''Robin Hood of El Dorado'' is a 1936 American
Western film
The Western is a genre set in the American frontier and commonly associated with folk tales of the Western United States, particularly the Southwestern United States, as well as Northern Mexico and Western Canada. It is commonly referred ...
directed by
William A. Wellman
William Augustus Wellman (February 29, 1896 – December 9, 1975) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, actor and military pilot. He was known for his work in crime, adventure, and action genre films, often focusing on avi ...
for
MGM
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...
. It stars
Warner Baxter
Warner Leroy Baxter (March 29, 1889 – May 7, 1951) was an American film actor from the 1910s to the 1940s. Baxter is known for his role as the Cisco Kid in the 1928 film ''In Old Arizona'', for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor at ...
as real-life Mexican folk hero
Joaquin Murrieta
Joaquin Murrieta Carrillo (sometimes spelled Murieta or Murietta) (1829 – July 25, 1853), also called the Robin Hood of the West or the Robin Hood of El Dorado, was a Mexican-American figure of disputed historicity. The novel '' The Life and A ...
and Ann Loring as his love interest, with
Bruce Cabot as Bill Warren and
J. Carrol Naish
Joseph Patrick Carrol Naish (January 21, 1896 – January 24, 1973) was an American actor. He appeared in over 200 credits during the Golden Age of Hollywood.
Naish received two Oscar nominations for his supporting roles in the films '' Sahara ...
as Murrietta's notorious partner, Three-Fingered Jack. The film is based on the life of Murrietta as the
Robin Hood
Robin Hood is a legendary heroic outlaw originally depicted in English folklore and subsequently featured in literature and film. According to legend, he was a highly skilled archer and swordsman. In some versions of the legend, he is depic ...
of Old California in 1850, a kind, gentle man who is driven to violence.
Plot summary
In 1848 in California, Mexican farmer Joaquin Murietta has become a criminal to avenge the rape and murder of his wife Rosita and lynching of his brother Jose at the hands of the Americans.
Cast
*
Warner Baxter
Warner Leroy Baxter (March 29, 1889 – May 7, 1951) was an American film actor from the 1910s to the 1940s. Baxter is known for his role as the Cisco Kid in the 1928 film ''In Old Arizona'', for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor at ...
as Joaquin Murrietta
*Ann Loring as Juanita de la Cuesta
*
Bruce Cabot as Bill Warren
*
Margo *** People
* Margo (actress) (1917–1985), Mexican-American actress and dancer
* Margo (magician), American magic performer and actress
* Margo (singer), Irish singer
* Margo (given name), including a list of people and characters with the name
...
as Rosita
*
J. Carrol Naish
Joseph Patrick Carrol Naish (January 21, 1896 – January 24, 1973) was an American actor. He appeared in over 200 credits during the Golden Age of Hollywood.
Naish received two Oscar nominations for his supporting roles in the films '' Sahara ...
as Three-Fingered Jack
*Soledad Jiménez as Madre Murrietta
*Carlos de Valdez as Jose Murrietta
*
Eric Linden
Eric Linden (September 15, 1909 – July 14, 1994) was an American actor, primarily active during the 1930s.
Early years
Eric Linden was born in New York City to Phillip and Elvira (née Lundborg) Linden, both of Swedish descent. His father ...
as Johnnie Warren
*
Edgar Kennedy
Edgar Livingston Kennedy (April 26, 1890 – November 9, 1948) was an American comedic character actor who appeared in at least 500 films during the silent and sound eras. Professionally, he was known as "Slow Burn", owing to his ability to por ...
as Sheriff Judd
*
Charles Trowbridge
Charles Silas Richard Trowbridge (January 10, 1882 – October 30, 1967) was an American film actor. He appeared in more than 230 films between 1915 and 1958.
Biography
Trowbridge was born in Veracruz, Mexico, where his father served in the ...
as Ramon de la Cuesta
*
Harvey Stevens as Captain Osborne
*Ralph Remley as Judge Perkins
*
George Regas
George Thomas Regas (Greek: Γεώργιος Θωμάς Ρεγάκος; November 9, 1890 – December 13, 1940) was a Greek American actor.
