Christopher Columbus: The Discovery * (1992, Marlon Brando, Tom Selleck, Georges Corraface, Rachel Ward) – Classic Movie Review 5874

It was made to celebrate the 500th anniversary of Columbus’s discovery of America in 1492, but the discovery here is, unfortunately, that director John Glen’s 1992 movie is a turkey.

It is afflicted by a lack of everything that would make it a success and a surfeit of a number of things that would make it a failure. It is an incredibly old-fashioned family adventure film, except that in the old days they knew how to make these kinds of films.

The three main big name stars, Marlon Brando as Tomas de Torquemada, head of the Spanish Inquisition, Tom Selleck as King Ferdinand of Spain, and Rachel Ward as Queen Isabella have about only 10 minutes’ screen time, and they manage to be very bad indeed, perhaps understandably, though not forgiveably, overacting in underwritten roles. Selleck won the 1993 Razzie Award as Worst Supporting Actor.

George Corraface properly has most of the movie to himself as the titular Genoese navigator Columbus, though he is not billed first. He is fairly dashing and holds the thing together, doing what he can with a one-dimensional role, and only a series of historical events but not a satisfying, properly developed story or complex characterisation to build on.

Mario Puzo’s story is virtually non-existent, and what is there every schoolchild knows – Columbus battles court intrigue, Isabella finances Columbus, Torquemada wants to torture him, but Columbus sails the Atlantic to the East Indies.

Unluckily, because it is a family friendly movie, there is no sex and no violence to add some spice and excitement, only a Disneyfied pantomime fantasy of an exciting journey, without reality, danger or disease. All that and terrible dubbing and editing too.

Also in the cast are Robert Davi, Catherine Zeta Jones, Oliver Cotton, Nigel Terry, Benicio Del Toro, Mathieu Carrière, Peter Guinness and Steven Hartley.

The screenplay is written by John Briley, Cary Bates and Mario Puzo, from a story by Puzo.

It is shot in Technicolor by Alec Mills and Arthur Wooster, produced by Alexander Salkind and Ilya Salkind, scored by Cliff Eidelman and designed by Gil Parrondo.

It cost $40,000,000 and took only $8,250,000 in the US..

The story is spoofed in the concurrent Carry on Columbus (1992).

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 5874

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com