BRIDE OF VENGEANCE
US, 1949, 92 minutes, Black and white.
Paulette Goddard, John Lund, Macdonald Carey, Albert Decker, John Sutton, Raymond Burr.
Directed by Mitchell Leisen.
A Renaissance melodrama, quite well done, Hollywood style. Mitchell Leisen, the director, also helped in the costume department and the film, though filmed in black and white, is quite lavish in its presentation of the Borgia court.
Bride of Vengeance is a title for Lucrezia Borgia. There had been a film with a similar title in 1923 with Conrad Veidt as Cesare. Paulette Goddard, who had appeared with Chaplin in Modern Times (and married him) also appeared in a number of Cecil B. de Mille epics. She is Lucretia, a capricious heroine, bride of vengeance and then repentant heroine. Macdonald Carey, an unlikely choice for Cesare Borgia in view of his later career, performs well in the sinister role. John Lund, hero of a hundred minor comedies at Paramount, is the medieval hero the Duke of Ferrara. The setting, costumes and intrigue are very entertaining. Raymond Burr, in an early role, highlights the American misplaced in medieval Italy.
At the same time, 20th Century Fox released The Black Rose with Orson Welles as Cesare Borgia.
This is a Hollywood-style version of the Renaissance period – filmed in black and white and directed by Mitchell Leisen, who was an art director in films from the 1920s to the 1940s and then began a career directing. He made a number of significant films in the 1940s including Midnight, Lady in the Dark, Frenchman’s Creek, To Each His Own. His films in the 1950s were less memorable. During the 1960s he worked in television.
(There are at least twenty entries under the name Lucrezia Borgia in the Internet movie database.)
1. The appeal of history, costume melodrama, the Borgia period and its intrigues? The quality of this melodrama?
2. Audience knowledge of the period, the characters, judgments on their behaviour, morals?
3. The black and white photography, costumes, decor and sets? The special effects, especially the building of the cannon, the battle sequences? The medieval-style score?
4. The presentation of the Borgia world and its treachery, lack of moral scruple, cruelty, sudden death, struggles for power, betrayal even within families? Audience interest in these intrigues, revulsion?
5. Alfonso as hero - seeing him initially as a joker and courtier, the initial death and his reaction? The talk about his Jupiter and the irony of its being a giant cannon? his visit to Rome, the fascination with Lucretia? The clash with Cesare and his refusal to cooperate concerning Venice? The proposal of marriage and the underlying vengeance reasons? Cesare's manoeuvring? The marriage ceremony, the first night and Lucretia's playing for time, Alfonso's using it to build and test cannons? The humour of his getting a double? The gradual trust with Lucretia and her betrayal because of curiosity about the cannon, her poisoning him? The irony of the role of the doctor ? in his being kidnapped and not helping Lucretia's husband, in being a motive for her vengeance towards Alfonso, her recognizing the different doctor in the portrait, the doctor's escape and tending Alfonso? her return, the proving of her telling the truth, the happy ending? A credible medieval hero?
6. Historical reputation of Lucretia Borgia - as presented here, flighty, taunting her husband yet loving him, his somersaults and jovial exaggerated behaviour? The suddenness of his death? The false doctor strangling him? The ring from Ferrara? Her agreeing to become a bride of vengeance? Her coldness towards Alfonso, making him wait? The contrived sequence with the pardoning of the poet, his spying on Alfonso and her discovery of the cannon? Her attachment to her brother, betraying Alfonso after poisoning him? The encounter with Titian and her return? The making of Lucretia a heroine? The picture of Cesare Borgia and audience knowledge of his history? His cruelty, double dealing, his reliance on his underlings, the manipulation of murders, his deceit even to Lucretia? The fascination of Lucretia for him? Titian painting him as a devil? His attitude in defeat and the killing of his officer?
8. The picture of the cannon-building, the fire, the putting the cannon in the moat, Alfonso’s cure and the discovery of the treatment of the metal, the fear of Cesare's soldiers?
9. A picture of court and medieva1 manners, spies, military men, hired assassins?
10. The introduction of the painter Titian, his role in history, incorporated into the plot?
11. A picture of medieval intrigue? The lessons of history?
