The late British actor Sir Dirk Bogarde (1921-1999) was well known for his sometimes idiosyncratic choices of film roles. However, one of the most iconic of his on-screen appearances must surely be as the complex character that he plays in the British film under review here, which I watched for the very first time only recently – The Singer Not The Song.
For many years, I knew of this Western-genre movie only by virtue of its sumptuous, romantic theme music (click here to listen to it), composed by British film and TV composer Philip Green, which has been recorded by countless orchestras and instrumentalists down through the decades. (Incidentally, this theme should not be confused with an entirely different musical composition with the same title – namely, a song recorded by the Rolling Stones.) Surprisingly, however, bearing in mind how very suited it is to be converted into a passionate love ballad, as far as I am aware no lyrics have ever been written for it (even though this has occurred with memorable themes from many other movies following their respective cinematic releases – everything from Gone With The Wind and Limelight to The Deer Hunter and The Glass Mountain). Anyway, after chancing upon its DVD not so long ago, I purchased it straight away, deciding that it was high time I watched the film itself.
Directed and produced by Roy Baker, with a screenplay by Nigel Balchin, and originally released by Rank in 1961, The Singer Not The Song is based upon Audrey Erskine Lindop's eponymous 1953 novel (I'll explain the intriguing title of the novel and movie later), and is set in a small Mexican backwater village named Quantana (but actually filmed at Alhaurin de la Torre, in Andalusia, Spain).
Quantana has long been ruled with a
merciless grip of iron and fear by a ruthless but highly intelligent Mexican
bandit named Anacleto Comachi (played by Bogarde) and his gang of equally lawless
compatriots. They have ridden rough-shod (metaphorically and literally!) over a
succession of Catholic priests sent there by Rome in a futile attempt to bring order and
godliness to this anarchic, godforsaken place – until, that is, Father Michael
Keogh (John Mills) arrives in Quantana as the Church's latest representative. (Mills took on the role after Richard Burton had turned it down.)
For Father Michael not only elicits Anacleto's enmity (no surprise there) but also (and to everyone's surprise) gains his grudging, reluctant respect. This is due to the priest's friendly, honest charm, as well as to the evident sincerity of his passion in spreading God's word and his personal unswerving, unconditional devotion to God.
And so, like a pair of chess Grandmasters, Anacleto and Father Michael each plan with great care, thought, and strategy their successive moves toward, and against, one another as the days, weeks, and months pass by, accompanied by the villagers' ever-increasing love for Quantana's very likeable, humble man of the cloth, so dissimilar from those who had previously been sent here, and who had always failed to gain popularity or respect.
Ultimately, however, Anacleto pushes Father Michael too far, cleverly backing the priest into a seemingly inescapable moral corner so that he with his gang would once more reign supreme in Quantana. However, Anacleto never foresees that in blind rage and desperation Father Michael will betray both his religious belief and his word in order to defeat his arch enemy once and for all, and in the presence of the entire village as witnesses in the church congregation. As a result of Anacleto's fatal miscalculation, the villagers rise up as one against their erstwhile oppressor and his brutal sidekicks, with Quantana's hitherto-ineffectual police captain and subordinates sufficiently emboldened to drive them out of town for good. But they don't go quietly...
Movie characters like Anacleto were never given a happy ending back in the days when The Singer Not The Song was made. So it should come neither as a surprise nor as a spoiler to learn that almost at the very end of the film he is fatally shot. However, immediately afterwards an action happens that did surprise me, very much, because I never saw it coming at all, and which I'll therefore leave you to discover for yourself if you watch this movie. All that I will say is that when Father Michael rushes over to him, Anacleto's final words are none other than "The singer, not the song".
Time now, therefore, for the explanation that I promised earlier concerning the meaning of these enigmatic but key words.
Throughout the movie, the atheistic Anacleto has variously mocked and been mystified by Father Michael's unwavering religious faith, refusing to accept the validity of religion but respecting the sincerity and passion with which the priest practices it – and it is via this memorable five-word phrase that Anacleto very succinctly yet eloquently expresses his dichotomous viewpoint to Father Michael. Namely, what he respects is the singer (Father Michael), not the song (religion). So now you know.
The Singer Not The Song is a fascinating movie that makes absolutely compelling viewing, pitting the wits of two formidable, diametric adversaries in a thoroughly engrossing, captivating manner that never dulls or becomes stale. And Bogarde in particular is sensational – succeeding supremely in conveying both the intelligence in Anacleto's mind and the darkness in his soul, transforming instantaneously from Jekyll into Hyde with nothing more than the slightest curling of his upper lip, a deferential, serene smile becoming a diabolical, sardonic sneer in so effortless but effective a manner that even the awesome Billy Idol himself, one of my all-time rock heroes and long renowned for his own lip-curling prowess in whiplash smiles, would have difficulty in matching it!
Consequently, it is nothing if not tragic that despite deserving to have gained lasting acclaim and cinematic fame, The Singer Not The Song is chiefly remembered today only for its beautiful theme music (albeit deservedly so), and – bizarrely – for a somewhat curious, albeit incidental, aspect but which, ironically, attracted far more attention and fueled far more conjecture from film critics at the time of the movie's release than the movie itself did. Namely, why Bogarde had famously insisted upon wearing in character as Anacleto such an unreasonably tight, unrealistically shiny pair of leather trousers!
If you'd like to pay a brief visit to Quantana, be sure to click here to view a short Talking Pictures trailer for The Singer Not The Song on YouTube; and click here to listen to a lush rendition of this movie's rich, evocative theme music as performed by Manuel and the Music of the Mountains (the best version of it that I have ever heard).
To view a complete chronological listing of all of my Shuker In MovieLand blog's other film reviews and articles (each one instantly accessible via a direct clickable link), please click HERE, and please click HERE to view a complete fully-clickable alphabetical listing of them.
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