Reviews of Viva Villa (1934)

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Articles refer to the scene where Fay Wray's character is whipped while she laughs and claim that it was edited because of the newly enforced Production Code in July 1934. This is not accurate. In the 1960s, on either New York channel WNEW 5 or WCBS 2, that scene was shown regularly whenever "Viva Villa" was aired. There was also an additional scene showing Leo Carillo's character lining up 3 federal troops at a time, front to back, and shooting them with one bullet to save ammunition. Both scenes are edited out from the Turner Classics print, but they do exist and thus allow for the possibility of the film eventually being restored.

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Wallace Beery stars in this surprisingly raw, graphically violent (and yet, somehow somewhat sentimentalized) Hollywood version of the life of Pancho Villa, one of the leaders of the Mexican Revolution. Character actor Leo Carillo, infamous as a latino Uncle Tom for his portrayal as Pancho in the "Ceesco Keed" series, here costars as Sierra, Villa's blandly sadistic lieutenant, and Faye Wray appears as an aristocratic lady who catches Villa's fancy. Ben Hecht's sharp, no-nonsense script is politically left-leaning, and while it takes liberties with its depictation of Villa as a brutish lout with a heart of gold, Beery's performance sheds unexpected nuance... Basically, he's transposing his loveable-mug boxer persona onto the Mexican landscape, but in a weird way, it almost works. Apparently this film had a stop-and-start shooting history, with three directors (Howard Hawks and William Wellman worked on it, but didn't wind up in the final credits) and some extensive recasting as well; James Wong Howe provides some typically fine B&W cinematography. A dynamic classic old film, with a relatively sympathetic presentation of the Latin American peasantry... Worth checking out, even though the racial aspects of the film are at times dubious.

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Big-budget MGM hokum made palatable by Wallace Beery's outrageously hammy Pancho Villa and vigorous action sequences. A pity that Howard Hawks was unable to complete this troubled production (Jack Conway received director credit). Replacing Lee Tracy with the comical Stuart Erwin didn't help matters. Donald Cook, on the other hand, ranks among the stiffest actors in movie history. Special praise must be given to the striking cinematography of Charles G. Clarke and James Wong Howe. "Viva Villa!" (1934) is a spectacular mess factually distorted, choppily edited and mostly entertaining.

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Classic film long,long,overdue on DVD.Wallace Berry steals the show as Villa.

They keep putting out Casablanca(Saying nothing against this great film,but how many more times to they want us to buy it?)and never put Viva Villa,Streets Of Loredo,The Web,Sleep My Love,etc on US DVDs.I dont understand it at all.

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This film purporting to be an historical drama of Villa's exploits is often more like a comic operetta. The script by Ben Hecht is often nose-thumbing and satirical and the film often debunks Villa as a child-like, egotistical and lecherous bandit (a bravura and quite amusing performance by Beery). His blood-thirsty side-kick (Leo Carillo) is straight caricature. As a rip-roaring entertainment Viva Villa fits the bill quite nicely, for historical accuracy and fairness--look elsewhere. Interesting foot-note: The American journalist was supposed to have been played by Lee Tracy. Mr Tracy while in Mexico and soused to the gills answered Mother Nature's call from his balcony and provided a parade that was marching underneath with quite a shower. MGM, understandably replaced him with Stuart Erwin. 3 1/2 stars.