Christopher Columbus

Fredric March - Christopher Columbus
Florence Eldridge - Queen Isabella
Francis L. Sullivan - Francisco de Bobadilla
Kathleen Ryan - Beatriz
Derek Bond - Diego de Arana
Nora Swinburne - Joanna de Torres
Abraham Sofaer - Luis de Santangel
Linden Travers - Beatriz de Peraza
James Robertson - Justice Martin Pinzon
Dennis Vance - Francisco Pinzon
Richard Aherne - Vicente Pinzon
Felix Aylmer - Father Perez
Edward Rigby - Pedro
Niall MacGinnis - Juan de la Cosa
Ralph Truman - Captain
Ronald Adam - Talavera

Director David MacDonald’s expensive TechniColour biopic of the famous explorer. Despite fine production values the film is a long and extraordinarily tedious affair that suffers from spending too much time concentrating on matters of court, and was a notable box-office disaster for Rank/Gainsborough.

1485, Christopher Columbus (Fredric March), delayed for years by his attempts to win the patronage of the Spanish court for his expedition, goes in search of Father Perez (Felix Aylmer) to help further his cause. Francisco de Bobadilla (Francis L. Sullivan) has Queen Isabella’s (Florence Eldridge) ear at court and wants to keep Columbus away, so he claims that the idea of finding a passage to the New World is foolhardy. Bobadilla also uses the beautiful Beatriz (Kathleen Ryan), who Columbus has been spending a lot of time with, as a romantic pawn and suggests marriage between the two in the hope of delaying or ending Columbus’ aspirations. Despite the Queen’s initial indecision, she eventually offers to sell her jewels to fund the voyage and Columbus finally win approval. He sets sail on the voyage to the western hemisphere with the three ships; Santa Maria, the Nina and the Pinta. After quelling a mutiny by promising to return home if land isn’t sighted within three days; he arrives in Cuba three months after initially setting sail, and thence America. Then, returning in triumph, he sails for new discoveries, but court intrigues have him sent back to Spain in chains. He eventually falls from favour and languishes in obscurity until finally dying an embittered man.