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The Singer Not the Song

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Director
  
Music director
  
Duration
  

Language
  
English

6.2/10
IMDb

Genre
  
Drama, Western

Screenplay
  
Country
  
United Kingdom

The Singer Not the Song movie poster

Release date
  
5 January 1961 (1961-01-05) (UK)13 October 1961 (1961-10-13) (AUS)2 May 1962 (1962-05-02) (US)

Based on
  
The Singer Not the Song by Audrey Erskine-Lindop

Writer
  
Audrey Erskine-Lindop (novel), Nigel Balchin (screenplay)

Initial release
  
January 5, 1961 (United Kingdom)

Cast
  
(Anacleto Comachi), (Father Michael Keogh), (Locha de Cortinez), (Old Uncle), (Police Captain), (Father Gomez)

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The Sessions
,
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,
Verfehlung
,
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,
The Spikes Gang

The Singer Not the Song is a 1961 British drama film based on the 1953 novel by Audrey Erskine-Lindop that was directed by Roy Ward Baker and filmed in Spain.

Contents

The Singer Not the Song wwwgstaticcomtvthumbmovieposters50402p50402

Plot

The Singer Not the Song The Singer Not the Song Wikipedia

A priest, Father Michael Keogh (John Mills), is sent by Rome to Quantana, a remote Mexican town which is under the control of a ruthless bandit, Anacleto Komachi (Dirk Bogarde). Anacleto is educated and intelligent, and is "down" on the Church, but he finds in Keogh a man he strangely admires and with whom he can have intelligent conversation. However, he does not allow this to distract him from his goal: to expunge the priest from his fiefdom at any cost.

Overview

The Singer Not the Song Dirk Bogarde The Singer Not the Song 1961

The film is, first and foremost, a story of good versus evil, with the priest in the role of a redeemer who comes to save the villagers, and the bandito as the devil incarnate intent on owning their souls. Each seeks to drive the other out.

The Singer Not the Song Dirk Bogarde The Singer Not the Song 1961

The character of Anacleto is intriguing in that he shows the willingness to become a better person, yet underlying he sees the corruption and hypocrisy in the Church and on those grounds, rather than on evil ones, he cannot bring himself to embrace it. Meanwhile the Church has, since the film was made, revealed to an even more disturbing degree the scandals and outrages over which it has presided and which have occurred within it, rendering more subtle and intriguing the contrast between the two men, whose mutual struggle to drive each other out ends as we might expect—neither wins.

Main cast

The Singer Not the Song Dirk Bogarde The Singer Not the Song 1961

  • Dirk Bogarde as Anacleto Comachi
  • John Mills as Father Michael Keogh
  • Mylène Demongeot as Locha de Cortinez
  • Laurence Naismith as Old Uncle
  • John Bentley as Police Captain
  • Leslie French as Father Gomez
  • Eric Pohlmann as Presidente
  • Nyall Florenz as Vito
  • Roger Delgado as Pedro de Cortinez
  • Philip Gilbert as Phil Brown
  • Selma Vaz Dias as Chela
  • Laurence Payne as Pablo
  • Production

    The Singer Not the Song Discovering Dirk Bogarde The Singer Not the Song 1961

    Leo Genn bought the rights to the novel in 1954 to allow him to play the bandit.

    The Singer Not the Song The Singer Not the Song Nothing is Written

    Roy Ward Baker was forced to direct the film under his contract with Rank. He tried to get out of it by suggesting Luis Buñuel as director but was unsuccessful.

    Richard Burton was going to star in the film at one stage.

    When the Rank Organisation insisted that John Mills play the priest, Dirk Bogarde became so incensed that he told director Roy Ward Baker, "I promise you, if Johnny plays the priest I will make life unbearable for everyone concerned". The film failed at the box office, but has since developed a cult following due to its camp homosexual context and over the top performance by the black clad leather pants worn by Bogarde.

    Even though the story takes place in Mexico, the film was actually made in Alhaurín de la Torre, in Andalusia, Spain.

    References

    The Singer Not the Song Wikipedia
    The Singer Not the Song IMDb The Singer Not the Song themoviedb.org