The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)

Was it the sun, the war or the addictive theme song that drove them all mad?
Intro.
I'm breaking one of my blog rules today, but for good reason.  I've seen The Bridge on the River Kwai many times already; there was a time when, as a teenager, I would watch it every day.  I'm not sure what it was about the movie that had such drawing power for me.  Maybe it was something about the utter futility of war that resonated with some of the usual teenage angst.  But that's a story for a whole other blog.  This weekend, after I realized that September had been turning into William Holden month, I decided to watch it again.  As I curled up to watch, I thought about how funny it seems that some actors become identified with one specific role.  Yul Brenner is a good example - for years he played The King in The King and I, and had a lot of trouble being cast outside of that role.  William Shatner is the same way; I just watched his new sitcom and yup, the thought was first "Captain Kirk" not William Shatner.  In much the same respect, watching from my generation's viewpoint, Alec Guiness was not known to myself or any of my friends as anyone but Obi-Won Kenobi.  That must have been awful for him, especially since he was first in such amazing films as The Bridge on the River Kwai, and gave what could be argued as the performance of a lifetime.

Overview (with a possible spoiler - sorry!)
The Bridge on the River Kwai begins with a company of British soldiers surrendering to the Japanese during WWII, somewhere in the thick Burmese jungle.  The men are marched into a prisoner-of-war camp, where the last two surviving members of the original camp are digging graves.  One of these men is Commander Shears, US Navy (William Holden), cynical and certain that everyone in the camp will eventually die.  Commanding the British troops is Lt. Col. Nicholson (Alec Guiness), and with him is medical officer Maj. Clipton (James Donald), who knows more about compassion than about the rules of war.  The Japanese commander is Col. Saito (Sessue Hayakawa), who advises the men to "be happy in their work." He is much like Nicholson in that both men will stick to their principles and refuse to lose face.  This stubborness leads to a difficult battle of wills when Saito orders that officers will do manual labor in his camp.  Nicholson refuses on the grounds that it is against the Geneva convention.  For that, he and all of his officers are shut up in small metal huts (called "the ovens") on the compound, right in the blazing heat.  Meanwhile, Shears, his fellow gravedigger, and one of the young men from the British soldiers decide to escape.  Only Shears makes it away from the guards alive, but he is hurt, lost and in the middle of nowhere.  He barely makes it into a village alive, where he recovers and then makes his way to a hospital on the coast.  Back at the camp, though, things do not bode well.  Clipton acts as a go-between for Saito and Nicholson, only to find that the men are close to identical and neither one believes in compromise.  In the end Nicholson prevails, and sets out not only to build a bridge in the allotted time-frame, but to build a better bridge that will stand the test of time.  As they push towards the short deadline, Nicholson begins to employ some of the measures threatened by Saito, but under Nicholson's direction, they pass as reasonable means.  So back to Shears in the hospital.  It turns out that an Allied team is being assembled to go and blow up the bridge.  Shears winds up volunteering (more like blackmailed into going).  It's rather difficult traveling, with the leader, Major Warden (Jack Hawkins), getting shot in the foot and then Japanese patrols showing up and such.  If you hadn't guessed it from the film's beginning, yes the bridge blows up.  But who does it and what is destroyed in the process is what ends the film with an even bigger emotional blow.

Highlights

You really can't get any finer acting.  Alec Guiness won an Oscar for Best Actor, and it was richly deserved.  Likewise Holden and Hayakawa give strong performances too.  However my favorite character, and one that really holds the heart of the film, is James Donald's Maj. Clipton.  We see a great deal as he does, as he is the only one to have conferences with both Saito and Nicholson during the standoff.  After seeing them both, stubborn and unwavering, he says "are they both mad?  Or am I going mad?  Or is it the sun?"  He reminds me a bit of Horatio in Hamlet in that he is very close to all of the proceedings, but most importantly he is alone, on a hillside, watching the horror of the bridge's explosion.  He is the only one left who can put words to it all - "Madness."

