| The Gay Desperado | |
|---|---|
 Film still with Nino Martini for film | |
| Directed by | Rouben Mamoulian |
| Written by | Wallace Smith (screenplay) Leo Birinsky (story) |
| Produced by | Mary Pickford Jesse L. Lasky |
| Starring | Ida Lupino Leo Carrillo Nino Martini |
| Cinematography | Lucien Andriot |
| Distributed by | United Artists Milestone Pictures (2006 DVD release) |
Release date |
|
Running time | 86 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
The Gay Desperado is a 1936 American comedy film starring Ida Lupino, Leo Carrillo, and Nino Martini and directed by Rouben Mamoulian, produced by Mary Pickford, and originally released by United Artists. The film was restored by the UCLA Film and Television Archive and the Mary Pickford Foundation, and released on DVD in 2006 by Milestone Pictures after being out of distribution for many years.
Portions of the film were shot in Tucson, Arizona and show the old adobe quarter Barrio Viejo of the City and Mission San Xavier Del Bac.
Chivo (Nino Martini), a singer who works in a movie theater providing live entertainment, is apprehended by a music-loving Mexican bandit Pablo Braganza (Leo Carrillo) who wants to make Chivo part of his band. Braganza, who admires American gangsters, also kidnaps Jane and her rich boyfriend Bill to become more like the American movie gangsters he admires.
Writing for The Spectator in 1936, Graham Greene gave the film a good review, describing it as "one of the best light comedies of the year". Greene asserts that "Mr. Mamoulian's camera is very persuasive" and together with the film's "careful compositions" and the overall intent of the film he summarizes the film as having "a framework of fine and mannered prose".[1]
