Best Movies about Sombrero

Movies about Sombrero

Three sets of lovers are caught between feuding Mexican villages.

Obsazení a štáb

Norman Foster

Ricardo Montalbano

Pier Angeli

Plynař Vittorio

Yvonne De Carlo

Cyd Charisse

Lola de Torrano

Fotky a videa

Sombrero (1953) — (Movie Clip) Open, Welcome To My Village!

Sombrero (1953) — (Movie Clip) Gypsy Dance

Detaily filmu

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Informace o premiéře

není k dispozici

Společnost Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Corp.

Cuernavaca,Mexico; Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico; Mexico City,Mexico; Tepoztlán,Mexico; Tetecala,Mexico

Informace o scénáři

Based on the novel A Mexican Village by Josefina Niggli (Chapel Hill, NC, 1945).

Technické specifikace

Mono (západní elektrický zvukový systém)

Poměr divadelních stran

9,288 12 stop (XNUMX válců)

Synopse

In Columba, Mexico, mischievous cheese-maker Pepe Gonzales commits his annual prank of drawing mustaches on the photographs of the town’s beauty contestants to protest the exclusion of María, a low-born woman who lives by the river. When María’s picture is mysteriously entered in the contest, she wins by a landslide, but fearing the reaction of the townswomen, the mayor instead names the socially prominent Elena Cantú queen of the carnival. That night, wealthy Alejandro Castillo visits María, his secret love, and admits that he entered her picture in the contest. Meanwhile, Pepe decides to become a hero by retrieving the bones of the great Don Romulo Balderas from the cemetery in the nearby town of Milpa Verde, which is engaged in a bitter feud with Columba. His friend Rubén, a candy-maker, agrees to join him, but they are caught trying to break into Don Romulo’s tomb by Eufemia Calderón, who calls for help after Pepe kisses her. The two friends make a narrow escape, and Rubén’s arm is broken when he falls from his horse. Pepe takes Rubén to see Mariano Martínez, known as Little Doctor, who has just advised Alejandro to consult a specialist in Mexico City about his persistent headaches. Alejandro and Rubén go to Mexico City, and while selling his candy at the bullfight, Rubén is immediately smitten by Lola, sister of the arrogant gypsy matador Gitanillo de Torrano. After the fight, the love-struck Rubén calls on Lola, but she is too afraid of her cruel brother to consider romance. Back in Columba, Pepe tells his friends that he is in love with Eufemia and plans to court her. That weekend, armed with an enormous wheel of his family’s renowned goat cheese, Pepe approaches Don Homero Calderón’s home, where Eufemia’s birthday party is taking place. Pepe quickly charms his way into Don Homero’s good graces and begins wooing Eufemia, but is forced to flee when a guest recognizes the fine cheese Pepe brought as being from Columba. Meanwhile, Little Doctor inspects the X-rays taken in Mexico City and sadly informs Alejandro that he has only a short time to live, adding that he will go blind right before the end. Alejandro swears Little Doctor to secrecy, then goes to María and tells her everything. Certain that she would never be accepted because of her illegitimacy, María insists that Alejandro obey his powerful father and marry Elena. Alejandro reluctantly goes through with the wedding, and the couple leave on their honeymoon as Maria sadly watches from a nearby rooftop. Pepe continues his clandestine courtship of Eufemia, but she says their situation is hopeless as long as the feud continues. Rubén returns to Mexico City and visits Lola, and she explains that Gitanillo is so possessive because he superstitiously believes that he will die if his sister marries. Lola tries to defy her brother, but when he strikes her and threatens Rubén, Lola seeks help from a sympathetic fortune teller, who gives her a voodoo doll. The following day, while in the ring, Gitanillo sees Rubén and determines to kill him. Desperate to stop him, Lola throws the doll into the ring, and Gitanillo is gored to death by the bull. In Columba, Alejandro and Elena return from their honeymoon, and Elena confides to her mother that Alejandro has refused to consummate their marriage. Alejandro goes to María and gives her a locket with a note in it, instructing her to take it to his father after his death. Alejandro suddenly loses his vision and is taken home, but Elena coldly refuses to send for the priest while María is there. Alejandro dies, and María is ordered by his father, Don Carlos, to leave the valley. She gives Don Carlos the locket, and he reads the note, which speaks of Alejandro’s love for María and bequeaths to her a large inheritance. When María declines the money, Don Carlos asks her forgiveness and begs María to live with him as his daughter. Meanwhile, Lola remains haunted by Gitanillo’s death, but after spending some time alone on a mountaintop, she overcomes her guilt and is able to be happy in her marriage to Rubén. Later, Pepe challenges the town of Milpa Verde to a cockfight, wagering his family’s cheese against the remains of Don Romulo. Although Father Zacaya is appalled at the thought of a cockfight, he helps Pepe disguise the prize cock he had «borrowed» earlier from Don Homero. The day of the contest, however, Pepe’s ruse is discovered, and Father Zacaya forfeits the contest. As the citizens of Milpa Verde eagerly dismantle a tower of cheese, they discover a magnificent statue of Don Romulo, which has been donated by Eufemia and Don Carlos.

