THE PRIDE AND THE PASSION
US, 1957, 132 minutes, Colour.
Cary Grant, Frank Sinatra, Sophia Loren, Theodore Bikel.
Directed by Stanley Kramer.
The Pride and the Passion is a big and brassy spectacular film. It suffers from its cast – insofar as it is somewhat difficult to imagine Cary Grant in period costume and a British commander in Spain with the commission to retrieve a cannon left behind by the Spaniards when the French invaded under Napoleon. It is also difficult to believe Frank Sinatra as a Spanish peasant and shoemaker. However, Sophia Loren is at home as a Spanish peasant. Theodore Bikel is a French general.
The film recreates the atmosphere of the French invasion of Spain at the beginning of the 19th century. The plot is based on a novel by C.S. Forester (the Captain Hornblower series, Single- Handed, The African Queen). It was directed by Stanley Kramer, well-known Hollywood producer of significant films ranging from The Men and A Streetcar Named Desire to Viva Zapata. He began directing himself in 1955 with Not as a Stranger (also starring Frank Sinatra). Kramer as producer had been interested in unusual social themes in the United States and at the same time was to direct Tony Curtis and Sidney Poitier, chained together as convicts, in The Defiant Ones. He was to make such films as Inherit the Wind and Judgment at Nuremberg.
History it isn’t – but as stirring adventure in Napoleonic times, it is a touch corny, spectacular and entertaining.
1. How enjoyable a film was this, adventure, spectacle, human interest?
2. Was the film too big in scope, length? its use of colour and pageantry? Its use of history and action? What features predominated in this production?
3. To whom did the title refer? With what meaning? Was it a better title than C.S. Forester's original "The Gun"?
4. Did the film focus on the gun itself? How important was the gun in the adventures? The talk about the gun? Its symbolism for the Spaniards? Its strategy for the English? The sequences of the raising of the gun, the vicissitudes of the journey, the actual firing of the gun, its success for the war? The lives that the gun saved and the deaths to get the gun to Avila?
5. How important was the historical emphasis of the film? Did it explain well the Napoleonic wars and the battles in Spain? The feeling of the Napoleonic wars, France, England, Spain? The presentation of the Spaniards at war, Avila and the need for the tactics, the spies and informers?
6. How did the film subordinate its characters to the gun? Trumble, a genuine Englishman - caricature in his portrayal, Cary Grant's portrayal, the importance of his talents and skill, his foppish style, his accompanying the gun, his relationship with Juana, the success of his mission, the impact of the deaths on him? Juana, Sophia Loren's style, the authentic Spanish background for her, her place in the camp, with the gun, the suffering, the effect of love on her, was her death inevitable? Miguel - Frank Sinatra's acting, personality, as a convincing Spaniard, his role amongst the guerrillas, his passion, loyalty to him, his skill with the gun, his relationship to Juana and Trumble? The impact of his death?
7. What did the supporting characters add to the meaning and flavour of the film? Especially the French and the French general? The various Spaniards?
8. How important for the film's success were particular adventurous highlights, the rivers, the gun on the hills, the actual siege?
9. How well was the siege filmed? How exciting? An appropriate climax for the film?
10. How successful an example of popular cinema was this adventure film?
