I give this film a lot of kudos for tackling the subject of Spanish conquistadors. Very few films, apart from AGUIRRE: THE WRATH OF GOD and a few more recent films about Columbus, have studios even bothered to talk about this very historically significant period. And it's also obvious that the writers/director/producers have really done a thorough job of investigating the era and reading the journals of these men to ensure accuracy. However, despite all this the film is a tad dull--and that's a lot considering I am a history teacher. It just seemed to me they could have included a little bit of humor or humanity to make the characters seem a little less flat. No, I do NOT want the Spaniards cracking jokes while pillaging and murdering, but something to give some color and depth to the picture would have helped elevate it to greatness.

No actor ever played the romantic hero better than Tyrone Power. After his service in the Marines in World War II, Darryl Zanuck envisioned this epic as the film that would bring Power back to the top of the Hollywood heap. It's grand entertainment, Ty Power with his favorite director, Henry King and ably supported by a great cast.

Two actors are standouts among the supporting cast. If I had to choose one of the slimiest villains ever to be portrayed on the screen, my choice would be John Sutton as Diego DeSilva, the representative of the Inquisition. There's a slight resemblance to Heinrich Himmler and I Don't think it's an accident. Also remember that the House Un=American Activities Committee was about to commence its hearings. DeSilva uses his office in the Inquisition to further his ambitions and settle personal disputes in the same way that a lot of right-wing politicians misused anti-Communism to further their ambitions.

Also outstanding is Jay Silverheels and one should see this film to appreciate the fact that he did a lot more than play Tonto. Their is a key scene with Tyrone Power in which he asks him about why he's over in the new world trying to tell his people how to live. The Aztecs weren't over in Spain trying to force their religion on the Spaniards. Power can't really answer him. Seen from the 21st Century, neither could anyone else.

Ironically Lee J. Cobb who in this film is a victim of the Inquisition later becomes a friendly witness for HUAC. But that's a story for his page on the IMDb movie base.

Good entertainment with a powerful moral message, a prelude to the excesses of the McCarthy era.

In the spring of 1518, in Spain, the nobleman Pedro de Vargas (Tyrone Power) helps the Indian slave and his friend Coatl (Jay Silverheels) to escape from the cruel Diego de Silva (John Sutton) and then he rescues the plebeian Catana Perez (Jean Peters) from two men of Diego de Silva. He goes to the inn where Catana works to explain why the sheets are torn up, and Pedro befriends Juan Garcia (Lee J. Cobb),a simple man that made fortune in Cuba.

When he comes home, Pedro finds that Diego de Silva has used his political influence to accuse Pedro and his family of heretics and they are imprisoned. Diego's executioners torture and kill Pedro's twelve years old sister but Juan Garcia and Catana help Pedro and his the family to escape from prison: Pedro's parents go to Italy and Pedro, Juan and Catana go to Cuba and join Cortez' expedition to Mexico. They participate of the fall of the Aztec Empire in the beginning of the Spanish colonization of the New World.

"Captain from Castile" is a melodramatic and romantic epic adventure having the historic conquest of Mexico by Hernando Cortez as background. Tyrone Power is excellent in the role of a Spaniard nobleman that joins the first expedition of Cortez to Mexico and is promoted to captain for his loyalty and efficiency. Jean Peters is amazingly beautiful and John Sutton is a great villain. The story is politically incorrect in the present days but is accurate and a great entertainment. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "O Capitão de Castela" ("The Captain from Castile")