Copyright 1955 by 20th Century-Fox Film Corp. New York opening at the Roxy: 7 October 1955. U.S. release: September 1955. U.K. release: December 1955. Australian release: 31 May 1956. 9,243 feet. 103 minutes.SYNOPSIS: A Spanish land and sea expedition is formed in Mexico City in 1769 to make haste to claim the territory of California for Spain and to locate the fabled Seven Cities of Gold. Captain Gaspar Portola (Anthony Quinn) and his lieutenant, Jose Mendoza (Richard Egan), rough and arrogant leaders of the land force, are angered at the assignment of a lame padre, Father Junipero Serra (Michael Rennie), to accompany them to found missions in the new land. Though Serra may be a religious, he soon proves to be a match for Portola and Mendoza. COMMENT: This religious film is not suitable for children, but it succeeds with adults despite its second-string cast. Michael Rennie comes off best. Jeffrey Hunter, although unrecognizable, also impresses. Quinn's performance is off-hand, but reasonably convincing. Least credible are Rita Moreno (fortunately, her role is small) and Richard Egan (though he does have his effective moments, particularly at the climax).For once, CinemaScope's width is forcefully used. Both the action and drama often comes across with surprising impact. Indeed CinemaScope, allied with natural locations and Webb's remarkably vigorous direction, gets considerable mileage and impact out of the emotionally moving Breen and Higgins script. Indeed, this one of Hollywood's few fully successful excursions into the realm of Christian religion.OTHER VIEWS: A spoken prologue assures us that the events of the story are, in essentials, those of history; and for once, what follows does occasionally seem to justify the claim. The failure of the expedition to achieve its main purpose is a circumstance that encourages belief. - J.W.

The film ends with Franciscan Father Serra(Michael Rennie) ringing a set of bells that has just arrived from the awaited San Antonio, thus negating the planned abandonment of the primitive initial Spanish settlement in Upper California, at San Diego, due to lack of supplies and reinforcements. He's ringing them for joy and as a demonstration of their hoped for use in calling converted Native Americans(NAs) to prayer. However, they might have been rung to commemorate all those Spaniards who died in this initial expedition into the unknown of Upper California, and to all those NAs in CA who would die from introduced diseases and mistreatment by the Spanish, and to those Spanish who would die at the hands of those many NAs in this region who wanted the Spanish to leave.I hate the title and the implication that this expedition was mostly about looking for gold to steal from the CA natives. Historically, it was motivated by the fear of King Carlos III that some other European power would soon claim this territory before the Spanish got around to establishing some sort of presence there. The 'Seven Cities of Gold' was, of course, a fable, originating from NAs 2 centuries before, that Coronado wasted his time chasing. Of course, the present expedition was an equal failure in this respect. The opening narration suggests that this film is also the story of the Spanish 'conquest' of CA. Again, it's not. It's merely the story of the founding of the first Spanish mission in Upper CA, which would be burned to the ground within a year by NAs, to be rebuilt.The character Captain Portola(Anthony Quinn), Father Serra, and Graves, are based on those historical persons who were most instrumental in planning and executing this venture. The incident where Portola initially meets Serra in a village, and offers a declined invitation to ride to Mexico City, is based on the historical Serra insisting on walking from Vera Cruz to Mexico city, upon his arrival from Spain. As dramatized, he also walked the whole way on the present expedition. His long-term limp and problem with a snake bite-infected leg is historically true, as is the episode in which it much improved after a muleteer used his traditional treatment for mule leg wounds. Serra and others did stay at the hastily built mission at San Diego Bay, while Portola took the others northward, with the idea of establishing another mission in Monterrey Bay. He didn't find this bay, historically, because of heavy fog, continued north , and made the much more significant discovery of San Francisco Bay. Strangely, this discovery isn't acknowledged in the film until the very end!The main character of Jose Mendoza(Richard Egan), as Portola's second in command, is fictional, seemingly serving mainly to take part in the tragic incident with the NA princess Ula(Rita Moreno). This reminds me of the incident in 'Hudson Bay', in which Radisson orders the execution of a member of the British royal family, who broke his rule against providing the NAs with liquor, resulting in the death of one. The difference is that Mendoza volunteers his punishment by the Native Americans, who tear his heart out, in Aztec fashion. Or perhaps the idea was that his 'crime' involved matters of the 'heart'. The way it's presented, Ula would seem the more guilty one, as the clear instigator of a marriage proposal with the objecting Mendoza. Nonetheless, her tribe doesn't see it that way, so Mendoza has to 'bite the bullet' to avoid a massacre. Odd that Egan is given first billing, when his character is clearly much less important than those of Quinn and Rennie, and he hardly makes a convincing-looking Spaniard! There's the strange episode where Serra wanders off to examine some plants, and Mendoza comes looking for him. They get lost in a sand storm after scaring off some NAs, then see a cabin and enter to find a man, woman and young child. They fall asleep and awake out in the bush after the storm. Mendosa reports this as a dream. But Serra says it wasn't a dream, implying it was a miracle....Previously, Serra seemingly saved the expedition by merely offering strings of beads to a hostile group of NAs: another apparent miracle. I guess the point is that, through Serra's faith, God will insure the success of this mission.Just before the expedition began, Serra gives a speech in which he predicts that the soldiers will try to steal the gold and other valuables of the NAs, then kill or enslave them to further enrich themselves, as past expeditions of this sort had often done. In fact, many of the missions Serra founded would decimate the NAs through disease dissemination and often render them virtual slaves. The change in policy of the new Spanish king from supporting the Jesuits as the advance guard of Spanish culture in northern Mexico and California, to replacing them with Franciscans and military-civilian colonists spelled the death knell for the many NA tribes in CA. The screenplay makes no mention of this critical change in Spanish policy.Not available on DVD, I caught it on the Fox channel. Filmed in cinemascope, mostly in Mexico.