The film's construction was remarkable too, especially the bridge itself.  Filmed on location in Ceylon, some of the scenes with Shears and the Allied party are beautiful.  It's so well written too; I loved how they paid attention to both what was said and what was left unsaid.  In particular, Nicholson's speech at the end of the film about what a man leaves behind him when his life is through is both touching and yet still reserved, in keeping with his character.  That speech alone and how Guiness delivered it earned those Oscars.  On a side note about the Oscars, the film won for best Screenplay.  The writers were Pierre Boulle, who wrote the original book, Carl Foreman and Michael Wilson.  Foreman and Wilson had been blacklisted, so at the time of the film's release, only Boulle was listed as the writer, despite the fact that he didn't know much English.

Speaking of the book, I'd like to bring up what is often a debate between film scholars and literature scholars - book versus movie.  Usually I'm on the side of the book, with some exceptions (I liked The Godfather film better than the book).  In this case, I think it would be a tie.  What really struck me about the novel was just how similar Nicholson and Saito were.  They echo each other.  In the scenes where Clipton first talks to Saito and then immediately afterward talks to Nicholson, I thought I was reading the same pages over again - that's how close these two men were.  That parallelism comes across better on the page than on screen, though they do a very good job in the film.  I also started to think about what war films were truly about - the lower layer, if you will.  Specifically POW escape movies - is it something to do with bucking the system?  An escape from not only a physical prison, but an emotional one too?  The idea of an individual making it out to safety, the lone man against the world? (Think of Steve McQueen on that motorcycle in The Great Escape.)  I don't know enough about war genre studies, but I still think it's an interesting idea to keep in mind while watching.

Review and Recommendation
The Bridge on the River Kwai may be my favorite war film.  It's a classic by every standard.  I know a common downside people seem to cite is that it feels a bit long, but all of the details in writing and acting make it worthwhile.  All this time after I first saw the film and then picked up the book, I still recommend both the film and book very highly.

P.S. I forgot to mention that the theme song, "Colonel Bogey March" really is addictive.  I'm whistling it now just writing about it.  

Pal Joey (1957)

Intro.

I love hearing the backstories of films from TCM's host Robert Osborne.  For example, he explained that the story of Pal Joey began back in the 1930s as a Broadway play.  At one point it starred Gene Kelly, so when studios began trying to  make it into a film, he was their first choice.  However, due to the racy nature of the story and Hollywood's strict codes, it took a long while to be green-lighted.  Finally, Columbia Pictures made it, and cast their biggest star of the 1940s and 50s, Rita Hayworth.  They also cast up-and-coming star Kim Novak.  The problem was finding a leading man - Kelly wasn't available, so they tried Marlon Brando (who couldn't do it) and Jack Lemmon (who was still more or less unknown and Rita Hayworth did not want in the film).  At last Frank Sinatra was cast and the film was a perfect fit for him. 

Overview

Pal Joey feels almost like a Sinatra biography - or at least, the life he presented to the world.  The film opens with Joey (Frank Sinatra) getting thrown out of town for seducing an underaged girl.*  He winds up in San Francisco, where he looks up an old friend in the nightclubs on Barbary Coast.  He talks his way into a job as a singer and it's clear from his first performance that he excels at the job - women throughout the club start falling into a trance just listening to him.  It seems that the only one not affected is one of the chorus girls, Linda English (Kim Novak), who is a bit more reserved than the rest.  Joey pretends not to care about her, but then deliberately moves into the apartment next to hers.  Their first evening job away from the club is at a big fundraiser gala.  The much admired hostess Vera Simpson (Rita Hayworth) puts on a class act, but Joey happens to recognize her from her time as a famous stripper.  When the auction falls short of the monetary goal, Joey pipes up that he'd pay a thousand dollars to see her do her most famous routine right there on stage.  The bidding opens and the goal is met.  But that's only the beginning of an interesting push and pull between Vera and Joey.  Meanwhile, Linda starts to soften towards Joey, thanks to an adorable terrier named Snuffy.  Vera finally makes peace with Joey as well as a deal to open a new nightclub in Joey's name.  Joey's lifelong dream finally comes true, but is short lived as he realizes he's working with a very jealous woman.  The love triangle drives Joey to finally make his choice, but can both women live with it? 

