The Lash of the Penitentes
Cast & Crew
Zelma Carroll
Marie Deforest
William Marcos
Victor Justi
Joseph Swickard
José Rubio
Film Details
Synopsis
At a missionary convention, a clergyman describes dangerous religious rites practiced by foreign peoples. Another clergyman states that there is also a need for missionaries to investigate the Penitente religious cult in New Mexico. The Penitente Brotherhood, the clergyman states, was founded in Spain about 300 years before and was brought to Mexico and New Mexico by the Franciscan friars traveling with the conquistadors. Its adherents believe that flagellation and crucifixion are the pathways to eternal salvation, and their torturous rites are legendary. The scene dissolves to the office of magazine editor R. J. Pearl, whose star reporter, George Mack, wishes to write about the Penitentes. Mack persuades Pearl to let him go, then drives to the New Mexican village of the Penitentes, where he hires a native, Chico, as a houseboy. Not all of the village's inhabitants are members of the sect, and one of its most vehement disparagers is Raquel, whose father gave his life to it and left her to rear her brother Filippe. Raquel is in love with the painter Manuel, for whom she poses in the nude. Chico has loved Raquel since they were children, but she refuses to satisfy his passion for her, and Filippe fights him off when he attempts to rape her. Later, Chico shows Mack the Penitente churches, called maradas, with their crosses encircled by whips. Mack is cautioned by Reverend Taylor, the village missionary, against exploring too deeply into the mysteries of the sect, for its practitioners jealously guard their beliefs. Meanwhile, Manuel proposes to Raquel, and after he gets the marriage license, the young couple spend the night together even though they cannot be legally wed for three days. The jealous Chico accuses Raquel of witchcraft, and the marada leaders tie her to a cross and whip her, but she is rescued by Manuel before they kill her. Mack persuades Chico to take him to watch the Penitentes' most sacred rites on Good Friday, when they recreate Christ's walk on the road to Cavalry. A volunteer is made to carry a heavy cross, and both he and fellow believers are beaten as they "follow in the footsteps of martyrdom and blood that Jesus trod." When they reach a secret place in the mountains, the man is tied to a cross and left in "the eyes of heaven." Later, the leaders discover that Chico allowed Mack to witness their rites and force him to kill the writer. Chico shoots Mack, but is apprehended by the police and compelled to confess to his crime. He is sentenced to be hanged, and after his execution, newspaper stories relate the lurid details. The story then returns to the missionary convention, where a minister states that "mission work, like charity, should begin at home," and the narrator asks the audience to help eradicate the practices of the Penitentes.
Director
Zelma Carroll
Cast
Marie Deforest
William Marcos
Victor Justi
Joseph Swickard
José Rubio
William Bletcher
Crew
Film Details
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
This film is based on the real-life murder of Carl Taylor, a magazine writer who was killed in New Mexico by his houseboy, Modesto Trujillo, on February 6, 1936 while he was researching the Penitentes. Contemporary sources indicate that prior to Taylor's murder, Roland Price, who was known as "The Vagabond Cameraman," photographed scenes of the Penitentes' rites. After Taylor was killed, producer Harry Revier shot additional story footage in February 1936 to incorporate Price's sequences. A March 7, 1936 Hollywood Reporter news item noted that while "several major studios" were attempting to "bring to the screen a picture written around the recent highly publicized slaying" of Taylor, Revier's film was already ready for release. The film, which at this time was called The Penitente Murder Case, was reviewed and rejected by the Hays Office. According to the MPAA/PCA Collection at the AMPAS Library, the picture was rejected because of "scenes of excessive brutality and gruesomeness," and because of the nudity of the character Raquel and the violence directed against her. The Hays Office also noted: "There is about the picture too, a curious flavor which is likely to give serious offense to religious people who hold in reverence religious practices dealing with the death of Christ. It is not unlikely that such people might look upon your picture as a travesty on religion." Despite Revier's numerous attempts to re-edit and rename the picture (it apparently was also shown as Written in Blood and The Naked Truth), the Hays Office refused to give it a certificate of approval.
According to an ad in the San Francisco Chronicle, the picture opened in San Francisco on April 3, 1936, under the title The Penitente Murder Case. According to the Daily Variety review, the picture had a Los Angeles press preview on April 13, 1936 under the same title and ran for 43 minutes. The Daily Variety reviewer pointed out: "Authenticity is claimed for the picture but this reviewer spent some time among the cult, recognizes considerable footage foreign to the subject and religion. Practice of flagellation as featured in the picture has been abandoned for some time." According to Hollywood Reporter news items, Revier invested approximately $16,000 in the picture's production, and intended to roadshow it throughout 1936. By the time the film had been taken over by independent distributor Mike J. Levinson in June 1937, the title had been changed to The Lash of the Penitentes. Although the film had still not been approved by the Hays Office, Levinson was able to roadshow it, and it appears that the film was generally released in 1937. The Film Daily review gives the picture's running time as 65 minutes, which confirms information from the MPAA/PCA records indicating that the prologue sequences describing religious practices other than those of the Penitentes were added in late 1936. The print viewed, a 35 minute abridged version, did not contain these prologue sequences, or any of the sequences with "Raquel." MPAA/PCA records note that even after Levinson began distributing an edited version of the picture, many state censor boards either rejected it or demanded numerous eliminations before it could be shown. According to modern sources, the story footage of a Spanish version, entitled El asesinato de los Penitentes, was shot with the same actors and at the same time as the English version. La Opiniòn noted that the Spanish version played in Los Angeles 12 June through June 18, 1936.
