Fiesta (1947 film)

Fiesta
Illustration of Esther Williams wearing a traje de luces outfit for the French theatrical release poster for Fiesta.
French theatrical release poster
Directed byRichard Thorpe
Written byGeorge Bruce
Lester Cole
Produced byJack Cummings
StarringEsther Williams
Ricardo Montalbán
Mary Astor
Fortunio Bonanova
Cyd Charisse
John Carroll
CinematographyWilfrid M. Cline
Charles Rosher
Sidney Wagner
Edited byBlanche Sewell
Music byJohnny Green
Production
company
Distributed byLoew's, Inc.
Release date
  • June 12, 1947 (1947-06-12)
Running time
104 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$2,395,000[1]
Box office$5,635,000[1]

Fiesta is a 1947 American Technicolor musical drama film directed by Richard Thorpe and starring Esther Williams, Ricardo Montalbán, Mary Astor and Cyd Charisse. It was released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The screenplay was written by George Bruce and Lester Cole.

The story focuses on Mario Morales (Montalbán), a bullfighter who wants to be a composer, and his twin sister, Maria Morales (Williams), who wants to be a bullfighter even though she is a woman.

The film was shot on location in Puebla, Mexico.[2] This was Montalbán's first credited role in a Hollywood film, and resulted in him being offered a contract by the studio.[3] It was also the first of three films pairing Williams and Montalbán, the other two being On an Island with You (1948) and Neptune's Daughter (1949).

Fiesta was the first time Williams's name was billed above the title in the marketing, though in the onscreen credits, all the actors are below the title.[4]

  1. ^ a b The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Williams1999 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ "Turner Classic Movies". Tcm.com. Retrieved 2010-07-30.
  4. ^ "This Time for Keeps". Tcm.com. 2009-11-12. Retrieved 2010-07-30.