925 (66). El Cid (1961, Anthony Mann), with video commentary by Mike D'Angelo

By Kevin B. Lee

[El Cid screens today as part of the Film Society of Lincoln Center series "Cinematic Atlas: The Triumphs of Charlton Heston." Click here for more information.]

[Editor's Note: This is the latest entry in House contributor Kevin B. Lee's Shooting Down Pictures, a record of his ongoing quest to see every title on the list of the 1000 Greatest Films compiled by They Shoot Pictures, Don't They?]

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I much prefer the compact noirs and westerns of Anthony Mann to this three-hour, loosely historical epic with Charlton Heston inevitably playing the Christ-figure superhero with lockjawed conviction. The story largely proceeds as a grim Medieval intrigue whose fatal crossings among characters (few if any of whom are agreeable) engage more than the final act, when the narrative makes a beeline bid for El Cid’s martyrdom through unwavering loyalty to an undeserving king. The non-stop testing of El Cid’s loyalty to his country in the service of God, leading to the character’s gradual transformation from a strong but peace-loving pragmatist (think Spanish Obama) to near-fanatical patriot, could in theory follow the pattern of many a psychologically tortured Mann protagonist, but Heston’s two-dimensional reading of the role as a warrior Pilgrim’s Progress pretty much wipes out that prospect. For his part Mann often follows Heston’s lead, as his visual storytelling is largely iconographic in the silent film sense, alternating bold close-ups with spectacular crowd shots. At best, Mann makes vivid use of his Cinemascope canvases, at times using deep focus and foreground/background contrasts to amplify the inherent width of the frame, particularly in intimate interior scenes depicting the uneasy courtship between El Cid and Ximena (Sophia Loren, used agreeably as window dressing). It’s in these smaller scenes, the kind that contemporary blockbusters would treat as instantly disposable, that Mann, one of Manny Farber’s favorite termite directors, finds his creative crevices within this massive white elephant of a production.

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To read the rest of the article at Shooting Down Pictures, click here.