Although coming from a different stable (Twentieth Century Fox as opposed to Universal), this historical epic is in the same vein as the contemporaneous KISS OF FIRE (released just a fortnight after this one and my review of which can be accessed elsewhere) but emerges a decidedly more satisfactory movie. For one thing, to the common Spaniards vs. Indians scenario this adds both mythical and mystical elements that render the mixture a thought-provoking one. The former is represented by the ultimately fruitless search for the legendary titular golden kingdoms while the latter applies to Michael Rennie's fine portrayal of crippled but single-minded Jesuit missionary, Fr. Junipero Serra – a real-life figure who was recently beatified by The Vatican and is on his way to becoming a saint! Despite boasting a notable cast and being a major Hollywood studio 'A' production, this offbeat and worthwhile adventure seems to have literally fallen through the cracks of time because, 14 years into the format, there is still no sign of it ever getting released as a legitimate Widescreen DVD nor, apparently, has it ever been shown on the "Fox Movie Channel" because the copy I landed was sourced from a serviceable but washed-out pan-and-scan VHS! This state of events does not do justice to Lucien Ballard's De Luxe cinematography but, on the other hand, neither exactly does the pedestrian direction from Robert D. Webb – also a previous winner of the Best Assistant Director Oscar for IN OLD CHICAGO (1937) – to its colorful subject; nowhere is this more evident than during a fanciful and thoroughly unexpected sequence (a Bunuelian moment if ever I saw one!) in which The Holy Family unaccountably offer hospitality to Rennie and Richard Egan when they are dispersed in a desert storm! That the film still remains a superior product (despite bogging down somewhat during the indigenous scenes) is down to the cast: apart from Rennie's monk, as already mentioned, there is top-billed Egan as the hot-headed but, ultimately, self-sacrificing lieutenant of the Spanish conquistador heading the expedition led by Anthony Quinn; the latter, then, is remarkably restrained but undeniably commanding, and well on his way to acquiring star status for himself (which he had mostly enjoyed abroad up to that time!), and also on hand are Jeffrey Hunter (making a belated entry – completely covered in paint, and wigged- out, at that! – as the new Indian chief) and Rita Moreno (as Hunter's sister and Egan's tragic love interest). Incidentally, not only had director Webb already worked with Hunter on a fine Western WHITE FEATHER (1955; where he also portrayed an Indian!) and would soon do so again on the even better THE PROUD ONES (1956)...but, given this film's religious overtones, it is telling that all 4 leads here had been or would subsequently be involved in Biblical epics! Interestingly, Edward Dmytryk was originally announced as director on this one with Cameron Mitchell in the lead; besides, the actual crew members included assistant cameraman Jorge Stahl Jr. (he would be Luis Bunuel's cinematographer on his delightful jungle adventure DEATH IN THE GARDEN the following year) and co-director(!) Rene' Cardona (best-known as the prolific exploitation film-maker behind such infamous fare as SANTA CLAUS {1959} and NIGHT OF THE BLOODY APES {1969})!

Done on grand scale, this is the tale of Father Junipero Serra and the founding of the California Missions, in particular, the first at San Diego. Rennie, Quinn, and Egan turn in good performances and the story moves along quite well, even though history is played with fast and loose in this treatment. Of particular interest is the style and treatment of the Indians encountered by the mercenaries and the priest-there is much more realism than most films of this era. The action scenes are done well and the obvious, but inevitable conclusion makes the point. A good watch.