Highlights

Pal Joey is a musical without feeling like a musical.  It's along the same lines as Gentlemen Prefer Blondes or Young at Heart: the songs are a natural part of the plot.  Almost all of the songs are done as nightclub performances, when you'd expect to hear them, not out in the middle of the street just for the heck of it.  And these songs are wonderful!  They are all Rogers and Hart numbers, and very familiar to many Frank Sinatra fans.  I loved hearing and seeing him perform some of my favorite songs like "I Could Write a Book" or "The Lady is a Tramp."  Rita Hayworth and Kim Novak each had some great numbers (like "Bewitched" and "My Funny Valentine"), though I learned afterward that they had both been dubbed.  Dubbed or not, it was still a great score and a lot of talent.

I want to talk briefly about icons.  I noticed that in this film, there's a part where a large poster of Joey is put up outside the Barbary Coast club.  That poster is one of the iconic Frank Sinatra images - it's the one where he's got his hat forward and his trenchcoat slung over his shoulder.  I mentioned before that this film was a perfect fit for Frank and it was.  I can't imagine anyone else in this role (except maybe Gene Kelly).  It's almost as if Angelo Maggio** had survived Pearl Harbor and was working the coast after the war.  Joey is the legend of Sinatra - singer, swinger, heartbreaker with all the swagger and bravado we know and love.  As much as I love Frank Sinatra, I know he wasn't the most handsome of leading men, but his voice and confidence more than make up for it.      

Rita Hayworth at this point in her career had already been a top leading lady for a number of years.  She was #1 at Columbia Pictures, having made her mark in films like Only Angels Have Wings (1939), Cover Girl (1944) and Gilda (1946)***.  Kim Novak had just started to rise, having made a huge success in the film Picnic only two years earlier.  As Robert Osborne said, this film was like a "passing of the crown" from Columbia's former leading lady to the new one.  Both women are great, talented actresses and each one does a phenomenal job in this movie.  I think Novak, Hayworth and Sinatra have equal roles in the film, though ultimately it does bring sharp focus to just Sinatra's character.  The film is a strong vehicle for all three performers and a must-see!

I have to mention some of the great lines in this movie.  First, upon seeing Joey sing for the first time, one of the chorus girls remarks how cute he is.  Her friend says: "You think everyone with pants is cute." To which the girl replies: "That's not true.  I like lots of people without pants."  Later on, Vera tells Joey he has "all the subtlety of a battering ram."  I think I've heard this line before, but never delivered as well as Rita Hayworth does it!  A few times we also hear the line, in reference to Joey, that "one false move and you're out on your Francis!"  I don't know how they came up with that line, whether it was really a figure of speech or not, but I laughed as Sinatra is a Francis.  Joey throughout the film spells out his words for emphasis, but never spells them correctly.  I wasn't sure each time if he was being funny or if he was uneducated.  For example, he spells classy "K-l-a-s-y".  Some of those misspellings Frank Sinatra kept using off stage - his line to Snuffy to get off the bed: "Get off, O-R-F, off!" was used during his performances at the Sands in the 60s.  Just another way that films cross into real life and legends are made.

Review and Recommendation

Pal Joey is a brilliant showcase for three legends of Hollywood.  It's a fun, energetic story full of romance and great music.  Maybe not one of the most famous of musicals, it's nevertheless an entertaining one and well worth watching.

Random Film Trivia:
* Sinatra was once arrested for "seduction and adultery in New Jersey in the 1930s.  Charges were eventually dropped, but the story stuck with Sinatra.
** Angelo Maggio was Sinatra's character in From Here to Eternity (1953); a performance which won Sinatra an Academy Award.  He wanted the part because he said it was a perfect fit for him and he wouldn't even have to act. 

*** For modern movie fans, Gilda was the film being shown in The Shawshank Redemption (1994), which is why Andy asks for Rita Hayworth.  The original story by Stephen King is called Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption.  I highly recommend both the film and the novella!  I got the movie listing from IMDb.

12 Angry Men (1957)

Intro.

I know I've mentioned those films before that I swear I've seen, but can't remember.  Part of that may be due to a film's huge impact on American film history.  If there is such a thing as a Hollywood canon of films, 12 Angry Men must be on that list.  I was fortunate enough to have it on my DVR and finally got a chance to watch.

I learned on TCM that studios did not want to touch this film.  Henry Fonda had purchased the rights from the television version, and together with the screenwriter, Reginald Rose, the two personally financed the picture.  It was one of Henry Fonda's top three favorite films of his career (the others being The Grapes of Wrath and The Ox-Bow Incident), and it's easy to see why.  

Overview 

The film opens with the end of a trial - the judge is excusing the jury to go and deliberate the fate of 18-year old Puerto Rican boy who has been charged with first degree murder.  If found guilty, the death penalty is mandatory.  The twelve jurors file into the Jury Room and begin their deliberation.  They take an initial vote and get the result of 11 guilty, 1 not guilty.  What most of them thought would be a simple, open-and-shut case becomes a long afternoon debate on the hottest day of the year.  The lone holdout is Juror 8 (Henry Fonda).  He begins asking simple questions about the trial and asks for one hour to consider the case in exchange for a man's life.  Each point of the case comes up for debate.  We start to see that the case isn't just about a boy's guilt, but about the process of democracy and at what point you can sentence a man to die.  When the final verdict is reached, each man leaves the courthouse changed, yet each one remains nameless except for Jurors 8 and 9, who shake hands.

Highlights

The film feels a lot like one of those Hitchcock films that is completely contained in one space - in this case, a jury room.  The sweltering heat of the summer afternoon/evening with no air conditioning adds to the heated arguments between the jurors.  Even though it's only one room, the camera work and the fine acting keeps the film fresh and interesting.  There's a definite line of action - first in introducing each point of the court case and second in the number of men on each side (guilty or not guilty).  There are 5 votes in total during the film, and no two are held or filmed the same way.  In one, we only see the hands of the voters, in another we only see faces.  I feel like I could watch this film over and over and still notice something different.  It's a lot of subtle details, but details are what make a story pop.

On the surface, the film seems straightforward, maybe even simple in plot.  But the subtle undercurrent of deeper problems makes it compelling.  All of the acting is superb - these are the finest actors of the day.  Henry Fonda made a point of picking actors he admired the most to act in this film.  It is full of great talent and a complex web of stories, all of which add to the film's intensity.

I also really enjoyed how well-developed and dynamic the characters were.  Even though they remained nameless, each juror had his own personality.  It was fascinating to see what they talked about in the breaks between discussing the case and which juror talked to which.  It was also interesting to see who changed his vote and what it took.  Juror 10 couldn't get past his bigotry, Juror 3's problems with his own son influence his vote, Juror 5 had a similar background as the defendant, and Juror 9 used his age and experience to help sway several members.  The level of detail put into each character made this film not just a great courtroom drama, but one of the best character studies in film. 

Review and Recommendation

There is a lot to be said in favor of 12 Angry Men, but instead of writing a much longer post, I will simply say that this is an absolute must-see.  Not only is it a quintessential drama, but it is an important study in human nature.  It addresses some of the deepest questions in our society - questions on race, background, the justice system and who or what can determine absolute guilt.

