Set in 1930 (not that you'd know it from the clothes and women's hairstyles) and in a never-never world of casual opulence, racing drivers and bullfighters. This breathtakingly wordy and pretentious movie - as it's excessive reliance on narration emphasises - is a triumph of production values in rich Technicolor that provides a sumptuous but enervatingly pompous two hours in which to wallow before returning to the mundane cares of real life.
All-American gal Ava Gardner would plainly never in reality sacrifice herself even for a hunk as brooding & soulful as James Mason (and it's worth remembering that when she made this she already had two husbands behind her, starting with Mickey Rooney; the bullfighters came later).
All-American gal Ava Gardner would plainly never in reality sacrifice herself even for a hunk as brooding & soulful as James Mason (and it's worth remembering that when she made this she already had two husbands behind her, starting with Mickey Rooney; the bullfighters came later).