When I scanned the reviews for "The Torch" I was surprised. There seemed to be an equal number of reviews that gave the film a 1 as gave it a 10! The truth is that both extremes are ridiculous... the truth lies somewhere in the middle. Simply put...it cannot earn a 10 with Paulette Goddard pained up like a Mexican and providing a rather over-the-top performance. And, the film certainly isn't a 1, as that should be reserved for movies like "Plan 9 From Outer Space" or "The Room" or "Robot Monster"!
The story is set in the revolutionary period in Mexico---somewhere between 1910 and 1920. Many of these revolutionaries were calling for massive social upheaval...much like the one in Russia during this same time. A revolutionary general (Pedro Armendáriz) arrives in town and starts executing the rich. However, he's so taken with María Dolores Penafiel (Goddard) that he spares her rich father. The bulk of the rest of the film is the General pursuing him and the girl resisting him.
The worst part about the film, clearly, is Paulette Goddard. I must admit that I've never been a fan of her work, but here she is much worse than usual due to her being miscast as well as her occasional over-acting. She has little subtlety in her performance and in the beginning she looks addled when she makes goofy eyes at the camera (and I have no idea why). Apart from that, she often screams and is rarely subtle. And, finally, she's supposed to be a young Mexican girl...not a 40 year-old white lady painted brown. The plot isn't bad when it doesn't center on her....but too bad most of the film does. Incidentally, Armendáriz is actually pretty good...and he was a very good actor in both American and Mexican films. Overall, a rather dull film that never really pays off to watch...and repeats the refrain from "La Cucaracha" too often to be taken seriously.
