Passion (1954)

User Rating:

5.4/10   

Director:

Allan Dwan

Writers:

Beatrice A. Dresher (based on a story by) and
Miguel Padilla (based on a story by) ...

Release Date:

10 December 1954 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Romance | Western

Tagline:

WITH WHIP, KNIFE, GUN,,,they lived! they fought! they killed! (original ad)

Plot:

In old Spanish California, dashing cattleman Juan Obregon returns to the rancho of his friend Gaspar Melo...

Plot Keywords:

Spanish | Rancho | Revenge | Twins | Sister

Cast

Cornel Wilde	...	Juan Obreon
Yvonne De Carlo	...	Rosa Melo / Tonya Melo
Raymond Burr	...	Captain Rodriguez
Lon Chaney Jr.	...	Castro (as Lon Chaney)
Rodolfo Acosta	...	Salvator Sandro
John Qualen	...	Gaspar Melo
Anthony Caruso	...	Sergeant Muñoz
Frank DeKova	...	Martinez
Peter Coe	...	Colfre
John Dierkes	...	Escobar
Richard Hale	...	Don Domingo
Rozene Kemper	...	Grandmother Melo
Belle Mitchell	...	Señora Carrisa
Alex Montoya	...	Manuel Felipe
Zon Murray	...	Barca

Runtime:

84 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Spanish

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Certification:

West Germany:12 (f) | USA:Approved | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

California, USA

Company:

Benedict Bogeaus Production

Range War In Old Spanish California

Cornel Wilde's role in Passion is something that Tyrone Power might have done or Cornel himself might have done at 20th Century Fox when they were both there. Of course had it been done at Fox, Darryl Zanuck would have had a better plotted story than RKO did.

Wilde is a vaquero who has impregnated Yvonne DeCarlo and she's got a surprise for him when he returns from a roundup. She's got a bundle of joy for him and they're not married. But Wilde is going to do right by her.

Sad to say though DeCarlo's family is involved in a range feud with a local Don who sends riders to burn out who he considers squatters. They kill DeCarlo and her grandfather John Qualen.

They don't get DeCarlo's twin sister, also played by DeCarlo. She rides for Wilde and he gets there too late. But like Gregory Peck in The Bravados and Steve McQueen in Nevada Smith, Wilde's a man with a mission.

For reasons I don't understand the local law who is played by Raymond Burr won't arrest Lon Chaney, Jr. after she identifies his voice as one of the riders. It's a pretty lame excuse for Burr not doing his duty. Of course Wilde's duty is clear.

Later on Burr does in fact catch up with Wilde, but allows him to escape and then he tracks Wilde as Wilde tracks the bad guys. Again his reasons are rather lame.

Wilde tracks the last of the bandits to the snow clad Sierra Mountains and the cinematography here is pretty good. RKO spent a bit more here than they normally do.

There's a lot of similarity to Wilde's dashing Californio to Tyrone Power's The Mark of Zorro. Wilde is good, but he should have had a better story.