The Pride and the Passion (1957)

During the Napoleonic Wars, a British captain is sent to Spain to help prevent the French from stealing a powerful cannon.

Director:

Stanley Kramer

Writers:

Edna Anhalt (screen story and screenplay), Edward Anhalt (screen story and screenplay)

Stars:

Cary Grant, Frank Sinatra, Sophia Loren

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Cary Grant	...	Anthony
Frank Sinatra	...	Miguel
Sophia Loren	...	Juana
Theodore Bikel	...	Gen. Jouvet
John Wengraf	...	Sermaine
Jay Novello	...	Ballinger
José Nieto	...	Carlos (as Jose Nieto)
Carlos Larrañaga	...	Jose (as Carlos Larranaga)
Philip Van Zandt	...	Vidal
Paco El Laberinto	...	Manolo (as Paco el Laberinto)
Julián Ugarte	...	Enrique
Félix de Pomés	...	Bishop (as Felix de Pomes)
Carlos Casaravilla	...	Leonardo
Juan Olaguivel	...	Ramon
Nana DeHerrera	...	Maria (as Nana de Herrera)

Storyline

The story in this movie deals with the perseverance of Spaniards to take back their country from the French who have conquered Spain under Napoleon as he marched over Europe. A huge cannon, perhaps the largest in the world at that time, is discarded by the army as they retreat from the French invaders. A "ragtag" group of Spanish loyalists find "The Gun" and begin to restore it so they may tow it across Spain to the French stronghold in Avila and use it to open the giant walls for an invasion. Luckily Britain has sent someone to retrieve the cannon for England so they can have it to fight the French also AND to make sure that the French don't get the gun! A shoemaker and his voluptuous girl friend are the leaders of the peasants trying to get the gun to Avila. The Brit can't get help to get the giant gun back to his ship without the peasants and the shoemaker won't help him unless they all go blast Avila open first. The Brit has the knowledge needed to fire the weapon and the ...

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Plot Keywords:

1800s | 1810s | napoleonic wars | peninsular war | avila spain | 

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Taglines:

Cary Grant as the pride, Frank Sinatra as the passion, Sophia Loren as the woman who set them both on fire! In Stanley Kramer's monumental filming of "THE PRIDE and THE PASSION"

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Drama | Romance | War

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Spanish French

Release Date:

10 July 1957 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Pride and the Passion

Filming Locations:

Avila, Spain

Box Office

Budget:

$4,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Stanley Kramer Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

132 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film's screenwriters, the team of Edna Anhalt and Edward Anhalt, were in the process of terminating their marriage, which may account for some of the inconsistencies in the script.

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Goofs

When the peasants attack the military camp in the mountains, a peasant throws a firebrand onto a tent which rapidly catches fire. But as he is throwing the firebrand, the tent is clearly visible with a pattern of liquid that was splashed or poured onto it from the top down, and that part of the tent that was wet is the part that rapidly catches fire, showing it to be an inflammatory agent such as fuel oil or kerosene.

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Quotes

General Jouvet: [to Sermaine] How these Spanish love their moment of truth - to drench the ground with their blood - to die. Why?

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Connections

Referenced in Gideon of Scotland Yard (1958)

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Soundtracks

Rule, Britannia!
(uncredited)
Lyrics by James Thomson and music by Thomas Augustine Arne
Heard as a theme

User Reviews

You may fire when ready Cary!

During the Napoleonic Wars, British naval captain Cary Grant and Spanish freedom fighters Sophia Loren, Frank Sinatra and a real cast of thousands try to keep an enormous cannon from the evil French occupiers. Lots of impressive scenes with hundreds and sometimes thousands of extras and lots of mules and rope to pull that gun over the countryside with the French Army in hot pursuit. The movie is visually impressive; a knife fight amongst windmills, great battle sequences, large epic shots of hundreds and thousands of people all set against the beautiful Spanish landscape (where the movie was filmed). The problem is the actors. Grant is the best, but too stoic; Loren is beautiful, but too fey; and Sinatra is just miscast, his Spanish accent awful and totally unbelievable as the passionate Loren's love interest. Worth watching for the spectacle and the great scenes and scenery, but the personal soap opera between Cary, Frank and Loren puts a damper on the fun. I wish another actor had played Miguel, Sinatra's character - how about Anthony Quinn, Ricardo Montalban, Fernando Lamas, or even mature character actors like Cesar Romero or Gilbert Roland? I could never believe Sophia was interested in Frank.