Blood and Sand

In Blood and Sand, Spanish novelist and movie-maker Vicente Blasco Ibáñez tells the story of Juan Gallardo, an impoverished but talented bullfighter who acquires fame and fortune so quickly that he becomes unbearably arrogant and egotistical. Believing his newly-found success and popularity will last forever, Gallardo rejects his modest past and all those associated with it, including his loving wife. Unfortunately, his celebrity and wealth are fleeting. After he is seduced by Doña Sol, his marriage unravels and he goes down a path of irreversible self-destruction. Impelled by excessive vanity, he continues to engage in risky behavior and is wounded in the arena. After recovering from his injuries he becomes obsessed with regaining his honor as a matador. The once-admired hero becomes increasingly foolhardy. Because he does not take heed while bullfighting, the inevitable finally happens. Gallardo is fatally wounded during a bullfight in front of angry spectators and tragically dies in disgrace. After Ibáñez's poignant novel and original Spanish motion picture, other cinematographers were inspired to make three more versions of Blood and Sand. The best-known of these was the 1922 American remake which catapulted Rudolph Valentino into stardom.