''La cruz y la espada'' is a 1934 American

Spanish language Spanish ( or , Castilian) is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from colloquial Latin spoken on the Iberian peninsula. Today, it is a world language, global language with more than 500 millio ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by

Frank Strayer Frank Raymond Strayer (September 21, 1891 – February 3, 1964) was an actor, film writer, director and producer. He was active from the mid-1920s until the early 1950s. He directed a series of 14 '' Blondie!'' (1938) movies as well. Biography ...

, which stars

José Mojica Fray José de Guadalupe Mojica (14 September 1895 – 20 September 1974) was a Mexican Franciscan friar and former tenor and film actor. He was known in the music and film fields as José Mojica. (Spanish) Mojica joined the world of the Americ ...

Juan Torena Juan de Garchitorena de Carvajal, known in cinema as Juan Torena (1898–1983), was a Spanish-Filipino footballer and actor. After emigrating to Argentina at a young age, he became a footballer who eventually played for the Spanish club FC Barcelo ...

, and Anita Campillo. The screenplay was written by Paul Schofield and William DuBois from a story by Miguel de Zárraga.

Plot

In the California of the late 1800s, José Antonio Romero hears of the nearby discovery of gold. Wanting to provide his fiancé, Carmela, with all the good things in life, he decides to go hunt for gold. He tells his friend, Francisco, who is a Brother at a nearby mission, of his intentions and the reason. Carmela, who also lives near the mission, is having second thoughts about her relationship with José. When she is kidnapped by bandits, Francisco, who is unaware that she is his friend's fiancé, goes off to her rescue. After freeing her, the two begin to have an attraction for each other. When Francisco realizes she is José's beloved, he begins to distance himself, although he is attracted to her. Carmela, equally attracted to Francisco, is dismayed to learn that he is a member of the religious order. When one of the miners, Jaime, arrives at the mission and tells Francisco that Estaban, another miner, has been stabbed at the mining camp, Francisco does not hesitate to head out to the camp to render aid. On his return, he is forced to seek shelter in a cave due to a sudden storm. While in the cave, he accidentally discovers a large vein of gold. He struggles with his desire for Carmela, who he fantasizes about living happily ever after if he took the gold, left the religious order, and married her. In the end, his commitment to his religious devotion wins out, and he decides to tell his friend José the gold's location. However, José has been told by another villager of the seeming infatuation growing between Francisco and Carmela. Consumed by jealousy, José confronts Francisco, accusing him of betraying their friendship. He attacks the Brother with a knife, but in the ensuing fight, Francisco convinces José that nothing untoward occurred between him and Carmela, and José asks for his friend's forgiveness. Now able to support his fiancé, José asks Francisco to sing at his wedding, which Francisco gladly does.

Cast list

as Hermano Francisco *

as José Antonio Romero * Anita Campillo as Carmela * Lucio Villegas as Padre Superior * Carmen Rodríguez as Tía Mónica * Paco Moreno as Hermano Pedro *

Carlos Montalbán Carlos Montalbán y Merino (June 5, 1904March 28, 1991) was a Mexican character actor. Early life Montalbán was born in Torreón in Coahuila, Mexico, the son of Ricarda Merino Jiménez and Genaro Balbino Montalbán Busano, a store manager. H ...

as Esteban * Martín Garralaga as Jaime *

Julián Rivero Julian Rivero (July 25, 1890 – February 24, 1976) was an American actor whose career spanned seven decades. He made his film debut in the 1923 silent melodrama, ''The Bright Shawl'', which starred Richard Barthelmess, Dorothy Gish, William Powe ...

as El Mestizo * F. A. Armenta as the Indian * Rudolph Galante as Vaquero * Soledad Jiménez as Senora Moreno

Production

In December 1933 it was revealed that Miguel de Zárraga, Paul Schofield, and William DuBois were writing the original screenplay for the film. Also announced was that Ernesto Lecuona, José Mojica, and Troy Sanders would be composing music for the film. The picture was the first of several scheduled by Fox Pictures, after a renewed interest in producing Spanish language films for the Latin American market, rather than simply releasing English language films with subtitle.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:cruz y la espada 1934 drama films 1934 films American drama films Fox Film films Films directed by Frank R. Strayer American black-and-white films Films scored by Samuel Kaylin 1930s Spanish-language films 1930s American films