Home | Movies By Year | Movies from 1936


Robin Hood of El Dorado (film)

Buy Robin Hood of El Dorado (film) now from Amazon

First, read the Wikipedia article. Then, scroll down to see what other TopShelfReviews readers thought about the movie. And once you've experienced the movie, tell everyone what you thought about it.

Wikipedia article




'Robin Hood of El Dorado' is a 1936 American Western film directed by William A. Wellman for MGM. It stars Warner Baxter as real-life Mexican folk hero Joaquin Murrieta and Ann Loring as his love interest, with Bruce Cabot as Bill Warren and J. Carrol Naish as Murrietta's notorious partner, Three-Fingered Jack. The film is based on the life of Murrietta as the Robin Hood of Old California in 1850, a kind, gentle man who is driven to violence.

Plot summary



In 1848 in California, Mexican farmer Joaquin Murietta has become a criminal to avenge the rape and murder of his wife Rosita and lynching of his brother Jose at the hands of the Americans.

Cast



*Warner Baxter as Joaquin Murrietta

*Ann Loring as Juanita de la Cuesta

*Bruce Cabot as Bill Warren

*Margo as Rosita

*J. Carrol Naish as Three-Fingered Jack

*Soledad Jimnez as Madre Murrietta

*Carlos de Valdez as Jose Murrietta

*Eric Linden as Johnnie Warren

*Edgar Kennedy as Sheriff Judd

*Charles Trowbridge as Ramon de la Cuesta

*Harvey Stevens as Captain Osborne

*Ralph Remley as Judge Perkins

*George Regas as Tomas

*Harry Woods as Pete

*Francis McDonald as Pedro the Spy

*Kay Hughes as Louise

*Paul Hurst as Wilson

*Boothe Howard as Tablard

Notes



The screenplay was written by the actor Joseph Calleia, Melvin Levy and William A. Wellman, with assistance by Robert Carson. In 1937, Wellman and Carson won an Academy Award for Best Screenplay for 'A Star Is Born'. 'The Robin Hood of El Dorado' was based on the biography of Joaquin Murrieta by Walter Noble Burns and was MGM's attempt to follow 'Viva Villa!'.

Film historian Frank T. Thompson writes that "Wellman made a stronger statement on the subject of racism than a whole spate of later films (like 'Gentleman's Agreement')."'William A. Wellman' by Frank T. Thompson, The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1983.

'The Robin Hood of El Dorado' also anticipates the revisionist westerns of the 1960s, especially 'The Wild Bunch' (1969), directed by Sam Peckinpah. Both films mix violence and sentimentality with an undercurrent of regret for a vanishing way of life. The Mexican folk song "La golondrina'"' is used to similar effect.

Art director David Townsend was killed in a car accident while scouting locations for the film.'Los Angeles Times', August 6, 1935, "Crash Kills Film Expert, David Townsend, Art Aide, Dead and Three Injured as Car Falls in Canyon" pg. A2

Crew



*David Townsend, art director

*Dolly Tree, costume designer

References




Buy Robin Hood of El Dorado (film) now from Amazon

<-- Return to movies from 1936



This work is released under CC-BY-SA. Some or all of this content attributed to http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1106321719.