König der Toreros (1941)

König der Toreros: Directed by Rouben Mamoulian. With Tyrone Power, Linda Darnell, Rita Hayworth, Alla Nazimova. Illiterate peasant Juan Gallardo rises meteorically to fame and fortune in the bullfight arena only to sow the seeds of his own fall.

“20th Century Fox gave Tyrone Power one of his most famous roles as the bullfighter torn between the love of a noble woman, his wife (Linda Darnell), and the tempestuous u0026quot;other womanu0026quot; (Rita Hayworth). A technicolor remake of the 1922 classic with Valentino, the studio spared no expense in making this a lavish, well-paced version of the tale depicting the rise and fall of a great bullfighter.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWhile establishing Power as a romantic hero of swashbuckling roles, it made a star of Rita Hayworth who, up until this time, was seen mostly in low-budget films. If anything, u0026#39;Blood and Sandu0026#39; assured of the stardom she sought.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eEspecially interesting in one of his more flamboyant character roles is Laird Cregar as the critic of the art of bullfighting, alternately praising and damning the hero and eventually getting his comeuppance from Power.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003enDirected with great style by Rouben Mamoulian, it is still the best version of the story to date, photographed in the lush technicolor of the 1940s.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003enYou may be interested in looking at my article on Laird Cregar that appeared in the March 2001 issue of CLASSIC IMAGES.”