The Gay Desperado

1936 film by Rouben Mamoulian

October 2, 1936 (1936-10-02)

Running time

86 minutesCountryUnited StatesLanguageEnglish

The Gay Desperado is a 1936 American comedy film starring Ida Lupino, Leo Carrillo, and Nino Martini and directed by Rouben Mamoulian, produced by Mary Pickford, and originally released by United Artists. The film was restored by the UCLA Film and Television Archive and the Mary Pickford Foundation, and released on DVD in 2006 by Milestone Pictures after being out of distribution for many years.

Portions of the film were shot in Tucson, Arizona and show the old adobe quarter Barrio Viejo of the City and Mission San Xavier Del Bac.

Plot

Chivo (Nino Martini), a singer who works in a movie theater providing live entertainment, is apprehended by a music-loving Mexican bandit Pablo Braganza (Leo Carrillo) who wants to make Chivo part of his band. Braganza, who admires American gangsters, also kidnaps Jane and her rich boyfriend Bill to become more like the American movie gangsters he admires.

Cast

Ida Lupino as Jane
Leo Carrillo as Pablo Braganza
Nino Martini as Chivo
Harold Huber as Juan Campo
James Blakeley as Bill Shay
Stanley Fields as Butch
Mischa Auer as Diego

Reception

Writing for The Spectator in 1936, Graham Greene gave the film a good review, describing it as "one of the best light comedies of the year". Greene asserts that "Mr. Mamoulian's camera is very persuasive" and together with the film's "careful compositions" and the overall intent of the film he summarizes the film as having "a framework of fine and mannered prose".^[1]

References

^ Greene, Graham (November 13, 1936). "Fredlös/The Gay Desperado". The Spectator. (reprinted in: Taylor, John Russell, ed. (1980). The Pleasure Dome. Oxford University Press. p. 116–119. ISBN 0192812866.)