Captain from Castile (1947)

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General		Extras
Category	Adventure	None
Rating
Year Of Production	1947
Running Time	135:11 (Case: 95)
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	Henry King
Studio Distributor	20th CENTURY FOX Beyond Home Entertainment	Starring	Tyrone Power Jean Peters Cesar Romero Lee J. Cobb John Sutton Antonio Moreno Thomas Gomez Alan Mowbray Barbara Lawrence George Zucco
Case	Alpha-Transparent
RPI	$14.95	Music	Alfred Newman

     Spain 1518. The family of Pedro De Vargas (Tyrone Power) fall foul of their sadistic neighbour Diego De Silva (John Sutton) who is an enthusiastic officer of the Spanish Inquisition. Wrongly imprisoned for heresy, Pedro escapes with the help of his friend Juan Garcia (Lee J. Cobb) and peasant girl Catana (Jean Peters) and the three flee to the New World to join Hernando Cortez (Cesar Romero) in his march of conquest against the Aztec kingdom of Montezuma. As Pedro rises to Captain in the ranks of Cortez’s conquistadors, he realises that love can cross the class divide and that not all his enemies are Aztec Indians. And even in the New World he is not beyond the reach of the Inquisition.

     The Captain from Castile is a spectacular adventure that falls short of greatness. While Power looks suitably masculine and heroic, and is a deft hand with a sword, he is rather too glum and serious as the dashing hero. Indeed, convincing acting is not the strongest part of the film; Power’s scenes with Peters lack genuine sparkle, Lee J. Cobb is mostly dull and the “comic” elements, personified by Alan Mowbray as Professor Botello, the astrologer, are not very amusing. However, Thomas Gomez as Father Bartolome is good while a bearded Cesar Romero as Cortez easily steals every scene he is in. The plotting also veers into melodrama (the death cell scene) and sentimentality (where Catana tells Juan she is pregnant and how much she loves Pedro while Pedro is asleep on her shoulder).

     The Captain from Castile is really about colour and spectacle and here it certainly delivers. The film was shot on location in Mexico and the Technicolor photography of the landscapes, including active volcanos, the sets and the costumes of the Aztec Indians are breathtakingly beautiful. Indeed, spectacle is the keyword here, for while The Captain from Castile is epic in scope, it delivers little in the way of action during its running time, with only a couple of chances for Power to display his sword work. Yet, add the lush orchestral score of Alfred Newman to the Technicolor cinematography and the result is pure Saturday matinee material. The good guys, the bad guys, and the result is never in any doubt, but the journey itself is colourful and entertaining.

     Tyrone Power, at least from The Mark of Zorro (1940), was one of 20th Century Fox’s leading stars, often in swashbuckling period films such as The Black Swan (1942) or The Black Rose (1950). These days, his name does not have the same recognition as, say, Errol Flynn and his films are not well represented on DVD. Now, in The Captain from Castile, we have a chance to see what the fuss was about.

Video

     The Captain from Castile is presented in 1.33:1, close to its original ratio of 1.37:1. It is obviously not 16x9 enhanced. This is a 60 year old Technicolor print that looks very good indeed for its age. The colour is mostly deep and rich and looks wonderful. Brightness and skin tones vary and the early scenes especially have a reddish tinge. Sharpness and clarity are on the soft side as one might expect, blacks vary from great to indifferent and shadow detail can be indistinct, again especially in some early scenes. In contract, other scenes exhibit great sharpness and solid blacks; the dance sequence, for example (67:40 – 69:13) is clean, clear and simply stunning.

     There are constant small dirt marks and colour flashes (the most prominent a green mark 52:31-37) and evident grain but none are really distracting.

     There are no subtitles.

Video Ratings Summary

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Shadow Detail
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Audio

     Audio is an English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono at 192 Kbps that sounds pretty good. Dialogue is mostly clear and understandable (with the exception of some of Lee J. Cobb’s dialogue), the effects are acceptable and the score swells. I did not notice any hiss or distortion.

     The lush orchestral score by Alfred Newman is excellent, adding to the epic feel of the film.

     Lip synchronization is fine.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
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Overall

     Absolutely nothing.

     The Region 1 US release is the one to get. It is NTSC of course but has extensive extras; an audio commentary by Rudy Behlmer, Jon Burlington and Nick Redman that reviews say is “wonderful”, an isolated score track, a featurette (approx 12 minutes) Tyrone Power’s Leading Ladies, stills gallery, advertising gallery and theatrical trailer. The reviews do point to issues with the skin tones and colour during the first 20 minutes of the feature, so we seem to have essentially the same print in Region 4 with only PAL / NTSC differences..

     With a star with matinee idol looks, a rousing score and wonderful Technicolor location shooting The Captain from Castile from 1947 is pure spectacle and a chance to watch Tyrone Power in his prime. It is presented on a disc with acceptable video and audio for a 60 year old film but, alas, none of the extras available in Region 1.

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Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall