Hot Blood (1956) User Reviews (9)

Will Cornel accept his destiny?

[bkoganbing · 5/10 · 27 January 2013]

What should have been an interesting film had they played it more dramatically turns into an also ran in Hot Blood. Some how it just doesn't quite gel on the screen. Neither do Cornel Wilde and Jane Russell gel either.

The real star here is Luther Adler who is Wilde's older brother and King of the local gypsy tribe in Los Angeles. But undisclosed health reasons are forcing an abdication on the king. He wants very much to move his younger brother Cornel Wilde into the throne.

But Wilde isn't having any, he's having too much of a good time as a part time dance instructor and full time hell-raiser. What Adler decides is he needs a good woman.

Enter Jane Russell who Wilde buys as a gypsy bride from her father Joseph Calleia. Would you believe that someone would have to be tricked into marrying Jane Russell? Sad, but true and Wilde is the unlucky patsy who's the mark in one of the great gypsy con games.

I think Nicholas Ray might have succeeded with this film had it been treated more dramatically. A few numbers for Jane Russell never hurt in films like His Kind Of Woman, but there was too much emphasis here. And doubles were obviously used in the dancing for Wilde and Russell.

This had the potential to be a lot better, but fans of the two stars will enjoy. And Luther Adler is just great in his part.

not my favorite J. Russell film

[ksf-2 · 5/10 · 26 May 2020]

Jane Russell in one they NEVER show.... Hot Blood. Russell is Annie Caldash, who tricks Stephano ( Cornell Wilde) into marriage. things are NOT off to a good start. some pretty offensive stuff going on, by todays' standards. and keep an eye out for Richard Deacon, who may or may not hire Stephano. Deacon was "Mel" in the Dick van Dyke show. Some scenes just go on way too long. The "whip scene" goes on and on. and the tap dancing on the sidewalk (really!) goes on too long. Steve leaves. but will he come back? family interactions. respect for the family and parents. trickery. arranged marriages. Directed by Nicholas Ray, who had made some incredible films! Ray was nominated for "Rebel", but didn't win. Russell only made 33 films, but this wasn't her best film. i recommend Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, which she had made a couple years before.

With A Title like HOT BLOOD One Expects Some Sizzle!

[museumofdave · 6/10 · 24 June 2021]

The problem with the film is that it is a mess. Some excellent preparations have been made to effect some drama--Luther Adler, one of the giants in method acting, has been hired as the brother of the local hothead, played by Cornel Wilde, who, during the early moments of the film, is swindled into latching up with Jane Russell--no doubt remembering the ads for her in The Outlaw--"How would you like to tussle with Russell?" For reasons largely inexplicable, Cornell would rather pout than pounce, and even through there are some ravishing colors splashed across the screen, and some attempt at capturing ersatz Gypsy life, the plot is a muddle and most importantly, there seems to be no sizzle at all between the leads. If you recall Russell with Robert Mitchum in Macao--well, that's sizzle.

This one's a cold poker in the ice bucket; it's as if the director left the building, and the actors, cast adrift in bangles and beads, attempts vainly to inject some life into a haphazard script.

Tangled up in red

[dbdumonteil · 3 May 2008]

After a hat trick ,after three films ,two of which are absolute classics "Rebel without a cause" and "Johnny Guitar" and another one which was largely and unfairly ignored ,the poetic western "run for cover",all that Nicholas Ray would do would be necessarily a disappointment .I must confess "Hot Blood" failed to excite me.

There 's one of Ray 's permanent features :the old character ,feeling that his days are numbered ,who is in search of someone younger to take over from him:that was the subject of his wonderful "lusty men" or of "run for cover" .

The problem is that it's very difficult to believe these people are gypsies:the music does not sound "gyspsy" at all,being closer to musicals ,but no tune is particularly memorable.A gypsy called... Annie? The scene when Russell read her rival's cards could have been very funny,had her lines been a bit more subtle.

Cornel Wilde and Jane Russell are attractive actors but there's no real chemistry between them.Cause he's been forced to get married against his will (the scene when Wilde realizes he's been had is the best),Stephano refuses to consummate the wedding but the girl is not prepared to accept it.But he does not know his brother suffers from TB.

