Blood and Sand

1941 "Love flamed in the shadow of death!"
6.7| 2h5m| NR| en
Details

Bullfighter Juan Gallardo falls for socialite Dona Sol, turning from the faithful Carmen who nevertheless stands by her man as he continues to face real danger in the bullring.

AD
AD

Watch Free for 30 Days

All Prime Video Movies and TV Shows. Cancel anytime. Watch Now

Trailers & Clips

Reviews

Cortechba Overrated
Thehibikiew Not even bad in a good way
Ploydsge just watch it!
Numerootno A story that's too fascinating to pass by...
Steffi_P It is often supposed that silent pictures are the more stylised, elegant and wordless medium when compared to their talkie counterparts, but this is not always the case. Silent movies could sometimes be clunky and overly blunt in their expression, and there were many visually graceful sound pictures. This 1941 version of Vincente Blasco Ibáñez's novel Blood and Sand, previously filmed as a silent in 1922, is a case in point.The first thing that strikes you about Blood and Sand is its breathtaking look. The Oscar-winning Technicolor cinematography of Ernest Palmer and Ray Rennahan brings layers of texture to even the dark shape of the bull's head in the opening scene, and picks out smooth whites like sculpted cream. Even the day-for-night filming (usually awful in early colour movies) doesn't look too bad. Then there is the glorious production design of Richard Day, Joseph Wright and Thomas Little which, rather than dazzling us with the array of shades available in three-strip Technicolor, sticks to two main colours – a rich dark blue and a sandy brown, both gorgeous tones which complement each other – and the story's natural surroundings – perfectly.Orchestrating these colours is director Rouben Mamoulian. Mamoulian was far more interested in style and appearance than he was in story or drama, and this is forgivable because by this point he did style better than almost anyone else in Hollywood. He uses those two tones – the blue and the brown – to regulate the colour temperature, carefully arranging props, players and camera so that the different shades flow on and off the screen. See how for example the young Gallardo creeps through the cold blue of the town, into the warm glow of the tavern, a woman in a yellowy-brown dress dancing into the centre of the screen. The movements of the actors are not only there for theatrical expressiveness (although there is that), but they also help to shift the colours around – Linda Darnell pulling up her shawl to bring total gloom to the chapel, or a blue curtain being pulled back to reveal a rack of golden matador outfits.However, speaking of theatrical expressiveness, Mamoulian did like to encourage such flamboyance from his cast. Tyrone Power, Linda Darnell and Rita Hayworth, big stars as they were, were not really great actors, but that's OK because all they are really required to do here is fill particular types. Power need be little more than a tower of swaggering masculinity, Hayworth need only be coolly alluring, and so on. The immense theatricality of the supporting cast is itself a boon. Only a director like Mamoulian would think of something so brilliantly corny as having the mortally wounded Nacional below a crucifix, his outstretched arms mimicking the Christ position, but it takes a grand old ham like John Carradine to make the pose look fitting.However, the area in which this version of Blood and Sand best distinguishes itself above its silent predecessor is in its writing and structure. The 1922 picture was in fact very stylishly directed by the great yet unsung Fred Niblo, and was superbly edited by a young Dorothy Arzner. However, it was extremely wordy (as in lots of intertitles) and contained much of the preachiness of the novel as well as one or two awkward subplots. The screenplay for 1941 on the other hand, written by the accomplished Jo Swerling, is a model of balance and succinctness. The inclusion of Gallardo's beginnings as a teenage wannabe are a good trade-in for the meanderings of the silent version, and they fully flesh out the rise-and-fall story arc. A couple of reminders of these early days towards the end of the picture add to the poignancy of the finale. This Blood and Sand is also complemented with many long wordless sections – the young Gallardo's bullfight in the dark, Dona Sol's hypnotic guitar performance (and later some genuine guitar playing by Vincente Gómez) and Hayworth's provocative dance with Anthony Quinn. Eventually, the picture begins to take on an intense, operatic quality, in which words become transcended by images. It is a full expression of cinema as a visual medium.
