Orgueil et passion

This 1950s movie epic was not a hit, but had a particularly superduper superstar set of headliners, Cary Grant, Frank Sinatra and Sophia Loren. Sinatra was seriously miscast as a firebrand Spaniard fighting valiantly against Napoleon's armies in 1810, and Grant also seems out of place, but otherwise it is still an impressive big-budget production for its day.

For me, Sophia's sexy flamenco dance showcase early in the film easily upstages the huge gun our heroes are dragging along 1,000 kilometers of Spain to do battle at Avila. The movie was obviously the inspiration for the 1966 "Combat!" episode titled "The Gun".

Main problem here is that the screenplay by Edward Anhalt, working with his wife Edna Anhalt, is simply not compelling, especially considering his work on many great movies ranging from "Becket" to "Hour of the Gun".

Producer-director Stanley Kramer has become, in recent decades, demoted to relative obscurity. Currently his major works, movies with serious messages, are of no interest, while his contemporary Kubrick is often considered the greatest of all time, and the work of his current counterpart Ridley Scott is laughably overrated. I chalk it up to the preference by both critics and audiences for style over substance.

During the Napoleonic Wars, British naval captain Cary Grant and Spanish freedom fighters Sophia Loren, Frank Sinatra and a real cast of thousands try to keep an enormous cannon from the evil French occupiers. Lots of impressive scenes with hundreds and sometimes thousands of extras and lots of mules and rope to pull that gun over the countryside with the French Army in hot pursuit. The movie is visually impressive; a knife fight amongst windmills, great battle sequences, large epic shots of hundreds and thousands of people all set against the beautiful Spanish landscape (where the movie was filmed). The problem is the actors. Grant is the best, but too stoic; Loren is beautiful, but too fey; and Sinatra is just miscast, his Spanish accent awful and totally unbelievable as the passionate Loren's love interest. Worth watching for the spectacle and the great scenes and scenery, but the personal soap opera between Cary, Frank and Loren puts a damper on the fun. I wish another actor had played Miguel, Sinatra's character - how about Anthony Quinn, Ricardo Montalban, Fernando Lamas, or even mature character actors like Cesar Romero or Gilbert Roland? I could never believe Sophia was interested in Frank.

Stanley Kramer's second directorial effort,THE PRIDE AND THE PASSION, gave him his first opportunity to create an epic, involving a cast of thousands against a backdrop of 19th century Spain. A tale of heroism, dogged determination, and sacrifice, the production reunited him with NOT AS A STRANGER co-star Frank Sinatra, along with international sex symbol Sophia Loren and screen legend Cary Grant. The three leads were to provide a romantic triangle that would add a 'human' element to the story of a massive cannon's journey to crush the 'impregnable' walls of French-occupied Avila. It was an ambitious endeavor for veteran producer Kramer, as his directorial debut, NOT AS A STRANGER, had been panned as nothing more than a glorified soap opera, criticized by reviewers for the miscasting of Robert Mitchum in the lead.

Miscasting would be a major criticism of this production, as well...along with the ponderous, overlong plot, occasionally sappy dialog, and lack of believability in the romance between the leads.

If only Kramer had filmed the action occurring 'off the set', which was FAR more spectacular...

Frank Sinatra had taken the role of the guerilla fighter, Miguel, simply to be close to his estranged wife, Ava Gardner, who was also in Spain, filming THE SUN ALSO RISES. He was well aware that his attempts at a Spanish accent would be the butt of many jokes, and he disliked the tedious production, anyway, especially as his co-star, Cary Grant, preferred multiple 'takes' of each scene (Sinatra was a 'one-take' actor, who believed in 'saying it all', the first time). As the production dragged on, with the movement of thousands of extras creating long waits between set-ups, Sinatra grew increasingly surly, and would often disappear to be at Gardner's side.

Cary Grant, at 53, coming off the classic AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER, hated 'period' pictures and costumes, but was grateful to be away from America and his crumbling marriage to Betsy Drake. He was lonely and unhappy, however...a situation that would change dramatically, as he got to know Sophia Loren. The voluptuous 23-year old Italian actress, who had just exploded onto American screens in BOY ON A DOLPHIN (standing in trenches to accommodate her much shorter co-star, Alan Ladd), was earthy, passionate, and single, although romantically involved with director Carlo Ponti, the man who 'discovered' her, for several years. But Ponti was in Italy, had refused, as yet, to marry her, and Loren was working with an actor she had idolized since childhood...and the pair were soon having a tempestuous affair off-camera, as Grant fell madly in love with his young co-star. He proclaimed that he would marry Loren, as soon as filming was completed, and he could get Drake to file for divorce.

