Verso il Nuovo Mondo

CRISTOFORO COLOMBO

(Christopher Columbus)

1949, regia di David MacDonald

Scheda: Nazione: GB - Produzione: Gainsborough Pictures - Distribuzione: Eagle Lyon, Avo Film, Universal International Pictures - Soggetto: dal romanzo di Rafael Sabatini - Sceneggiatura: Muriel Box, Sydney Box, Cyril Roberts - Fotografia: Stephen Dade - Montaggio: Vladimir Sagovsky - Costumi: Elizabeth Haffenden - Musiche: Arthur Bliss - Formato: Technicolor - Durata: 80' (104'). 

Cast: Fredric March, Florence Eldridge, Francis L. Sullivan, Kathleen Ryan, Derek Bond, Nora Swinburne, Abraham Sofaer, Linden Travers, James Robertson Justice, Dennis Vance, Richard Aherne, Felix Aylmer, Francis Lister, Edward Rigby, Niall MacGinnis, Ralph Truman, Ronald Adam, Guy Le Feuvre, Lyn Evans, David Cole, Hugh Pryse, Stuart Lindsell.

Trama e commenti: cinematografo.it - film.spettacolo.virgilio.it - cristoforocolombo.eu - kataweb.it: «Accanitamente convinto di poter buscare il Levante andando verso Ponente, Colombo, navigatore genovese, cerca i mezzi e  le palanche per la spedizione alla corte di Castiglia. E la regina Isabella si fa convincere. Tedioso e inamidato. "Persino un bambino di dieci anni lo troverebbe eccitante come un pomeriggio passato a guardare cartoline natalizie" (Time). Chi si contenta puņ ammirare le scene e i costumi».

Plot Summary, Synopsis, Review: IMDb - entertainment.msn.com - tvguide.com: «Essentially lifeless story of "the Great Navigator" starring Mr. and Mrs. Fredric March. Lots of costumes, backstage intrigues at the Spanish court, many extras, and what would appear to be all the elements of a successful movie. But making a film is like baking a cake--if you have all the right ingredients and the wrong recipe, it'll come out flat. Such was the case with this film. Fully half of it took place in Isabella's court and by the time we get to the good stuff, our yawns have superseded our interest. Columbus (March) and son (Cole) want to meet Isabella (Eldridge). They ask a priest (Aylmer) to arrange it. Sullivan has Eldridge's ear at court and wants to keep March away, so he conspires to keep March at arm's length, claiming that the idea of finding a passage to the New World is foolhardy. Eldridge must be a Libra because she can't make up her mind, so March and son (who is never identified by name) leave and then are called back by the queen's messenger. The voyage of the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria looks like a bunch of miniatures and the travails of the sailors are ho-hum. They discover America, have a triumphant return to Spain, then are back at sea again. There is fall from favor, and eventually March languishes in obscurity, which is exactly what happened to this very expensive movie. The dialog is stiff, the actors stiffer, and the whole thing lumbers along like a fat dog after a huge meal».

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