Captain from Castile (1947)

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

n my opinion it was a great movie with some interesting elements, even though having some plot holes and the ending probably was just too messy and crammed together, but still fun to watch and not your casual movie that is similar to all other ones.

It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

*Spoiler/plot- Captain from Castile, 1947. In 1500s Spain, a son of a nobleman gets caught up in the Inquisition to where his family is killed by them. He wants revenge and to clear his family name. Instead, he decides to travel with the Cortez expedition and to make his fortune in Mexico.*Special Stars- Tyrone Power, Lee J. Cobb, Cesar Romero, Jay Silverheels. *Theme- Man's need for exploration can become his own future full of positive promise and riches. *Trivia/location/goofs- Color. Jay Silverheels plays an Aztec Indian in Spain and Mexico. Filmed on location in central Mexico near where the history took place. The film was lucky enough to be filming in a volcano's valley while it was smoking actively for picture. Film's memorable heroic Alfred Neuman music features what was to become the University of Southern California (USC) 'fight' song played during the conquest of the Aztecs scenes with Cortez. *Emotion- A wonderfully colorful, exciting, and well acted film of this historic period. Always a film that uplifts the viewer's spirit with the plot's drama and action.*Based On- Loosely follows Captain Cortez histories in his conquest of Mexico.

Samuel Shellabarger' novel was very good and also very long. The films follows well part of the book, but it ends abruptly, which is understandable considering its runtime of 140 minutes.Cortes's conquest of the Aztecs is very hard to accept by today's standards, virtually all of Aztec culture was destroyed, not counting the natives being killed by the thousands fighting canons with bows and arrows, spears and stones. Nevertheless the hero Pedro De Vargas (Tyrone Power) is a loyal soldier of Cortes, and his real enemy is the Inquisition, the horror of which is well described by the film. For those like me, who miss a disappearing genre, the swashbuckler film, in which Errol Flynn, Tyrone Power and Douglas Fairbanks were the great names, this film is a pleasure to see from beginning to end. Jean Peters, beautiful, has her best role and the sensual dance number with her and Power is superb. Cesar Romero is great as Cortes in this mega budget film with great colors, directed by the excellent Henry King.

I first saw this film as a child, around 1950, and was bitterly disappointed when it ended just at the point where it was getting interesting. Like most reviewers, I found that too much time was wasted on the melodrama and introduction of the characters, at the expense of the action. To end the film without the siege of Tenochtitlan and the battle along the causeway cheated the viewers who had sat through two hours of the build up. The whole reason for going to the New World was to escape Spain, and make their fortune, and in the case of Hernan Cortez, conquer the New World and get very, very powerful. As the film was made just after WWII and one would have expected a victorious war film set in 1518, but for whatever reason, they just cut the story short and created an anticlimax.The Technicolor was excellent and the locations added authenticity, but I was puzzled by all the native people with beards and mustaches. I had always thought that they lacked facial hair and the 26 years since the New World was first sighted was hardly enough to have resulted in a Mestizo population, especially as the first settlements were in the islands. We were told that the Mexicans worked closely with the filmmakers to ensure authenticity, so maybe they did have beards! I was almost prepared to see sombreros! The film at least addressed the conflicting motives for conquest, God and Gold! We also have to remember that Mexico was a long way from Spain, and Cortez was out for what spoils he could grab, the acceptable way to make one's fortune since time began. The fact that other peoples' possessions are not fair game to grab is a problem that we are only just beginning to recognize, and even today, pity the people who find themselves living on property standing atop an oil field or in the way of progress of one form or another.I would like to see Samuel Shellebarger's book remade in the form of a Mexican Telenovela where they have no problem with taking 100 hours to tell the story. Perhaps then we would also hear the events from the native perspective about how hard they fought, rather than the impression we are given that they surrounded at the first sight of the Conquistadores.

I don't have all that much to add to what you've read here in the comments already, but for what it's worth here are a few more impressions: *Tyrone Power was quite good. Fine fine actor and believable in the swashbuckler role.*Lee J. Cobb as a good guy(!) in tights(!!)--one of the best parts in the movie. Very good-if unexpected.*Jean Peter-very young and pretty eye candy.*Cesar Romero as Cortez, not shown as being anything but what he was-a pirate, a soldier and a greedy one at that. The Joker in one of his best roles.*I loved the score, scenery and Tonto as the escaped slave Coatl, too. All good.*Snidely Whiplash Da Silva and the Padre are quite well acted, too. Mowbray as the astrology-based hump-back was unique, shall we say.Only reall problem I had is that they take Forever to get to the actual point of the mission-the attack on Montezuma himself. The movie drags in the second half and spends too much time on the intrigue.But overall, it's well worth seeing, check it out.*** outta ****