Guillermo Marin Movies
- 1994
In this oddball comedy, the village Grande Dame tries to find a suitable husband so she can take good care of her daughter, a dwarf. The story is set in an Argentine village during the 1940's. Though her daughter, Charlotte, is a little person, the highly respected Leonor wants her to have a normal, happy life. At the same time, she does not wish to tarnish her public standing in the tiny town. She looks for a husband. The most promising prospect is Ludovico, a handsome bachelor desired by all the town single women. As he frequently visits her home and spends a lot of time with Charlotte, Leonor hopes he will marry her. She is sorely disappointed when it turns out that Ludovico is really interested in her daughter. Charlotte and Ludovico marry. They lead a happy fulfilling life until the circus comes to town. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marcello Mastroianni, Luisina Brando, (more)
- 1989
In this political satire and mystery, a group of journalists have uncovered a conspiracy against the current democratic government of Argentina. They track the conspiracy down to its lair in dim recesses of the National Library, and discover that it is being run and coordinated by the ghosts of dictatorships past, from conquistadors to newly dead military men. This "Patriotic Spirits Club" is, even by ghostly standards, a pretty odd bunch, including a couple of former plantation owners who travel around with a ghostly cow in order to always have fresh ghostly milk. They have one living assistant, a crooked politician. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alicia Zanca, Mauricio Dayub, (more)
- 1985
La Corte de Faraon is a romp of a zarzuela ("operetta" is a loose translation) that first appeared in 1910 (original libretto by Guillermo Perrin and Miguel de Palacios, original music by Vicente Lleó). The Pharaoh rewards his victorious general Putifar (Josema Yuste) with a new bride, Lota (Ana Belen), but the general is more intrigued with his own ego on his wedding night, and in the morning he dashes off. Along comes Friar José (Antonio Banderas) with his soulful eyes and innocent sexuality, and Lota aggressively goes after him. He escapes, but when brought before the Queen, she follows Lota's precedent and the poor Friar barely escapes a second time with his virtue intact. (In the original the Friar is none other than Joseph of the colored coat.) In this updated version, the troupe of zarzuela players gets in trouble with the police, and the whole lot of them are hauled in for scandalous behavior. Between the on-stage and off-stage insanity, the singing, the dance numbers, the music, the slapstick, and the slams at censors, police, and political repression -- this zarzuela upholds the tradition of pleasing all types of viewers. Except Franco, that is -- he banned the operetta. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ana Belén, Fernando Fernán Gómez, (more)
- 1984
In his second successful starring role in 1983, Agustín Gonzalez is a father who runs a wine shop in Madrid, a city under a three-year siege (1936-1939) because the Nationalists forces of Francisco Franco need to take Madrid before the fascist dictator can be installed in power. The siege has left the Madrileños with very little food, living under the threat of bombs, and worrying about the prospects of defeat. It is the sense of impending disaster, of hunger and deprivation that is oddly missing from this cinematic interpretation of the play by Fernando Fernán Gómez. The daughter in the family (Victoria Abril) enters into a love affair with a soldier and ends up having a baby, the son (Gabino Diego) is coming of age with the maid - and life seems to go on with all its proverbial ups and downs. But without the sharp dialogue of the play itself, this film is not as tautly strung, or as convincingly real as the stage production. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Amparo Soler Leal, Agustin Gonzalez, (more)
- 1979
In this comedy, a conservative schoolteacher encounters a foul-mouthed boy and a kind prostitute, and in each case, he is shocked. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jane Birkin, José Luis Lopez Vasquez, (more)
- 1977
Aurora is a dedicated feminist in the early part of this century, who doesn't need men in her life. She successfully arranges to be impregnated by a man so that she can have a child. The child turns out to be the girl Hildegart, an intellectual prodigy, gifted at languages, music, and literature. She is the center of Aurora's life. However, when Hildegart begins to show what her mother considers to be an unbecoming interest in boys and men, a betrayal of her mother's principles, she executes her one night while she is asleep. This movie slowly unravels the story of Hildegart's birth, development and murder as it emerges during a 1933 murder trial. The story is based on the novel Aurora de Sangre by Eduardo de Guzman. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Amparo Soler Leal
Per its title, Faustina is a distaff variation on the Faust legend. In this case, Mexican film favorite Maria Felix plays a woman who sells her soul to the Devil in exchange for beauty and wisdom. Actually, she bargains with the Devil's assistant (Fernando Gomez), who happens to be one of the woman's former lovers. The would-be demon spends the rest of the film trying to thwart the poor woman's happiness, but eventually declares that he's still in love with her. Not to be taken seriously, Faustina was an enjoyable digression from the usual portentous fare at the 1957 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maria Felix, Fernando Fernán Gómez, (more)
- 1947
This Spanish cinemazation of Cervantes' Don Quixote may well have cost more money than any previous adaptation of that literary classic. Rafael Rivelles stars as the ageing, windmill-tilting knight-errant, while Juan Calvo plays Quixote's faithful manservant Sancho Panza. In fact, it is Calvo's sure-handed comic performance that keeps this elephantine production afloat. At 138 minutes, the film proved too much of a good thing for American filmgoers, many of whom were probably still resentful that they'd been force-fed Cervantes in high-school Spanish Class. Herman G. Weinberg, a film critic and historian best known for his essays on director Ernst Lubitsch, wrote the English-language subtitles for Don Quixote de la Mancha. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rafael Rivelles, Juan Calvo, (more)
- 1944
This 1944 Spanish film, the first directed by Edgar Neville (who was also a Count), was based on the Spanish Gothic horror novel by Emilio Carrere, El Torre de los Siete Jorobados. Although sometimes referred to in books on the history of the horror film, it is seldom seen. It combines many classic horror movie features with elements of humor and surrealism. In the story, an underground complex formerly used by Jews at the time of the Inquisition as a hiding place is now the hideout of a group of hunchbacks in the counterfeiting racket. The ghost of an anthropologist who was killed for having discovered the site enlists the aid of a heroic young man, Basilio Beltran (Antonio Casal) to protect his niece Dona Inez (Isabel de Pomes). She's in danger from the mastermind of the hunchbacks, Dr. Sabatino (Guillermo Marin). Typical of the film's offbeat approach are the periodic appearances of the ghost of Napolean, who can't seem to find the right seance. The bizarre mix of horror and comedy might appeal more to modern viewers than it did to audiences in the '40s. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Guillermo Marin