The colors are gaudy ,with red as the predominant color.But it's a far cry from "Johnny Guitar" filmed in "Trucolor" (sic).

"Hot blood" is a faux pas in Ray's brilliant career: its follow-up ,"Bigger than life" showed the director at the top of his game again.

Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves.

[mark.waltz · 4/10 · 26 December 2012]

Everybody's looking for the Big Bajour, but what they end up finding is love, sweet love. In this laughable movie about American gypsies, Jane Russell is an independent gypsy, working from town to town to sign contracts to marry a gypsy prince, swipe the dowry & skip town. But when she does that with gypsy prince Cornel Wilde's heir apparent brother (Luther Adler), she plays the bajour (swindle) on Wilde himself, having decided that he will be better as a husband than as a victim. Having gone along with the scam since he had no love lost for his brother, Wilde is furious over this trapped marriage and vows not to honor his vows. Russell vows to get him come hell or high water, and being the hot-blooded gypsy girl she is, gives him a wedding night he won't soon forget, the kind that usually ends up with some interior decorator making a heck of a commission.

Russell and Wilde make one heck of a couple, but it is clear that they are about a decade too old for their parts. Adler is perfectly cast as the older brother and easily wins the acting honors. This is a strange assignment for director Nicholas Ray, being a semi-musical with little plot beyond some catfights, a few flaccid songs and a wedding night whip number that creates a lot of heat for the well paired leads. The massively red color photography is eye-catching, but the entire gypsy atmosphere seems truly forced. The only thing missing is Maria Ouspenskaya giving her werewolf lesson and the view of Dracula's castle in the background.

Nothing to recommend it

[drjgardner · 3/10 · 29 April 2020]

There is a lot of talent here, but it doesn't show. Perhaps the biggest problem is the Hollywood treatment of gypsies which is so ludicrous this might be mistaken for a satire. Don't waste your time,

Unbelievably bad...not even fun as camp

[css-89951 · 1/10 · 1 May 2020]

Unbelievable that director Nicholas Ray is attached to this turkey. Even Russell and Wilde look embarrassed. The technicolor is vibrant, but the whole enterprise looks cheap.

Gipsies story

[Kirpianuscus · 16 May 2021]

It seems a film made for actors , the story remaining a pretext for songs, dance, fight and for a fake exploration of Gipsies life style. But , after decades, knowing the admirable titles from Nicholas Ray filmography, admiring Jane Russell and Cornelius Wilde careers, it is easy to be more than indulgent, especially if you do not ignore the nostalgia about old movies. So, in large perspective, decent.

Immerses you in crudely passionate expressiveness

[philosopherjack · 8 May 2020]

I couldn't say whether the portrayal of the "gypsy" community in Nicholas Ray's Hot Blood is even remotely accurate, but it seems now like a near-fever dream of otherness: a community living within our own, but following its own rules, with its own "king" and economy, mainly interacting with the outside world only to keep the law at bay. The king (Luther Adler) is dying, and determined to bring his brother Stephen (Cornel Wilde) deeper into the fold, primarily by dictating his marriage to Annie (Jane Russell) (organized marriage is a mainstay of the culture). Stephen resists, but the marriage happens anyway, triggering a behavioural dance between the two that resonates against the actual dancing that recurs throughout, swinging between connection and repulsion (Russell, as always, communicates a piercing, self-assured strength, even as her motives are in most respects passive). The film is a series of remarkable widescreen compositions, often teeming with people in every corner of the frame, and you may struggle to recall a film (blood-letting epics aside) that makes such vivid use of primally bright red. Most of it is plainly and exultantly artificial, but there's a remarkable exterior shot outside a trailer dealer, with the road extending to a vanishing point, evoking the suppressed desire for escape. The suppression wins out however: in the last scene, Stephen proposes to Annie for real, winning her immediate acceptance; he carries her off and they're gone from the movie, the individualism of this second coming-together indivisible from their sublimation into the community, and their separation from the world as we know it. The film is too abstract and self-contained to lie among Ray's greatest works - there's little real sense of discovery or exposure to it - but on its own bizarre terms it immerses you in crudely passionate expressiveness.