The Brigand | |
---|---|
Directed by | Phil Karlson |
Written by | Jesse L. Lasky, Jr. |
Based on | treatment by George Bruce novel by Alexandre Dumas |
Produced by | Edward Small (uncredited) |
Starring | Anthony Dexter Jody Lawrance Anthony Quinn |
Cinematography | W. Howard Greene |
Edited by | Jerome Thoms |
Music by | Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco |
Color process | Technicolor |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
Release dates |
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Running time | 94 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
The Brigand is a 1952 American adventure romance film directed by Phil Karlson and starring Anthony Dexter, Jody Lawrance and Anthony Quinn. It is the second film that Anthony Dexter made for producer Edward Small for Columbia Pictures after his debut in Valentino .
A rogue exile impersonates a King and a virtuous person wants to be so because he is the rightful heir to the throne.
Loosely based on The Brigand by Alexandre Dumas, the film is set in the Napoleonic era in 1804 in the mythical Iberian nation of "Mandorra". The film bears a resemblance to The Prisoner of Zenda with Dexter playing a dual role of a rogue exile who impersonates a King in danger of being overthrown by his cousin played by Anthony Quinn.
The scheming Quinn plans a "premeditated accident" to King Lorenzo by giving him a hunting weapon that is rigged to fire backwards; an idea reused by director Phil Karlson in his The Silencers . With the real King unable to perform his duties, the swashbuckling distant relative Carlos DeLago, late of the Sultan of Morocco's Guard steps in to save the Kingdom.
There is no producer credit on the film but the movie was produced by Edward Small just before he left Columbia to return to United Artists. [1]
In May 1949 it was reported that Small had hired Robert Libott and Frank Burt to write the script in 1949. [2] In December 1949 Small signed a two-year contract with Columbia to make "two to six" films, which would include Lorna Doone and The Brigand, "projects he had been developing for some time." This contract was separate to one Small had signed with Columbia to distribute Valentino. [3]
In August 1950 Small announced that he would make two films starring Anthony Dexter, who had made Valentino for the producer. The films would be The Brigand and a remake of The Sheik. [4] In May 1951 Jesse Lasky Jr was reportedly writing the script. [5] The same month Phil Karlson was announced as director. [6]
Ron Randell had appeared in Lorna Doone for Small. [7] In August 1951 he signed to appear in The Brigand; he was to do it at the same time as appearing in Broadway Bill at the Pasadena Playhouse. [8]
Filming started 9 July 1951. [9]
The New York Times called it "no great shakes. But neither, as a standard sample of this type of entertainment, is it hard to take." [10] Variety called it "a program swashbuckler". [11] The Los Angeles Times said "serious characterisation gives way to dash and colour." [12]
Kansas City Confidential is a 1952 American film noir and crime film directed by Phil Karlson starring John Payne and Coleen Gray. The film was released in the United Kingdom as The Secret Four. Karlson and Payne teamed a year later for 99 River Street, another film noir, followed by Hell's Island, a film noir in color.
Ronald Egan Randell was an Australian actor. After beginning his acting career on the stage in 1937, he played Charles Kingsford Smith in the film Smithy (1946). He also had roles in Bulldog Drummond at Bay (1947), Kiss Me Kate (1953), I Am a Camera (1955), Most Dangerous Man Alive (1961) and King of Kings (1961).
Edward Small was an American film producer from the late 1920s through 1970, who was enormously prolific over a 50-year career. He is best known for the movies The Count of Monte Cristo (1934), The Man in the Iron Mask (1939), The Corsican Brothers (1941), Brewster's Millions (1945), Raw Deal (1948), Black Magic (1949), Witness for the Prosecution (1957) and Solomon and Sheba (1959).
Phil Karlson was an American film director. Later noted as a film noir specialist, Karlson directed 99 River Street, Kansas City Confidential and Hell's Island, all with actor John Payne, in the early 1950s.
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Valentino is a 1951 American biographical film directed by Lewis Allen and starring Eleanor Parker.
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