La ciudad no es para mí (1966)

"World-wide (English title) (informal literal title): City Life Is Not for Me" (IMDB)

An elderly man who lives in a small town decides to go live with his son in the big city. His uncouth ways annoy his son's wife and amuses his son's daughter. His son is a workaholic, and this causes some problems in his marriage; the maid is also having troubles of her own. The newcomer tries to fix all those problems.

Entertaining, though extremely predictable, comedy with a terrific central performance. The film's ideology is mildly conservative, quite in line with Spain in the 1960s.

Rating: 44

Le cinéma de papa (1971)

 Claude's father is a furrier and wants his son to follow in his footsteps, but Claude wants to be an actor. Claude fails miserably at that, but he still wants to be in the movie business.

A poorly thought out movie, it seems. The finer parts of the movie are character-driven; too bad, instead of sticking to being merely a family chronicle, it tries to be "creative" and becomes an annoying mess.

Rating: 40

Historias de la radio (1955)

 "World-wide (English title) (literal title): Radio Stories" (IMDB)

(mild spoilers) The narrative intersperses some internal problems at a radio station with three episodes involving radio contests. Episode one is about a contest for the first person who gets to the station dressed as an eskimo; an inventor needs the money for his research; Episode two is about a man who is robbing his landlord's house; he answers the phone and the call is about a prize for simply presenting oneself at the radio station, the only problem being that the prize is meant for the owner of the house. Episode three is about a schoolteacher who is pressured to take part in a quiz in order to raise money for taking a child with a rare disease abroad for a surgery.

This episodic comedy has an ingenious well-rounded script and was competently filmed; it also has a couple of agreeable musical numbers. Episode (1) has some intense pathos mixed with mild grotesquerie; episode (2) explores some philosophical issues, and has possibly inspired an episode in the movie Radio Days; episode (3) wraps it up with a sentimental note.

Rating: 56

Don Giovanni (1991)

 Filmed opera. German production.

The music was composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and the libretto was written by Lorenzo da Ponte; the opera was originally named Il dissoluto punito, ossia il Don Giovanni (The Rake Punished, or Don Giovanni), and premiered in 1787; it was based on a Spanish play traditionally attributed to Tirso de Molina named El burlador de Sevilla, y convidado de piedra or, in another version, Tan largo me lo fiais; the first version of it is estimated to have been written between 1612 and 1625.

After an unsuccessful rape attempt against Donna Anna, Don Giovanni kills his victim's father ('the Commendatore') in self-defense. Donna Anna's fiancé Don Ottavio promises her to avenge her father's death and her own rape attempt. Don Giovanni later meets Donna Elvira, a woman with whom he had a relationship and who hates him for leaving her. Next Don Giovanni runs into a marriage procession and feels attracted towards the bride Zerlina. He schemes to separate her from the procession and from the bridegroom. Once he is alone with her, she responds to his courtship. (The rest of the entourage was sent to Don Giovanni's castle where he promised them a big party.) Unfortunately for Don Giovanni's plans, however, Donna Elvira approaches and starts badmouthing Don Giovanni in front of Zerlina, causing her to change her mind. After a series of further adventures and misadventures, Don Giovanni meets his doom in the hands of... the statue of the Commendatore!

This is the second adaptation of this opera that I have seen, the previous one being that famous 1979 cinematic adaptation filmed in realistic sets. To be frank, I didn't remember a thing about it (I saw it more than 35 years ago!). As usual, I don't have many reliable opinions about the singing; for me they were all good. As for the music, I must have said it before: I am not a great enjoyer of Mozart, finding his music merely agreeable. The plot has above average entertainment value as operas go, but, really, I don't understand how this could have once become such a popular and prestigious form of art.

(I don't rate operas numerically.)

La niña del patio (1967)

In a small neighborhood in Spain live several interacting people: Carmen and her brother Antonio, a bird breeder; Pepe, a middle-aged bon-vivant; Lola, his young girlfriend; Coralito, a former star who teaches singing to Lola; Miguel, who wants to marry Carmen but is rejected by her; Zacarías, who also wants to marry Carmen; and another dweller who is a sort of master of ceremonies and organizer. Carmen's nephew leaves an infant girl for her to bring up; Carmen gets attached to the child. When their landlord says they must buy the place or leave, they decide to raise the money by turning the central patio into a stage and luring tourists into coming there to watch the little girl (now a little older) perform.

