El Cid is one of those Hollywood-European mega
co-productions of the
1950s and 1960s that were crafted to combat the growing influence of
television. The film industry wanted sheer size and spectacle to be
able to battle the threat it sensed from the little screen. Westerns,
Sword and Sandal epics, and historical films of all stripes were in
vogue. Most were overblown fare like Cleopatra, while very few were
intelligent films, like Stanley Kubrick’s Spartacus, or Anthony Mann’s
El Cid. Mann, in fact, was the original director of Spartacus, whom
star and producer Kirk Douglas replaced with Kubrick. He was also an
accomplished director of standards in the Western genre, like The Tin
Star, and even Hollywood classics like The Glenn Miller Story. Yet, he
was never the auteur director that Kubrick was. there was never a
signature Mann style. His films are well crafted, well acted, well
written, and nothing more. Granted, in this day of Hollywood schlock in
all forms, such should not be so lightly dismissed. Nonetheless, El Cid
both benefits and suffers from these very qualities.
It is not a great film. There is simply no great theme nor message to
be imparted. Neither is there any standout bit of acting. Yes, Charlton
Heston and Sophia Loren, as the classic star-crossed lovers, give very
good performances, but never does one doubt what will occur in the
film, even if one is not familiar with the real life history of El Cid,
the man. That is because it is a film that is Classical, in every sense
of the word. Yes, there are the stereotypes of the era- the foaming,
dark-skinned and heathenous Moors. And there is the inevitable near
deification of El Cid. But, despite that, the film is a gorgeous
tapestry of design and color, and the action moves along so briskly
that its narrative snaps of the viewer. Mann also does an admirable job
of using narrative ellipses to propel the action. One need not see
every scene through till its narrative end, and not every battle need
be shown.
The plot is as follows: in the Eleventh Century, Rodrigo Diaz de Bivar
(Heston), on his way to marry his lover, encounters the remnants of a
devastating Moorish attack, led by a foaming Moorish general, Ben
Yussef (Herbert Lom). Somehow, he captures some of the Moors, and shows
mercy on them, in the face of a lynch mob in his home town. The Moorish
Emir he spares, swears fealty to Rodrigo, and calls him The Cid. He is
denounced by the armies of King Ferdinand (Ralph Truman) as a traitor,
and is made to stand trial. Count Gormaz (Andrew Cruickshank), father
of Cid’s beloved, Chimene (Loren), insults Cid’s father, Don Diego
(Michael Hordern), who defends his son, and he and Cid fight it out in
the time worn, but film ready, act of macho honor. Heston ends up
killing Gormaz, and Chimene vows to hate Cid. With Gormaz, the King’s
Champion, dead, a rival King challenges Ferdinand for the possession of
a disputed city. Cid volunteers to take Gormaz’s place, and slays the
other King’s champion. He then is sent to lead an expedition against
the Moors by Ferdinand, and survives an assassination attempt by a
knight, Ordonez (Raf Vallone), who loves Chimene, and vows to kill Cid
for her. Cid survives, and spares the traitor. He then finds out
Chimene was behind it, after he gets Ferdinand to allow him to marry
Chimene, to support her for causing her father’s death. Chimene leaves
him for a nunnery. Time passes, and King Ferdinand dies. The King’s two
sons, Sancho (Gary Raymond) and Alfonso (John Fraser) battle it out
over the kingdom. Alfonso tries to kill his older brother, but fails
and is to be banished to a dungeon. Cid rescues him and delivers him to
their sister, Urraca (Genevieve Page, almost as beautiful as Loren in
this film), who clearly is engaging in some sort of incestuous
relationship with Alfonso. The duo call on Cid’s help, but he refuses,
and they then plot to kill Sancho, who comes to Urraca’s castle to
retrieve his errant brother. They succeed in ambushing Sancho, but Cid
kills the King’s killer, then humiliates Alfonso in front of his
subjects by forcing him to swear on the Bible that he did not kill his
brother. For this he is exiled, and reconciles with a chastened
Chimene. But, their exile is short-lived, as many of Cid’s comrades
abandon Alfonso for him. Then we get the good old fashioned
intermission. The second half of the film opens with a grayed Cid
sporting a scar across his face. Years have passed, and he is pleading
with Alfonso to allow his Moorish allies to help Alfonso against the
coming attack of Ben Yussef. Alfonso orders him to assist him in
another battle, but Cid decides to try and save the port city of
Valencia from Ben Yussef’s hordes. His men take the city, and crush the
corrupt Moslem rulers. His followers want Cid to take the crown as King
of Valencia, but he sends it to Alfonso, who feels humbled by Cid’s
generosity, after he had earlier imprisoned Chimene and Cid’s twin
daughters, who were rescued by Ordonez, whose change of heart toward
Cid mirrors that of Alfonso. Alfonso, meanwhile, beaten in the battle
he ordered Cid to join, instead marches on Valencia, and saves the town
from Ben Yussef, even as Cid has been mortally wounded by an arrow to
the shoulder. Cid makes Chimene promise to stap his corpse to a horse
so he can spiritually lead the Spaniards against the Moors, who believe
Cid’s death has broken the Spanish will. His corpse rides out on a
white steed (in contrast to the black garbed Moslems), and the
Spaniards drive off the invaders. Even in death he wins (and the
Christ-like parallels multiply). Almost in anticipation of Heston’s
later role in Planet Of The Apes, the film ends with his character
riding off along a beach on a horse.
