Dad's Movies: "Captain From Castile" (1947)

I watched this one a few months back but thanks to our ongoing pandemic, I am getting around to writing a few words about these "fillums".

So we have another Tyrone Power movie:  Captain From Castile (1947)

This is one of the better Power movies and much better than the average Golden Age Hollywood historical epic. I've probably said it before but I find the older historic/period pieces of 30s-40s Hollywood studios to not age as well as some of the other genres. This one holds up better due to its location shooting in Mexico and its willingness to at least somewhat portray the cruelty of the Spanish conquests in Central/South America. The Catholic Church gets a more whitewashed treatment here for obvious reasons:  the Inquisition is portrayed as Evil but the Church is less directly connected with it; a few bad apples so to speak. It is usually a mistake to ascribe modern attitudes to 70+ year old movies but this one tries a little harder than most. There is almost a recognition in Power's character that what he and his fellow Spaniard Cortes is doing just might be wrong.

The cast is very good. Power mostly fits his character well and Jean Peters, whom I don't remember from other movies I've seen, is also good. Cesar Romero might be the best however as the killer Cortes. Cortes comes off as a smooth and simultaneously brutal operator.

One aspect that was attractive to my Dad:  the musical score by Fox stalwart Alfred Newman. The score is typically over the top and dramatic but is one of his best ones I've heard and usually fits the movie.

I watched this on a DVD rip but am tempted to get the BD-this big budget Technicolor production would be great to see in HD.