P.S. Thanks to Catherine for getting on my case to watch this film.  Catherine, you were right!  Definitely a great movie!

Designing Woman (1957)

Intro.

Romantic comedies have been around since the beginning of film's history.  The comedy inherent in relationships goes back even further.  It is interesting (to me at least) to watch romantic comedies from different eras as the silver screen reflects the values, imaginations and everyday lives of those bygone eras.  It's true that the same can be said of any genre, but lately I've been focusing on romantic comedies because the basic premise is always the same - two people meet, fall in love and spend the rest of their lives together.  How they get from beginning to end is another matter entirely. 

Overview

Designing Woman takes after many films from the fifties.  The plot is very similar to other stories - two people meet, fall in love, marry in a whirlwind, then return to their normal lives only to realize how incompatible they are.  In this case, it is Gregory Peck as sports writer Mike Hagan, and Lauren Bacall as fashion designer Marilla Brown.  The two meet on vacation, marry quickly and return to New York.  The comedy starts with them trying to live together - Marilla finds a torn up photo of Mike's ex-girlfriend while Mike discovers that Marilla out-earns him.  Their first fight erupts after they both invite friends to their now shared apartment.  The usual insanity persists when Mike's sportswriters and ex-fighters come over for poker while Marilla's theater crowd works on plans for a new musical.  Such differences cause problems that continues to complicate the relationship.  First Marilla discovers that the actress in the musical she's designing gowns for is Mike's ex, then Mike not only lies about it, but then has to go into hiding because his articles have exposed a particular mobster as the leader in a corruption ring in boxing.  It wraps up with a lot of madness, jealousy and finally an all out bout of honesty, and of course Mike and Marilla live happily ever after.

Highlights and Interesting Points

First of all, Gregory Peck and Lauren Bacall are both wonderful in this film.  They have an easy chemistry and are both genuine talents in their own right.  Especially worthy of note is how well Lauren Bacall carries herself despite the fact that at home, her husband Humphrey Bogart was dying of cancer (he died in January and the film premiered in May of 1957).  Her strength of character and superb acting comes out in her performance.

As it is a traditional film of the 1950s, the gender-specific roles are very conservative.  This could be due to the politics of the day and a time in Hollywood where it was safer to stick to more conformist views.  However, there are some points of the film that break away from the norm.  For instance, Lauren Bacall is far from being June Cleaver - she still actively holds onto her thriving career and holds her own in equality with her husband.  Also, their respective groups of friends have men who aren't all what they seem, particularly Marilla's friend, a choreographer who, despite how he carries himself, is in fact straight and a happily married man and father of two.  But the film does come back to some standard (and somewhat sexist) views, like making Marilla stoop to petty jealousy and almost faint during a boxing match.  Her strength in the rest of the film redeems her, thanks mostly to Bacall's own fortitude.  What else helps is the humor - that deep down, the film doesn't take itself too seriously.  Both characters take turns with voice-overs that are steeping with irony and deadpan sarcasm.  Without such a device, the film could easily be made into a melodrama.   

What struck me about the picture was how, unlike most romantic comedies and musicals, it begins with marriage instead of ending with it.  At first I thought that was only something that came with the fifties and that society, but films like that have really been around for some time (think about Vivacious Lady from 1938).  In a way, it's kind of another wooing - a couple deprived of the usual complicated (and hilarious) courtship face problems after 'I Do' and have to get through it in order to achieve their happily ever after. 

Review and Recommendation
Designing Woman is a good, enjoyable fun - good talents, good chemistry and good jokes make it entertaining.  While a typical rom-com film of the 1950s, it goes a little further as both Bacall and Peck make it work.  Pay particular attention to the ending, where each character has their own epilogue, directly addressing the audience much like the old credits in 1930s B-films that show clips of each actor along with their name and part.  It's a nice break in the fourth wall and allows each character to have an equal voice.  Although the film is a bit predictable, it is good-natured fun.  If you get a chance to see it, break out the popcorn and have fun.