caa821 Tyrone Power, as handsome as any star in history, with a magnetic screen presence is, however, about as believable in the role of a Spanish bullfighter as Oliver Hardy or Buster Keaton. Rita Hayworth gnaws the scenery like a horde of beavers, but she would be pleasurable to watch just eating a chicken wing. Linda Darnell is so long-suffering she'd depress Norman Bates. Finally Anthony Quinn (and not for the last time in his career), seems to have imbibed a gallon of coffee and taken a handful of downers at the same time, and is undergoing a battle as to which will prevail directing his demeanor.Hayworth and Quinn's paso doble is excellent to watch, yet so "over-the-top" at the same time - but neither of them ever were strangers to "over-the-top." But because, rather in spite of, these aspects, the film is thoroughly enjoyable, and the plot is true to the classic. All of these mannerisms from the cast are outstanding examples of earlier, overdrawn movie drama, from its inception into the 1950's. They provide an added dimension when seeing again films such as this - providing a nostalgic view of this earlier genre, as well as the famous stars of the past.
nnnn45089191 Not a bad movie,but a bit too melodramatic after my tastes.Tyrone Power in the lead role is good but not as exciting as in his best performances.Rita Hayworth plays the femme fatale in a way that for modern audiences would be laughable.Anthony Quinn in an early stage of his career delivers the best performance in the film. I feel that even at this early stage he would have suited the lead role in the film better than Power.Linda Darnell doesn't have much to do in this movie than play the part of a betrayed woman.Why anyone would betray such a beautiful woman is beyond me.Nazimova,the silent movie vamp of the 20's, is quite good as Power's mother. John Carradine,one of the most prominent character actors of this period,was excellent as Power's best friend.
Noirdame79 Rouben Mamoulian's remake of the silent classic that made a star of Rudolph Valentino is a visual treat. The techincolor is rich, with all the shades of color (especially the blues and reds)glorious. And the stars don't look too shabby either! Tyrone Power makes a gorgeous Juan Gallardo, the poor boy who rises to fame in the bullring, but who is unable to resist the shallow and deadly beautiful noblewoman Dona Sol (Rita Hayworth, on loan from Columbia, about to be catapulted to stardom), despite his gentle, loving wife, Carmen (Linda Darnell, in her fourth and last teaming with Power).He is no more than a passing fancy to Dona Sol, who has a thing for handsome matadors, and then discards them like last week's trash when she tires of them. And the crowds who gather at the ring are no less fickle. Only Carmen and his mother love him unconditionally, but he does not see that until it is too late.Anthony Quinn is absorbing as Manola de Palma, Juan's friend, who gravitates to Dona Sol and becomes her latest boy toy, as well as the new star of the bullring. Laird Cregar, an underrated character actor with a short career, is his very reliable self as critic Natalio Curro, who pronounces Hayworth's temptress as "death in the evening". (And she is).Other reviewers have commented on how many of the actors in this project met tragic and premature ends. It is alarming, not only the three leads, but Cregar, George Reeves (as Hayworth's rejected suitor, Pierre) and Victor Kilian, as the priest, who was found beaten to death in his apartment after strolling past Grauman's Chinese Theatre and meeting up with his assailant.Too bad that Carmen and Dona Sol only meet once in the film, but it is entertaining to see the loyal wife and unscrupulous seductress in the same frame, and both Darnell and Hayworth were classic beauties, as well as underrated as performing artists.One minor quibble - 20th Century Fox picked the wrong singer to dub Hayworth's vocals! "Verde luna" is a lovely song, but the uncredited Gracilla Pirraga was completely unsuited to provide a singing voice for Rita, expert lip-syncher that she was. If there ever was a way to tell if her voice was dubbed, that moment would be it! There is a waiting list at amazon for the DVD of this movie when it becomes available. A VHS copy is a good substitute for now, but DVD format (and hopefully, extras) will definitely enhance the viewing experience.It's worth seeing for the cinematography and stars alone!