The film’s visuals are occasionally stunning, and, while the screenplay
by Philip Yordan, Ben Barzman and Fredric M. Frank, from a story by
Frank, is solid, one does wonder how differently a true film master
like Michelangelo Antonioni would have handles such a film. We never
get inside any of the characters because they act upon such a large
stage that what they say and do almost does not matter, as it is
dwarfed by the seeming weight of history. In a sense, the film is like
a Frederic Edwin Church painting, wherein natural forces marginalize
the efforts of man. The music score by Miklós Rózsa, was
much lauded, but in retrospect, it does not hold up against the visuals
of cinematographer Robert Krasker. Interestingly, perhaps the most
important technical aspect that succeeds in this film is the editing by
Robert Lawrence. Repeatedly, the scenes end before typical Hollywood
reveals that hammer a point home, especially in epic films like this.
There are dozens of examples, but note the scene where Cid kills
Chimene’s father. First, we never see the final deed, as both men are
behind the staircase when Cid strikes his deathblow. Second, after
getting Chimene to agree to avenge his death, we see her turn, to see
Cid in darkness under the stairs, but then we get the fade. We never
see the typical confrontation between the lovers That is delayed for a
few minutes. What this shows is that Mann was handed an elephant, and
did his best to leave some sort of imprint of himself on it.
The film won some awards at the Golden Globes, and Oscars- mostly
technical stuff, but it was a smash hit. The film is shown in a 2.20:1
aspect ratio and clocks in at almost three and a quarter hours in
length, and comes in 1 three disk DVD package, as part of The Miriam
Collection of films. Unfortunately, the film is split at its
intermission, and spread across two DVDs. In this day and age, this is
a major boner. Even worse is that the audio commentary is also split.
The commentary, by Bill Bronston (son of producer Sauel Bronston) and
Neal M. Rosendorf, a film historian, is ok, mentioning some of the
unfortunate stereotyping that was portrayed, but it’s nothing special.
Perhaps the most insightful thing mentioned is how the film used
Islamic expansion as a metaphor for the Cold War, whereas now it can be
read literally, and how Sam Bronston was clueless as to the deeper
themes in the film. Disk 1 features radio interviews with Heston and
Loren, while Disk 2 has the featurettes. There’s a making of
featurette, a film on the career of Bronston as a producer, one on
Anthony Mann’sd career as a director, one on the music of Miklós
Rózsa, a film on film preservation, and a gallery of theatrical
trailers. The worst extra feature, though, comes on Disk 3. There is
nothing but a lengthy interview with a none too bright evangelist named
John Bevere, who spends his whole interview as an apologist for
Christianity, as well as spewing bizarre 1950s era ultra-nationalistic
tripe, and generally misinterpreting the film. It’s an embarrassing
feature, and one wonders what connection to the people involved in the
DVD this man has, and why he would be featured so prominently in the
packaging.
Overall, El Cid is a terrific popcorn movie to watch, but a film
of depth and great art it’s not. Akira Kurosawa would have really
lifted a project like this into the heavens. These days, all of the
thousands of extras would simply be added in via CG, so it is quite
impressive to see a film that truly was epic in scope. I also prefer
the old method of putting all the credits at the start of the film,
and, of course, there’s Charlton Heston. Simply put, Heston is the
quintessential American Alpha Male Movie Star. John Wayne, Sylvester
Stallone, Marlon Brando, Errol Flynn, Cary Grant, Rock Hudson. No one
really compares, except for, perhaps, Gary Cooper. While this film does
not test his acting chops the way Major Dundee did, nor is it as iconic
as his roles in Planet Of The Apes nor The Ten Commandments, it may be
the role Heston was most suited to play, for it seems that he is never
straining, and always in his comfort zone. Regardless, watch El Cid if
you want an idea of what the filmgoing experience was, at its best,
during the middle of last century.
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