Musical comedy with some famous Spanish musical stars. It is not exactly remarkable, but has some agreeable moments of comedy or music.

Rating: 34

Jenaro, el de los 14 (1974)

 A simpleton from a small town wins the sports lottery,  and travels to Madrid to collect his prize, getting into all kinds of trouble. He becomes famous and is besieged by everyone with money requests, business propositions, marriage impositions, erotic entrapments, etc. A woman from his home town gives him the Madrid address of her daughter who is supposed to be working as a typist and living in a boarding house; the reality is different.

Vulgar comedy which has many dumb moments (e.g. when people's rhetorical images materialize before the protagonist's eyes), but which achieves, through brute force so to speak, some genuine comicity in its latter section. As is common in many films, including Hollywood ones, the plot resolves into a highly implausible romantic ending, but on second thought who am I to judge?

Rating: 36

Alerta en el cielo (1961)

A boy lives with his family near an American air base in Spain. He is seriously ill and wants to become a pilot. The folks at the air base do their utmost to please the boy and help him.

Tearjerker which seems to have propagandistic purposes concerning Spanish-American relations. It's of little cinematic value, but has some nice sequences of aerial acrobatics.

Rating: 22

El maestro (1957)

 Title of the Italian version: Il maestro...

 U.S. title: The Teacher and the Miracle

A small town middle-aged teacher moves to a big city with his only son, whom he has been raising alone since his wife died. An accident throws him into a depression bout and then a strange kid enters his life.

Arguably, this is a reasonable movie up until its central dramatic event. After that, it moves into the territory of simple-minded religious-ploitation. I guess one could pin the blame on the kind of mentality which thrived in Spain during the 1950s (and for that matter much of the 20th century). What carries the film and somehow raises it above the level of a mere ideological prop for the backward political Spanish regime of that era is the solid performance by its leading actor, who by the way was Italian. Being a Spanish-Italian co-production, this film has two versions which differ somewhat, though I'm not sure either one I watched was in its integral form (the two versions have missing bits in different points, and thus allow one who watches both to have a sense of what the complete movie may have been).

Rating: 37

Les dents longues (1953)

 English title: The Long Teeth

The film narrates the trajectory of an ambitious jounalist from a small town, from his professional beginnings until he becomes editor-in-chief. The conflict between his professional life and his marriage is expounded.

This is a very honest and realistic drama, though not an extremely engaging one. Perhaps the political intrigues which are an important part of the plot will be better understood by reading the novel (which I haven't). But it's an interesting movie all the same, with fine actors and an interesting subject matter.

Rating: 51

O Barão Otelo no Barato dos Bilhões (1971)

 A man from a lower social class but endowed with extraordinary savvy is approached by a crooked businessman with a work proposition: the businessman wants the poor man to help him win the sports lottery.

This film starts out watchable and after about 15 minutes becomes a mess which barely makes sense. They really did not put much effort into conceiving it, though the cast is stellar (within the Brazilian universe, that is) and the musical score is enjoyable.

Rating: 4

Madrugada (1957)

 A man dies in the presence of his mistress, who then concocts a plan to find out who was responsible for his having distanced himself from her in his final days. She summons the deceased man's two brothers and his father to his house on the pretense that he is gravely ill. Once they are all together (plus one of the brothers' wife and daughter and a later uninvited arrival), she puts her plan into action.

Stuffy and slightly absurd drama which is a variation on The Cat and the Canary (of which I know only the premise); it does a fine job of showing why Spanish cinema was then held in such low esteem by critics everywhere.

Rating: 18

Retour à la vie (1949)

  "World-wide (English title) (festival title) Return to Life" (imdb.com)

Five segments comprise this film: (1) a woman is released from a concentration camp, and is in a state of catatonic apathy; her family members are concerned about getting her signature on an inheritance paper; (2) a barman working on a hotel has to attend to requests from guests who happen to be female army personnel; (3) a curmudgeonly ex-soldier shelters a fugitive German, unaware that he is a former torturer; (4) upon his return, a former prisoner of war finds that his girl is gone with another man and his apartment is occupied by former resistance members; (5) a returning soldier must face the rejection of his fellow villagers towards his new German wife.

