Blood and Sand

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Audience Member A Technicolor classic, flush with vivid hues, tempered with shadow, with the great Tyrone Power portraying matador Juan Gallardo - a man determined to reach the top of the bullfighting world, at any cost. Rita Hayworth sizzles as the socialite temptress, with plenty of memorable, atmospheric Spanish music throughout. Also starring Anthony Quinn (who's featured in a steamy dance with Hayworth) as well as John Carradine. Recommended, if for nothing else than the rich palette of color deftly presented by director Mamoulian. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/31/23 Full Review Audience Member This bullfighting epic is a remake of a 1922 film starring Rudolph Valentino. An early Technicolour movie, it showcased a new generation of stars, including Tyrone Power, Rita Hayworth, Linda Darnell and Anthony Quinn. But the best performance comes from Alla Nazimova, a survivor of the silent era, as Power's mother. Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/16/23 Full Review Audience Member 20th Century Fox's 1941 production BLOOD & SAND is a remake of the 1922 silent classic that established Rudolph Valentino as the greatest star of early cinema. Beautifully photographed in vivid 3 strip Technicolor by Ernest Palmer and Ray Renahan the elaborate newer version had the obvious heir-apparent to the silent screen star in dashing Tyrone Power. Written for the screen by Jo Swerling from the novel by Vicente Blasco Ibanez it was directed with a certain amount of flair, it has to be said, by Rouben Mamoulian who just the previous year had had his greatest success with Tyrone Power when he directed him in the classic "Mark of Zorro". The film recounts the story of a young, ambitious and quite naive bullfighter Juan Gallardo (Power) who falls under the spell of a beauteous and attractive socialite (Rita Hayworth) wrecking his relationship with Carmen (Linda Darnell) the girl who has always loved him since childhood. The picture culminates with Juan discovering too late that he is only a toy for the manipulative socialite. And finally in the end when he is gored by a bull in the ring it is the forgiving Carmen, his only true love, that comes to his side to comfort him as he lays dying. BLOOD & SAND was a very popular picture of the War years and remains a great favourite with Power devotees. However I have to confess to never being very fond of it. There is little doubt Ty Power is good as the aspiring Matador and Hayworth chews up every bit of scenery in sight as the alluring Donna Sol. But with the exception of Anthony Quinn and that memorable dance sequence he does with Hayworth I found the rest of the cast - particularly the young actor Rex Downing who played Juan as a boy - unconvincing and altogether uninspiring. In fact the whole picture for me was curiously uninvolving! Also Juan being gored by the bull towards the end is very badly done! You don't really see what happens to him. Was he gored in the back or the front? It is very difficult to decipher. And he appears very clean and unmarked in his ensuing death scene. Nevertheless the great Alfred Newman saves the day with his terrific score. Besides his music capturing all the heat, dust and passion of the bullring the composer also incorporates into his score the sumptuous traditional Spanish guitar melody "Romance D'Amour". An engaging and totally ravishing piece that was used to greater effect in "Forbidden Games" in 1952 when it was played by guitar genius Narciso Yepes. BLOOD & SAND can at least be enjoyed for its awesome colour Cinematography, Newman's great music, the star power and presence of Tyrone Power and the flowing beauty of Rita Hayworth. Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/22/23 Full Review s r The matador movie. Predictable, but still good. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member hayworth+power=sizzle Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/21/23 Full Review bill t A bit melodramatic bullfighting tale here. Tyrone Power plays a mexican bullfighter wooed from his wife, like all men seem to do, by Rita Heyworth. His art suffers from it, and soon his world come crumbling down. Corny and stilted dialogue, shaky camerawork and overblown scenarios hold this one down, but it's still watchable because of that. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review Read all reviews

Blood and Sand

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