The Pride and the Passion

Plot

During the Peninsular War, Napoleon's armies overrun Spain. An enormous siege cannon, belonging to the Spanish army, is abandoned when it slows down the army's retreat. French cavalrymen are dispatched to find it.

Britain, Spain's ally, sends Royal Navy artillery officer, Captain Anthony Trumbull (Grant) to find the huge cannon and see that it is handed over to British forces before it can be retrieved by the French. However, when Trumbull arrives at the Spanish headquarters, he finds that it has been evacuated and is now occupied by a guerrilla band led by the French-hating Miguel (Sinatra). Miguel shows Trumbull the abandoned cannon's location down a steep ravine. He says he will only help move the huge gun if it is first used against the fortified walls of Ávila, which Miguel is obsessed with capturing. During their association, the two men grow to dislike one another. One cause of their enmity is Miguel's woman Juana (Loren), who has fallen in love with Trumbull.

Meanwhile, sadistic General Jouvet (Bikel), the French commander in Ávila, orders the execution of all Spaniards who do not surrender information of the cannon's whereabouts. The cannon has, in fact, undergone an arduous journey in the direction of Ávila.

The guerrilla band, whose ranks have swelled considerably, almost lose the cannon when General Jouvet deploys artillery near a mountain pass that they must use to get to Ávila. With help from the local populace, the band gets the cannon through, despite heavy losses, although it rolls down a long hillside and is damaged, becoming partially dismounted from its carriage.

The cannon is moved and hidden in a cathedral while it is repaired. Afterwards it is disguised as an ornamental processional platform during a Catholic religious celebration to move it past the occupying French. French officers, however, are informed about the cannon's cathedral location, but by the time they arrive, it has been repaired and moved, leaving no trace that it was ever there.

When the cannon finally arrives at the guerrillas' camp on the plains outside Ávila, Trumbull and Miguel prepare to attack the city. However, Ávila is defended by strong walls, eighty cannon and a garrison of French troops. Trumbull explains to the assembled guerilla force that half their number will be killed by various types of French artillery shot and grouped rifle fire during the assault wave. Later, he tries to convince Juana not to participate in the battle, but, the next day, she goes with the men.

Trumbell repeatedly fires the huge cannon, its 96-pound solid shot, weighing 9000 pounds upon impact, slowly demolishes Ávila's southern wall. Despite suffering heavy losses, including both Miguel and Juana, the guerrillas charge through the city's breached wall and overwhelm the French forces. General Jouvet is killed, and the last French troops are overrun in the town square. After the battle, Trumbull places Miguel's body at the foot of the statue of Ávila's patron saint. Having secured the heavy cannon for its long trip to England, he leaves with troubling memories of his adventures across Spain.

Troubled production

The film was shot on location in Spain amid persistent rumors that Frank Sinatra only took a part in the film to be near his wife Ava Gardner. During this time, the couple were having marital problems. She was to be away from Sinatra for her role in The Sun Also Rises (1957), which was shooting in various locales around Europe, including Spain. When there was to be no reconciliation, Sinatra hurriedly left the production, asking director Stanley Kramer to condense all of his scenes into as brief as possible shooting schedule; Kramer obliged. Conversely, Cary Grant was happy to be away from his troubled marriage to Betsy Drake.

Despite the film's problems, Kramer was nominated by the Directors Guild of America for Outstanding Directorial Achievement.

On 14 March 2011, BBC Radio 4's Afternoon Play broadcast The Gun Goes to Hollywood by Mike Walker, imagining the behind-the-scenes of the Kramer production, including Sinatra's leaving the production early and Grant falling in love with co-star Loren. This was staged from the viewpoint of script doctor Earl Felton, who had been drafted to save the day. The play was directed by Kate McAll, and the cast included Steven Weber as Earl Felton, Greg Itzin as Cary Grant, Kate Steele as Sophia Loren, Jonathan Silverman as Frank Sinatra, and Jonathan Getz as Stanley Kramer.

The cannon appears to have been based on the Jaivana Cannon, a real prototype from Jaipur, India, one of the largest cannons ever constructed.

Box office and critical reception

Opening to mixed reviews on July 10, 1957, The Pride and The Passion was successful, spurred by the popularity of the leading actors. With box office rentals of $4.7 million from a gross of $8.75 million, it was one of the 20 highest-grossing films of 1957. The film's high production cost, however, proved to be the key factor in the film losing $2.5 million.

Variety praised the film's production values, saying "Top credit must go to the production. The panoramic, long-range views of the marching and terribly burdened army, the painful fight to keep the gun mobile through ravine and over waterway - these are major pluses". Author Ephraim Katz, on the other hand, described it as "overblown empty epic nonsense".

Comic book adaption