I didn't really find these postwar stories very satisfactory, save one (number 4). That exception is the only story which deals exclusively with issues firmly rooted in real situations faced by people returning from World War II. The others derive their mild appeal from their dramatic constructions and the ability of the actors and the directors; they are part of the myth-building around that war, but not, I assume, of the widely experienced situations which it brought about.

Rating: 40

Oto Lara Rezende ou... Bonitinha, Mas Ordinária (1963)

"Also Known As (AKA) 

(...) 

                                          Pretty But Wicked" 

(IMDB.com)

Edgard, a poor office worker, is approached by a superior with the proposition of marrying the company owner's daughter, who, according to him, has been raped. Edgard has qualms of conscience about accepting the proposition; they are compounded by the fact that he has a crush on his neighbor, a poor teacher in a school for young kids.

This is the second adaptation I have watched of the same play. The other one is more recent (of 1981), but I saw it a long time ago, at the time of its cinematic release. If memory serves me, this older one is the better -- though by far also the lesser known -- one. It's a simple production, obviously operating on a shoestring budget, but the actors give very serviceable performances, and the text seems to have been understood in its totality, or almost so. It's possibly not the best play by Rodrigues (I haven't read or seen them all), but it's possibly the funniest among the ones I know. In a sense, it's more at home as cinema than as a stage play, because of all the car rides and similar scenes which become so more natural when staged in a realistic way. The film adds at least one original touch -- the references to Crime and Punishment's protagonist -- but mostly it's a faithful adaptation. The play's author was a self-styled reactionary who, perhaps involuntarily, exposed the ridiculous face of reactionary ideologies. That may be observed in this film, which, though ostensibly reactionary in ideology, provides an examination of the deleterious effect of the economic power wielded by the bourgeois class.

Rating: 51

O Doce Esporte do Sexo (1972)

 Film consisting of five segments: (1) A man and a woman set up a date in an apartment; the man is concerned about keeping it secret; once they are in the apartment, numerous obstacles to the accomplishment of the sexual act happen; (2) A man has an unrequited love with a prostitute, and keeps on trying to win her affections; (3) the president of a big company takes a day off to indulge in a pleasure afternoon: he is buying a pornographic film and plans to watch it at his house with some guests; (4) in a small town, a yearly event is taking place; is consists of pitting one of its inhabitants against another from a neighboring town and watching who can outperform the other in the number of sexual acts; (5) the devoted wife of a rich landowner suspects her husband is having an affair.

These short comedies are not exactly funny, and at their worst (number four, "The Tournament") may get annoying due to the repetitive nature of its humor. The most interesting one is possibly number three ("The Little Film"), in which a film within the film is shown and explores the effect of expectation in the fruition of films. The first one ("The Apartment") is uneven, but perhaps the most visually elaborate of the lot. Number two, "The Quarter" -- literally "The Mouth", but really a slang term referring to the prostitution quarter -- is mildly interesting as a psychological study in masochism. The fifth and final one ("The Suspicion") is shorter and tries to provide an ending with a bang, but is very dated and will fail to shock present-day audiences.

Rating: 35

Les grands sentiments font les bons gueuletons (1973)

"World-wide (English title): Big Sentiments Make for Good Sports" (IMDB.com)

(spoilers!) A few days in the life of two middle-class families who live next door to each other in an apartment building. Irascible curmudgeon Georges' mother has died in a car crash. Authoritarian music-lover Claude's daughter is getting married. Funeral and wedding will happen on the same day. Other characters include Georges' brother Stéphane, who develops a crush on the marrying neighbor, and Claude's cousin Alphonse, a prankster. Claude doesn't own a telephone, so he borrows Georges' whenever he needs to use one, and also for his daughter's incoming calls. Georges likes to lie about his social status (e.g. while both are at the barbershop he tells Claude he has bought a boat). Claude listens to classical music in his cellar. Both families' boys disappear one afternoon and are found (by Claude) leaving a vacant lot in a state of intoxication from smoke and alcohol. On the way to the funeral, Stéphane gets lost in the Paris traffic for a while. One of Claude's wedding guest families arrives after it is over. The master of ceremonies at the wedding dinner is a weird type who goes into a tantrum with his clients for "not letting him do his job"; he imposes some infantile games on them. The deceased woman's sister is an extremely obnoxious woman who drives Georges into a fit of fury at the table and is thrown out of the house with her son and daughter. On her way out she demands a ring which she says she had lent her sister; Georges ignores her (he had already removed it from her sister's finger). There is also a busybody female who lives on the same floor as them and likes to stand in the hallway and berate them. And a wheelchair-bound man who is always trying to use the elevator, and irritates everyone.

