibly because he bears Moreno a grudge, but really in order to facilitate his own ascension to power (since he fully intends to expose the protagonist soon after and thus implicating Moreno in a scandal)! The narrative is quite complex, with Naish (by turns brutish and helpful towards Montalban and sometimes downright comical), King (Roland's girl but nevertheless jealous of the hero's attentions for Charisse!) and Tobias (who plagues the star, his old nemesis, intermittently throughout and, especially, when the latter comes into money, wants a piece of the action too!) also figuring heavily. Typically, Roland shrouds his true nature behind a veneer of respectability – his cover eventually blown off by a meek priest during the highly satisfying climax, which also comes with a revelation as to Montalban's (redemptive) role in all of this!

The film offers color, action and romance in spades throughout its briskly-paced 77 minutes but, unfortunately, the viewing was hampered by the battered state the print was in and the muffled quality of the soundtrack…so much so that I had to rewatch the ending (despite the late hour in which I screened this) in order to get all the twists offered the denouement! For the record, I had already admired Hugo Fregonese's work on BLOWING WILD (1953) and THE RAID (1954) and, after yet another satisfactory viewing of his, I am looking forward to sampling the other 8 movies currently lying in my unwatched pile!

Cyd Charisse was first of all a dancer, she danced with them all, Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Roland Petit, and her dancing always endowed her films with class. Here she dances with Ricardo Montalban, and that flamenco pas-de-deux is the treat and highlight of the film. The intrigue is not muddled but terribly multiple which must seem confusing to any less intelligent audience. Besides Montalban, the other dashing figure is Gilbert Roland, the most superior of all in the intrigue, and every scene with him is highly enjoyable, especially when fighting with exquisite elegance. There is also a great scene at the great inn of the garden of pleasure, where one of several additional intrigues takes place, ending as usual with a great fight, one of many in this cramped but very fluent swashbuckling rogue adventure, where there is no action taking place without immediately being interrupted and followed by another. This film will keep you delightfully busy.

It's 1825. California is a territory of the new Republic of Mexico. It is under constant threat from pirates and bandits. Marcos Zappa (Ricardo Montalban) escapes from pirates. He is captured and taken to meet Don Pedro Garcia who wants to be emperor of California. He is given a proposition.

There's swashbuckling. There's banditry. It's a Latino soap melodrama. It's color but of a poorer quality. I can do without the soap which is a lot of boring standing around and talking. I can do with better swashbuckling. It needs better action. This tries to be Zorro at times but it doesn't have the flair. It's a B-movie.

Gilbert Roland wants to break California off from Mexico and rule as emperor, so he blackmails branded renegade Ricardo Montalban to make love to Cyd Charisse, kill her fiance, and take off his shirt a lot in this potboiler from Universal.

Miss Charisse gets one big dance number as the high-born senorita, and it would have gotten a Kansas City burlesque house shut down. It's carefully edited, because she nominally dances it with Montalban, so large sections of it have to be reduced to clips of one second, which is all he can manage; in the words of a better remembered movie, she dances around him, and he bows. In the same way, the big sword fight between Roland and Montalban is shot with Roland facing the camera, the sword master's back to the camera, two clashes, and then switch so Montalban is facing the camera and the sword master.

All of which emphasizes the -- ahem! -- economical manner in which Hugo Fregonese shot this feature. It's pure pulp from a Johnston McCulley story, and amusing enough, and Charles Boyle's Technicolor camerawork is pleasant.

Unlike decole's comment I was fascinated by this movie. The highlights of the movie is the dance of Ricardo with Cyd CH. I find this dance to be the MOST SENSUAL dance I have ever seen on the screen, and this is even more impressing and exciting then ANTHONY DEXTER's dance " LA COMPERSITA" in VALENTINO. RICARDO MONTALBAN does use several ( not enough as far as I am concerned) opportunities to showoff his AMAZING awesome sexy body , but when he dances with Cyd the sensual dance, after being " seduced" by her, he is well dressed as a distinguished Spanish Gentelman. THe posters and L.Cs of the movie showed RICARDO fighting, and dancing , shirtless in some very irritating poses but actually these scenes are rare and therefor I was some disappointed, because my expectations were higher. BUt, remembering that it was filmed in the beginning of the 50th, even those shirtless pix were a venture. I highly recommend MARK of the RENEGADE, mainly for the dance and for the magnificent appearance of RICARDO MONTALBAN who is an Excellent Latin LOVER ( and hunk ) mosh