Laura’s Miscellaneous Musings

SOMBRERO is a colorful oddity from MGM, released on DVD earlier this year by the Warner Archive.

SOMBRERO tells three intertwining love stories of varying degrees of interest. It’s disclosed early on that wealthy Alejandro (Vittoria Gassman) is dying of a brain tumor; he loves the peasant woman Maria of the River Road (Yvonne DeCarlo) but is forced by duty and class position to marry the socially acceptable Elena (Nina Foch).

Ruben (Rick Jason) is a candy peddler who falls in love with Lola (Cyd Charisse), whose matador brother (Jose Greco) is strangely possessive of his sister, considering her his good luck charm.

The most lighthearted story concerns Pepe (Ricardo Montalban), a wild prankster who makes the greatest cheese in Mexico. He falls in love with Euphemia (Pier Angeli), whose father (Thomas Gomez) is the mayor of a rival town and will not agree to their marriage.

The film is overlong at 103 minutes, with some dull, slow-moving passages surrounding some interesting and quite enjoyable sequences. Highlights include Pepe crashing Euphemia’s birthday party to romance her on the sly and Lola’s solitary wild dance ridding herself of guilt over a death; Charisse fans will want to catch this film in order to see her solo number. Montalban gets to do a bit of pleasant singing, but the film is light enough on music I don’t think I’d describe it as a musical.

SOMBRERO was filmed on location in Mexico and features exquisitely beautiful Technicolor, starting from the eye-catching red, green, and yellow opening credits. The movie may not be for everyone due to the sometimes sluggish storytelling, but I found it worthwhile for its great look, including unique Mexican exteriors, along with its handsome cast and brief musical interludes.

SOMBRERO was directed by Ricardo Montalban’s brother-in-law, Norman Foster, who had made movies in Mexico in the mid ’40s. The two men were each married to one of Loretta Young’s sisters, Montalban to Loretta’s younger half-sister Georgiana and Foster to their older sister Sally Blane (aka Elizabeth Jane Young).

The Warner Archive DVD features gorgeous color, filmed by Ray June, and is a real visual treat. There are no extras.

Thanks to the Warner Archive for providing a review copy of this DVD. Warner Archive releases are MOD (manufactured on demand) and may be ordered from the Warner Archive Collection at the WBShop.

2 komentářů:

I remember watching this one a few years back. I watched it for Rick Jason (one of the stars of Boj!) and remembering being amused by the whole movie, but I don’t remember any details now.

I don’t know if I could do a good job of articulating exactly why, but I have great affection for this movie.

It goes back to seeing it in 1953 and I was pretty young then, enough that the more somber stories dealt with realities that were almost over my head though the movie made them clear enough, so in juxtaposition to the more lighthearted part of it, I did respond to those just as much—of course it didn’t hurt that Yvonne De Carlo was so beautiful, and the other two female leads as well. The Technicolor was really gorgeous in this too, just mesmerizing—those were still great days for Technicolor!—so it all had a wonderful mood.

I think I also liked (and still do) the intermingled stories; that’s a kind of storytelling that very much appeals to me. For one thing, as I just noted and as your review also makes clear, the different stories have a mingling of moods, and I like movies that go from light to dark, funny to serious, gay to sad, and back again. It’s hard to do well but a gift a lot of the greatest directors have. This movie directed by unheralded Norman Foster did it pretty well.

Then, too, there is that spectacular dance by Cyd Charisse. Cinema often touches or reaches the sublime when Cyd dances!

Though his career does not seem that impressive at first glance, Norman Foster is an interesting figure—he had been an actor and was in Ford’s PILGRIMAGE and King’s STATE FAIR in younger days and came over pretty well. Later, he was associated with Orson Welles and under Welles’ supervision directed a segment in Mexico («My Friend Bonito») of Welles’ never finished documentary IT’S ALL TRUE, as well as the not-so-great JOURNEY INTO FEAR. But some of his other directed movies in addition to SOMBRERO are pretty good—RACHEL AND THE STRANGER is a beauty, almost documentary-like NAVAJO an unusual contemporary Indian movie, and the recently lauded film noir WOMAN ON THE RUN is very good too.

Glad to hear that SOMBRERO is out on Warner Archive in what sounds like a nice edition, with the color as it’s supposed to be. I did see the movie again as an adult on TV but it was pretty washed out then and not the same experience. I’m basing my opinion on that earlier memory and will want to look at this DVD sometime.