Entertaining comedy which mines everyday disasters and people's pettinessess and quirks for comicity. It's very well made, and the cast -- especially the two leads -- is in great form. A film like this, which looks for a new gag at every scene, is bound to misfire occasionally, but overall it works well and is certainly an interesting watch.

Rating: 56

O Grande Xerife (1972)

A town is suffering raids from a gang of bandits. The inept local mailman is elected sheriff.

Mostly poor Western parody filmed with passable professionalism (though perhaps lacking closer shots at some scenes) and featuring a few offbeat comedic moments.

Rating: 35

63 Up (2019)

 Latest installment of the series which follow a bunch of people starting when they were seven, every seven years. This installment has the flavor of an ending, featuring a recapitulation of former installments for each interviewee; since the director died two years after its release, perhaps he had some doubts about his remaining time to live. I enjoyed watching it; there is not much to be said about it that has not been said by others, or by myself on previous installments. Without any implied demerit to any participant, there is a sense that some were more interesting to watch than others. In my opinion, the most interesting ones -- in completely opposite ways -- are Tony and Neil. Coincidence or not, in this installment the filmmaker has chosen to put them as first and last interviewee, respectively. The links to my reviews of former installments are given below:

Some Call It a Pastime: The Films I See: Seven Up! (1964) (thirdworldthreat2.blogspot.com)

Some Call It a Pastime: The Films I See: 7 Plus Seven (1970) (TV) (thirdworldthreat2.blogspot.com)

Some Call It a Pastime: The Films I See: 21 (1977) (thirdworldthreat2.blogspot.com)

Some Call It a Pastime: The Films I See: 28 Up (1984) (thirdworldthreat2.blogspot.com)

Some Call It a Pastime: The Films I See: 35 Up (1991) (TV) (thirdworldthreat2.blogspot.com)

Some Call It a Pastime: The Films I See: 42: Forty Two Up (1998) (TV) (thirdworldthreat2.blogspot.com)

Some Call It a Pastime: The Films I See: 49 Up (2005) (TV) (thirdworldthreat2.blogspot.com)

Some Call It a Pastime: The Films I See: 56 Up (2012) (TV) (thirdworldthreat2.blogspot.com)

Countdown (1967)

Second viewing; previously viewed between 1983 and 1986.

 The Americans are concerned that the Soviets are sending a man to the moon, and revive a previously discontinued program which consisted in sending a shelter capsule prior to sending a capsule with a single astronaut in it. Said astronaut woud then stay in the shelter until a rescue team could be sent.

Science-fiction which goes for realistic drama instead of sensation. The problem is that the drama isn't all that interesting. There is little in the way of special effects. Perhaps the most noteworthy aspect of it is how it adopts a balanced view of patriotism, neither iconoclastic nor gung-ho. That was somewhat at odds with the turn of the ideological tide in the sixties towards the left, which during the 70s reached full deconstruction mode of all things that bore any relation to old notions of nationalistic pride; there was a reversion of this in the 80s. From the 90s onwards, with the end of the Cold War, new ways of collective thinking were needed.

Rating: 42 (up from 27)

Nobleza baturra (1965)

 English titles: Aragonese Nobility; Rustic Chivalry

Based on the play (1929) by Joaquín Dicenta (hijo), which in turn was based on the homonymous 1925 film he wrote; there was another previous cinematic version released in 1935.

A woman has a relationship with a servant of his father; she keeps it a secret because her father would not approve of their marriage; he would rather she married a rich landowner who courts her.

Musical drama. This is a well made but unexciting story set in a time where a woman's chastity was deemed important, and choosing her husband was the pinnacle in female emancipation.

Rating: 43

La viudita naviera (1962)

 Candelaria marries a ship captain and he sets sail to Havana right after the wedding. Some months later, she receives news of his death. Another ship captain, a don juan type, starts courting her.

Musical comedy with passable musical numbers and bland yet tolerable plot and dialogue.

Rating: 37