The announcement did NOT sit well with Carlo Ponti, who arrived as filming wrapped, acknowledged to Loren that he loved her, and wanted to marry. The actress contemplated both proposals, finally choosing Ponti, as she knew the depth of his feelings, and was well-aware of Grant's lousy track record as a husband.

Ponti married Loren in Mexico (and, in a bit of irony, was accused, five years later, of bigamy, as it turned out he was still married to another woman, at the time!), and Grant, heartbroken, would end up making a romantic comedy (complete with a wedding scene) with Loren, a year later, in their next film together, HOUSEBOAT.

The firings of the giant cannon at the climax of THE PRIDE AND THE PASSION couldn't match the explosiveness behind the scenes!

The good news is the beautiful photography, and the beauty of Sophia Loren. A bit like Raquel Welch but in an earlier era, she doesn't have to be that great at acting to be eminently watchable. Learning she made $200,000 for this movie is completely believable. But the most outstanding aspect of this movie is in the negative - how patently ridiculous Sinatra's absurd Spanish affect and wig are. He doesn't bring it off in the slightest. He brings a rather farcical component to the project. One almost wonders why the director accepted some of the scenes as the final print. He may have been running out of daylight and had to move on, and couldn't afford to be too much of a perfectionist.

This spectacle movie is packed with noisy action , fights , uncomfortably cast , breathtaking Spanish outdoors and epic happenings . It deals with a small group of resistance fighters who form a vintage Spanish guerrilla led by an illiterate peasant called Miguel (Frank Sinatra who replaced Marlon Brando) battling for Spanish independence in 1810 and all of them must struggle a 6 ton cannon across the rugged terrain of Spain in order to help the British defeat the French commanded by General Jouvet (Theodore Bikel) . This enormous gun , perhaps the largest in the world at that time , to be destined to pull down the Avila walls . Meanwhile , along the way a British officer , named Anthony (Gary Grant who was utterly in love with Loren) joins the bunch , but then the protagonists have an affair and he falls in love for Juana (Sophia Loren in his first English-speaking role and she obtained $200,000 for her work on this big production) , the leader's sweetheart and the woman who get them both on fire .

In this spectacular but silly flick there are epic events , battles , a love triangle , historical events and a cast of thousands . The flick describes the efforts , sacrifices and hardships to transport such a gigantic cannon throughout Spain and how it must be covered from the Bonaparte army . Based on a novel titled ¨The Gun¨ by CS Forester's about Napoleon's Iberian campaign in which Guerrilleros have to move a huge cannon chased by the Napoleonic forces . This is still a slog through an overlong , and tiring script by the prestigious Edward Anhalt ; however , the film results to be epic , thrilling , overwhelming and impressive , especially on Avila's final battle . Miscasting actors , specially of Frank Sinatra as a Spanish countryman hurt the movie . As Cary Grant and Frank Sinatra are a passable but uncomfortable duo , playing as two heroes struggling to lug a vast cannon within range of the Napoleonic wars , they considered themselves to be miscast in this film . Cary Grant had sworn never to make another historical film after the disastrous The Howards of Virginia (1940) , he made an exception for this film to star with other tower-box office actors as Sinatra and Loren . In fact , Sophia Loren got a great amount of money for her work in this big-budgeted super-production . This was one of two films Sophia Loren and Cary Grant starred in together , the other was Houseboat or Cintia (1958) by Melville Shavelson . As Sophia Loren is gorgeous as the rebellious girl providing the love interest on both , Grant and Sinatra . Support cast is frankly excellent , plenty of notorious Spanish secondaries as José Nieto , Carlos Casaravilla , Carlos Larrañaga , Xan Das Bolas , Emilio Rodríguez , Julian Ugarte , Barta Barri , Felix De Pomes , and Spanish ex-president Adolfo Suarez as extra and many others . Colorful cinematography in Technicolor by Franz Planer supported by Spanish cameraman Manuel Berenguer , being shot on location in Ciudad Encantada , Cuenca , Castilla-La Mancha , El Escorial's monastery , El Escorial, Madrid , Santiago de Compostela , A Coruña , Galicia , Segovia Roman Aqueduct , Segovia , Castilla y León, and Toledo and Valdemoro Madrid . Furthermore , it contains a rousing , evocative and sensitive musical score by George Antheil .

This spectacularly solemn film and full of sound and fury was well produced/directed by Stanley Kramer but flopped in box office . By that time to be said that this producer Stanley Kramer himself wants really to pull down the Avila walls to make more realist the finale scenes . He was a successful filmmaker who had several hits , such as : Fugitives , It's a mad , mad mad world , Inherit the wind , Judgement at Núremberg , On the beach , Ship of fools , The secret of Santa Vittoria , The Domino Principle , Guess who's coming to dinner , among others .