Fun Fact: My friend Catherine read that the film originally was to star Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelly, but as Grace Kelly became engaged to the Prince of Monaco, she couldn't do the film and Jimmy Stewart didn't want to do it without her.  I wonder what would have happened if the two of them had filmed it - in many ways it would be like a follow up to Rear Window, where Grace Kelly worked in fashion and Jimmy Stewart worked as a photographer covering dangerous things like racing and other sports.

Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison (1957)

Intro.

Like I said, May is definitely Mitchum month.  I actually saw Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison in a movie store awhile back and decided I had to see it, and to my pleasant surprise it popped up on my instant play suggestions for Netflix.  I had loved Robert Mitchum and Deborah Kerr together in the film The Grass is Greener, so I was excited to see this film, their first one together.

Overview

The premise is pretty straight-forward.  Robert Mitchum is the title character, Cpl. Allison, USMC.  He has been separated from his submarine and left in a lifeboat.  He lands on the beach of a deserted tropical island in the South Pacific and soon discovers the only inhabitant of the island is a nun, Sister Angela (Deborah Kerr).  She has missed the rescue ship back to Fiji and her companion, a Father, has recently died.  She and Mr. Allison take survey of the island, getting food and keeping watch - that is until the Japanese land.  They both hide in a cave in the hills, but the going is rough as they endure bombings and terrible food.  The two begin to care for one another as friends and Allison, who has never had family or loved ones, finds himself falling in love with Sister Angela.  When he discovers that she has not taken her final vows, he asks her to marry him.  She turns him down, and he gets drunk and begins to carry on about how unfair it is that they are stuck together but can't do anything. Sister Angela runs away, only to get lost and soaked in a downpour.  Allison finds her the next day, feverish and sick.  He has to steal blankets from the Japanese, but he gets her back to good health.  That isn't the end though, as the Americans land to take the island.  Allison gets caught in the fight and the result determines the fate of his relationship with Sister Angela.

Highlights

The shooting locations on Tobago are beautiful in this film.  The entire set up is very well done, and the coordination of the Japanese and American attacks are great. It does feel like a reworking of The African Queen, but there is enough difference to make you realize it is a different film with a different purpose.  I especially like how the film concluded - it doesn't cave to romantic notions and each character retains his/her integrity.

I think one of the hardest things actors have to do is break out of any sort of type-casting.  While Mitchum isn't stretched too far (he's usually the strong, tough guy) I was really surprised at his character's dimensionality - he's not the bitter, intelligent private eye, nor is he the super creepy and deeply sinister bad guy - he's the Joe next door, uneducated and unattached who nevertheless finds himself connected to a nun.  It reminded me of his role in River of No Return, where he is the strong, silent outdoors-man hiding a dark (and sometimes dangerous) nature. 

Finally, what really carries this film is the relationship between Sister Angela and Cpl. Allison.  They realize that they are alone in this crisis together - that they may face death together and even though each one is capable of survival alone, neither wants to leave the other.  They fight, they make up, they survive together.  At perhaps the most touching part of the film, Sister Angela offers to turn herself over to the Japanese in order for Cpl. Allison to have a much better chance of his own survival.  He flat out refuses, saying that if she were to do that, he'd go out of his mind and probably start flinging coconuts at the Japanese to get her back.  It's a great friendship that lasted off screen as well - according to one story, Mitchum had been nervous to work with Deborah Kerr at first, thinking that she might be as prudish as some of her characters.  On set one day, she started to swear at director John Huston, and Mitchum, in the water, began laughing so hard he nearly drowned.  After that, Mitchum and Kerr would remain life-long friends, making another three films together.   

Review

Although it does feel similar to many other island survival films, the relationship between a Marine and a nun makes this film stand out.  While not a classic like The African Queen, this film is just as enjoyable, and watching two such great screen icons together for the first time is unforgettable.  I'd definitely recommend watching.

