Gypsy Wildcat
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Roy William Neill
Maria Montez
Jon Hall
Peter Coe
Nigel Bruce
Leo Carrillo
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
At a gypsy fair, tribe leader Anube watches his wife Rhoda tell fortunes and his son Tonio play the violin, while looking for his main attraction, dancer Carla, whom he adopted years before when she was abandoned as a baby. Carla, meanwhile, rests in the woods, where she witnesses Count Orso being killed by an arrow, then sees a handsome stranger, Michael, ride off from the crime scene. Carla returns to the fair and dances, and when Michael rides by, he is enraptured by her performance, unaware that Tonio is watching him jealously. Baron Tovar and his troops soon interrupt the performance, accusing the gyspies of having murdered Count Orso. After Michael tells Tovar the gypsies are innocent, Tovar orders him arrested, but Michael flees on horseback. Tovar then commands the gypsy tribe to come to his castle, after which Carla finds Michael hiding in the woods. She informs him about a secret pathway, and he escapes from the pursuing soldiers after kissing her passionately and noting the beauty of her necklace. A few days later, as the gypsy caravan is heading toward the castle, Tonio declares his love for Carla, but she tells him she loves Michael. Moments later, Michael rides by and jumps into Anube's wagon, asking the leader for help in escaping, in return for which Michael will find the real murderer and clear the gypsies' names. Anube agrees, but as soon as Michael climbs into the back of the wagon, Anube knocks him out, intending to hand him over to Tovar in return for his tribe's freedom. When Tovar's troops stop them in order to look for Michael, however, Carla saves Michael by disguising him as a clown. At the castle the next day, a suspicious Tovar demands to see the clown perform, but once again Michael escapes. Tovar threatens to burn Carla with an iron unless she reveals the clown's identity, but stops as soon as he notices her necklace. The next day, after Tovar imprisons the gypsies, Michael approaches him and reveals that he is a court messenger sent by the king to aid Count Orso, and he knows that Tovar is the Count's assassin. Tovar attacks him but Michael flees, and moments later Tonio and Carla escape from the dungeon and find Michael outside, wounded by a guard. They bring him to the woods, where Carla nurses him back to health. Later, when the troops find them, she distracts them and is captured. Meanwhile, Tovar tells his military commander, Captain Marver, that Carla's necklace proves that she is the daughter of the long-lost Countess Orso and is heir to the castle. As he plans to marry Carla and so gain ownership of her property, Tonio races to ask the other gypsy tribes for help. At the same time, Michael sneaks back into the castle to rescue Carla and is caught. Desperate, Carla then agrees to marry Tovar in exchange for the release of Michael and the gypsies. On the wedding day, Michael leads the gypsies in an escape, causing Tovar to grab Carla and flee in a wagon. Michael follows with the gyspies and rescues Carla as Tovar's troops descend upon them. Just then, Tonio and the other gypsies arrive and defeat the troops, but when Tonio saves Michael from Tovar's knife, he is killed. Days later, Michael and Carla take control of the castle while the gypsies continue their journey.
Director
Roy William Neill
Cast
Maria Montez
Jon Hall
Peter Coe
Nigel Bruce
Leo Carrillo
Gale Sondergaard
Douglass Dumbrille
Curt Bois
Harry Cording
Wee Willie Davis
Robert Stephenson
Lew Harvey
Jimmy Aubrey
Dick Rush
Jack C. Smith
Bill Healy
Claire Whitney
Oliver Prickett
Pat West
Esther Michelson
Crew
Glenn E. Anderson
Bernard B. Brown
James M. Cain
William Fritzsche
John P. Fulton
R. A. Gausman
John Goodman
W. Howard Greene
Jack Gross
Joseph Hoffman
James Hogan
James Hogan
Lester Horton
Natalie Kalmus
Vernon Keays
Gene Lewis
Martin Obzina
Jack Pierce
George Robinson
Russell Schoengarth
Melville Shyer
Ralph Stock
George Waggner
George Waggner
Edward Ward
Edward Ward
Ira S. Webb
Vera West
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The working title of this film was Gypsy Girl. Although production charts include Patricia Mace in the cast, her appearance in the final film has not been confirmed. According to a May 1943 Hollywood Reporter news item, writer James Hogan was originally scheduled to also produce and direct the film, but was replaced so that he could seek medical attention. Hogan died of a heart attack soon after. Gypsy Wildcat was the fourth in a series of Maria Montez-Jon Hall adventure films produced by Universal, including 1942's Arabian Nights, 1943's White Savage (see below), and 1944's Cobra Woman.
