Bogarde himself described this film as "beyond camp". Trying to have a serious discussion about camp is futile. I first saw it as a teenager and, at the time, thought all that emotion at the end rather an impressive bit of movie drama . Alas, how maturity has tarnished my childhood tolerance for "artistic licence". Mexican peasants speaking in perfect RADA (Royal Academy of Dramatic Art) English didn't bother me at all back then. The leather-fetishist attire of the villain Anacleto, went entirely unnoticed by my teeny-bopper eyes. Back then I had no idea that Bogarde was gay and I'm sure that there was no mention of homosexuality in the novel on which the film was based. Now that everyone knows his secrets, there are bound to be some who "read between the lines", stuff that isn't and was never there in the first place. Sure he is very "camp" himself in the film but what do you expect when the costumier puts him in something so outrageously over-the-top. I thought John Mills did the best he could with a bad screenplay and was rather good at times. Even he couldn't make that melodramatic ending convincing however - no one could.
