This starry, over-inflated and expensive ($5 million) movie, set in Spain, was adapted from C.S. Forester’s The Gun, about a guerrilla band dragging a massive cannon across the Iberian Peninsula in 1810 to blow up a French stronghold.
As the Spanish army retreats from Napoleon’s invading troops, only a few guerrillas remain to carry on the fight. Their target is the heavily fortified town of Avila, which they plan to take with the biggest cannon ever mad
It’s a splendidly calculated spectacle – United Artists’ only movie in the magnificently sharp VistaVision process – with a priceless, eye-catching cast, though criticism at the time centred on Frank Sinatra’s Spanish accent (excellent) and Cary Grant’s British prissiness (unavoidable).
Flamenco queen Sophia Loren provides the glamour and the Franz Planer photography is remarkable.
Captain Anthony Trumbull Cary Grant Miguel
Frank Sinatra Juana
Sophia Loren General Jouvet
Theodore Bikel Sermaine
John Wengraf Ballinger
Jay Novello Carlos
José Nieto Jose
Carlos Larranga
Director
Stanley Kramer
Related Posts
Quo Vadis (1951) After six months of filming in Rome, and at a cost of nearly $7 million, the biggest budget Hollywood movie…
Killing, The (1956) This accomplished thriller based on Lionel White's novel Clean Break was Stanley Kubrick's third feature. Aged 27, he had made…
Captain Horatio Hornblower R.N. (1951) Guns blaze, masts and rigging crash to the deck, railings disappear in showers of splinters and acrid black smoke sweeps…
Love Me Tender (1956) Early in his career, Elvis Presley realised that if he wanted to promote all his records, it would be impossible…
Sailor Beware (1956) Battle-axe Emma Hornett (Peggy Mount) dominates her hen-pecked husband Henry (Cyril Smith), their daughter Shirley (Shirley Eaton) and Henry's meek…
I Was Monty's Double (1958) A true story of soldier and former jobbing actor Meyrick Edward Clifton "Jimmy" James who ended up impersonating Field Marshal…
Anatomy of a Murder (1959) James Stewart plays Paul 'Polly' Biegler, an easygoing country lawyer in this courtroom drama adapted from the novel by Robert…
Child's Play (1954) A group of kids, led by brainbox Horatio Flynn (Christopher Beeny - later of Upstairs Downstairs fame - in an…
