The Gay Desperado
by Rouben Mamoulian
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Harold Huber, Ida Lupino, James Blakeley, Leo Carrillo, Nino MartiniDirector: Rouben Mamoulian
Brand: Image Entertainment
Cinematographer: Lucien N. Andriot
Editor: Margaret Clancey
Producer: Jesse L. Lasky
Producer: Mary Pickford
Writer: Leo Birinsky
Writer: Wallace Smith
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Black & White, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 86 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2001-03-20
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Image Entertainment
Movie Reviews of The Gay Desperado
Movie Review: A Pleasant Discovery
Summary: 5 Stars
Knowing that Rouben Mamoulian, one of the great film directors of the Twentieth Century (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Love Me Tonight, Queen Christina, Golden Boy,...), had directed this not widely known film and being the Musical Genre on of my favorites, I always had an "eye" on this movie.
I'd define "The Gay Desperado" as a wonderful and entertaining spoof with musical interludes, set in the Mexican Border, where the notorious, funny, charming bandit Pedro Braganza (who's a music fan, very funnily played by Leo Carrillo) and his gang try to imitate the American gangsters' "modern ways", kidnapping a singer (Chivo, played by Nino Martini) in the process.
I must note that Nino Martini is the only member of the cast who actually sings, profusely, in the film, getting to sing some popular Mexican songs and an Operatic Aria among others.
Martini has an impressive voice (you can tell he was a real Opera singer from the Met) and a mischievously charming personality. Leo Carrillo more or less steals the film as the florid leader of the Mexican bandits with an "ear for music". Very funny performances too by Harold Huber as Carrillo's more serious sidekick and by great character actor Mischa Auer (of "My Man Godfrey" and "You Can't Take it With You" fame), who impersonates a silent native (almost a "Buster Keatonish" character) who's part of the gang too.
Ida Lupino is very good (before her later "Warner Bros. Screen Persona") as an American girl who has just eloped to get married in Mexico to a rather wishy-washy, stiff fiancé, getting both to meet Carrillo's gang face to face.
Great cinematography, pace, mood and dialogue (IMHO this is no "ordinary" musical) in a beautifully restored transfer (IMAGE made a great job).
Summary of The Gay Desperado
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