Biography
Regis was born in the village of Goranoi near Sparta, Greece, the brother of actor Pedro Regas ...
as Tomas
*
Harry Woods as Pete
*
Francis McDonald
Francis McDonald (August 22, 1891 – September 18, 1968) was an American actor whose career spanned 52 years.
Early years
Born on August 22, 1891, in Bowling Green, Kentucky, McDonald was the son of John Francis McDonald and Catherine Ashlu ...
as Pedro the Spy
*
Kay Hughes
Kay Hughes (born Catherine Mary Hughes; January 16, 1914 – April 4, 1998) was an American actress in the 1930s and 1940s who appeared mainly in Western films and serials.
Biography
Hughes was born in Los Angeles, California. When she was a ...
as Louise
*
Paul Hurst
Paul Michael Hurst (born 25 September 1974) is an English football manager and former player who is the manager of club Grimsby Town.
As a player, he was a defender from 1993 to 2008, notably playing his entire career at Rotherham United, b ...
as Wilson
*Boothe Howard as Tablard
Notes
The screenplay was written by the actor
Joseph Calleia
Joseph Calleia ( ; born Joseph Alexander Caesar Herstall Vincent Calleja, August 4, 1897 – October 31, 1975) was a Maltese-born American actor and singer on the stage and in films, radio and television.
After serving in the British Transport ...
, Melvin Levy and
William A. Wellman
William Augustus Wellman (February 29, 1896 – December 9, 1975) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, actor and military pilot. He was known for his work in crime, adventure, and action genre films, often focusing on avi ...
, with assistance by
Robert Carson. In 1937, Wellman and Carson won an
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
for Best Screenplay for ''
A Star Is Born''. ''The Robin Hood of El Dorado'' was based on the biography of
Joaquin Murrieta
Joaquin Murrieta Carrillo (sometimes spelled Murieta or Murietta) (1829 – July 25, 1853), also called the Robin Hood of the West or the Robin Hood of El Dorado, was a Mexican-American figure of disputed historicity. The novel '' The Life and A ...
by
Walter Noble Burns and was MGM's attempt to follow ''
Viva Villa!
''Viva Villa!'' is a 1934 American pre-Code film directed by Jack Conway and starring Wallace Beery as Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa. The screenplay was written by Ben Hecht, adapted from the 1933 book ''Viva Villa!'' by Edgecumb Pinchon an ...
''.
Film historian
Frank T. Thompson writes that "Wellman made a stronger statement on the subject of racism than a whole spate of later films (like ''
Gentleman's Agreement
A gentlemen's agreement, or gentleman's agreement, is an informal and legally non-binding agreement between two or more parties. It is typically oral, but it may be written or simply understood as part of an unspoken agreement by convention or th ...
'')."
''The Robin Hood of El Dorado'' also anticipates the revisionist westerns of the 1960s, especially ''
The Wild Bunch
''The Wild Bunch'' is a 1969 American epic Revisionist Western film directed by Sam Peckinpah and starring William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Robert Ryan, Edmond O'Brien, Ben Johnson and Warren Oates. The plot concerns an aging outlaw gang on th ...
'' (1969), directed by
Sam Peckinpah
David Samuel Peckinpah (; February 21, 1925 – December 28, 1984) was an American film director and screenwriter. His 1969 Western epic ''The Wild Bunch'' received an Academy Award nomination and was ranked No. 80 on the American Film Institute ...
. Both films mix violence and sentimentality with an undercurrent of regret for a vanishing way of life. The Mexican folk song "
La golondrina''"'' is used to similar effect.
Art director
David Townsend was killed in a car accident while scouting locations for the film.
[''Los Angeles Times'', August 6, 1935, "Crash Kills Film Expert, David Townsend, Art Aide, Dead and Three Injured as Car Falls in Canyon" pg. A2]
Crew
*
David Townsend, art director
*
Dolly Tree
Dolly Tree (17 March 1899 – 17 May 1962) was an English illustrator, actress and costume designer who during the 1930s and 1940s designed dresses for Myrna Loy, Jean Harlow, Rosalind Russell, Maureen O'Sullivan and Judy Garland among others ...
, costume designer
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Robin Hood Of El Dorado
1936 Western (genre) films
1936 films
American black-and-white films
Films directed by William A. Wellman
Films scored by Herbert Stothart
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films
American Western (genre) films
1930s English-language films
1930s American films