3.0 out of 5 stars
A Romance In Search Of a Romantic Lead, July 6, 2011
This review is from: Toros, Amor y Gloria (DVD)
This 1946 black and white film about a young man from the provinces who "goes to town" to make good as a matador is the typical rags to riches yarn, typical of those days, with all of the clichés left intact. Even so, it is quite an enjoyable romp since it is so handsomely produced, though with one fatal flaw as its centerpiece.
The story consists of rich folks in the city whose parents passed on years ago (no explanations given), leaving the rearing of the two heirs (brother and sister) in the care of the strong and gentle housekeeper (played by four hankie veteran Sara García). She also has a son of her own living in the provinces and laboring as a ranch hand for a rich landowner raising bulls for the "corridas". The son (real life "matador" Lorenzo Garza), though decidedly talented in handling bulls on the ranch's arena, decides to visit his mother in the mansion she runs in order to try and talk her into going back to the provinces with him, so he can take care of her, though the lady seems quite self-sufficient. He is effusively (and unrealistically) welcomed by the male heir in a delirious bout of equality-for-all that sounds more like wishful thinking on the part of the filmmakers. Instead of taking Mama back to the farm, the young would-be bullfighter ends up being hired by the rich folks as (you guessed it) their chauffeur. Donning his unform, he is inmediately smitten by the spoiled heiress (played by Maria Antonieta Pons). There is a caddish romantic rival and arrogant playboy (played by Carlos López Moctezuma) who antagonizes the young bullfighting candidate; the feeling being mutual. It all comes to a head when, on a nightclub outing, Ms Pons' character ends up being stood up by Moctezuma. Her brother (again unrealistically) talks her into dating the young chauffeur as a replacement. The young country bumpkin gets to dance with the rich heiress and then is reminded (this time realistically) the next morning what his real place in society is. Garza then decides to drop by a bullfighting impresario he had met in the provinces, and pitch his talents as a future matador. He becomes such and proceeds to lead a dual life. He hides his identity by simply shaving off his mustache, then, whenever his services as chauffeur are required, he puts on a phony one! Yes, you have to suspend belief in some of the old fliks.
The "original" story is the brainchild of Garza himself; he also served as producer: so one might tag this as a vanity flik. Maybe the studio's line of thinking was to have a real bullfighter play a screen bullfighter, who knows what the reason was, but a "romantic" film requires "romantic" leads (say, Jorge Negrete and Gloria Marín in their popular melodramas). And this is the film's biggest weakness: the wrong leading man. Actually, both leads are miscast. Maria Antonieta Pons, who usually played saucy trollops, is asked to tread on territory she is obviously unfamiliar with, so she ends up looking like a six year old wearing her mother's shoes. This is a part better suited to, say, Emilia Guiú, Martha Roth or Miroslava Stern. Fortunately for Ms Pons, she had the looks and charm that film stardom requires and that allowed her to almost get away with such miscalculated casting. This, however, cannot be said of the diminutive leading man. Whatever his qualities in the arena were, he sadly lacked the movie star requirements to be a bona fide romantic lead. For one thing, the entire cast seems to tower over him. He also lacked the looks (think Negrete), the charisma (think Armendáriz) or the charm (think Infante) to make him a viable "galán" particularly opposite such a luscious co-star as Pons. As a matter of fact, their scenes together are devoid of any chemistry. If this had been a tough Jimmy-Cagney style gangster drama, well, maybe Garza would do, but romantic escapism requires leads of, well rather good looks, and this is not the case here. Since the arena scenes are mostly shown from far away, any established leading man could have been cast for the studio scenes. Interestingly, Garza never appeared as a lead in any other films, except for a 1956 documentary about bullfighting.
As to the print itself, it is only a decent one: mostly sharp enough with good contrast, but, during some of the time lapses, frames are missing causing a jump cut instead of a smooth dissolve, with the accompanying "clunk" on the soundtrack. There are also some nasty black scratches that run through a couple of scenes, so make sure you don't pay too much for it. No subtitles, with a very sparse filmography on Sara García.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Toros. Amor y Gloria, May 17, 2007
This review is from: Toros, Amor y Gloria (DVD)
A "taurine" movie. With a magnificent "matador" (torero), Lorenzo Garza. Also a comedy with drama , one of the first of Maria Antonieta Pons, and with the great Veteran Actress Sara Garcia. Very pleasant story. Not to be missed. Resembles "Uptairs, Downstairs". Good.
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