The Pride and the Passion (1957)

Intro.
As February was going to be focused on leading men we adore, I thought the perfect film would be one starring both Cary Grant and Frank Sinatra.  I mean, two of my favorite guys in one film - how could I go wrong?  Well, it turns out there was a reason I had never heard of The Pride and the Passion until I went hunting for Sinatra films I hadn't seen yet. 

Overview
Cary Grant plays a British officer named Anthony, who is sent to Spain during the Napoleonic Wars to salvage a huge cannon that the French army has discarded.  What he finds is a group of Spanish resistance fighters who have not only found the cannon, but have fixed it and are trying to take it cross country to the town of Avila, which is protected by a fortress now occupied by the French.  Anthony is only interested in getting the gun back to England, but he needs the Spanish group to help him move it (that sucker is heavy!).  So he and the Spanish leader Miguel (Frank Sinatra) make a deal - Anthony will help them take the fortress with the gun (because he knows all about artillery) and they in turn will help him haul the gun to a ship bound for England.  The rest of the story is pretty solid - lots of pushing, lots of hiding from the French, lots of Anthony hooking up with Miguel's girlfriend, Juana (Sophia Loren).  The love triangle affects the whole film and we are finally drawn from Anthony's dilemma to Juana's as she has to choose between the two men (what a choice to have!!).  The ending is pretty spectacular as hundreds upon hundreds of Spaniards rush the fortress in order to save the town of Avila from the French.  I won't ruin it, but let's just say that Juana finally learns that she can't have it all.

Highlights (and some Low Points too)
First of all, there is an undeniable chemistry between Cary Grant and Sophia Loren.  I thought at first I was imagining it, since it was on the set of this movie that Cary supposedly proposed to Sophia.  Those shots where we see Anthony watching Juana, you can't help but wonder how much of that look is love and how much is just darn good acting.  It makes the film much more interesting to watch at that point, particularly for the, how shall I say it, "well censored" love scene between the two.  Oh I love when films subtly hint at sex and just as the couple embraces, the camera cuts to something like trees and then later comes back to the couple after the fact.  Such is the case here. 

This is not one of Frank Sinatra's best roles, though it is still much better than The Kissing Bandit.  His accent comes and goes (which is actually kind of endearing) and that haircut just doesn't look right on him.  But it is pretty neat to see him hold his own with Sophia and Cary.  Sophia Loren didn't seem as polished, but it could be because this was her first English film (although another film, Boy on a Dolphin was released sooner).  And Cary is good, but not his usual scene-stealing self (except when he's charming Sophia, of course!).   

Most importantly, the ending is really well done.  For a film that didn't hold my attention much, I was glued to the screen once they reach the fort and Juana must choose to either stay behind with Anthony and the cannon (where she'd be safe) or to go with Miguel and risk her life for her country.  I also enjoyed the scene before it where they ask for the help of the church in Avila - there is a beautiful mass that is held and the music and color fills up the screen.  That scene, particularly the statue of "The Pieta," is echoed in the film's ending in a delicate way.  It made me wonder if the film I had started to watch was really the same as the one that I was finishing.        

Review
While there are some good moments to this film (aside from those mentioned above, there is a great part where Anthony must explain to a puzzled Miguel why the cannon will "weigh" more going downhill and tries to use the laws of physics to show the math behind it), it feels long and heavy, as if you're pushing the cannon along with that mob of people.  It's a cool piece of Hollywood history because of Sophia Loren's earliest US work and her off-screen relationship with Cary Grant.  I didn't like the film, but I liked the history and really, any chance to watch Sinatra (even in awful roles) is still a chance I'll take.  

Want to read more?  Check out IMDb.  Also, if you are interested in a Cary Grant love triangle film, try The Philadelphia Story or The Grass is Greener.  Both films are fantastic - look for write-ups on those in the weeks to come!