Blanca Estrada Movies
- 1981
After cannibalizing Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth in his 1977 film Where Time Began, Spanish director Juan Piquer Simon returned to the author with this substandard retelling of Mysterious Island. The story concerns a shipwrecked group who discover natural wonders and a gold treasure on a dangerous island populated by dinosaurs and living seaweed. Terence Stamp is the bad guy. Supposedly the most expensive film made in Spain to that point, it has an admittedly strong genre cast including Peter Cushing, Paul Naschy, and Ian Sera, but is really a cheesy monster movie likely to appeal only to children too young to be critical of special effects. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi
- Starring:
- Terence Stamp, Peter Cushing, (more)
When one of the wealthiest men on the planet places an international ad seeking seven remarkable women with whom to share his vast fortune, every eligible woman on the planet sets out to impress the eccentric millionaire and secure a jet-set life on unrestricted luxury in this erotic comedy from director Dario Herreros. In order to qualify the women will have to be at Seventh Hill on the seventh day of the seventh month, at precisely seven in the evening. As the time draws near for the lucky seven women to be chosen, women from all corners of the globe do everything in their power to achieve perfection, and ensure a valued spot among the privileged few. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- 1977
After serving her male boss for many years, decades even, the maid in this story is understandably a little jealous of his young wife. In fact, however, she is hopelessly in love with her employer, and is madly jealous of his bride. The young wife is a duplicitous sort, given to the odd affair, and not above pulling the wool over her adoring and somewhat simple older husband. However, the family maid is not so easily fooled, and before long the young woman finds herself in a very unenviable situation. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- 1975
Northern Europeans have The Canterbury Tales and The Decameron, which are collections of stories written in the Middle Ages that paint a ribald and humorous picture of the amorous and other adventures of travelers in those times. Spain has El Libro de Buen Amor, written in the 14th century by the Archpriest of Hita, John Ruiz. This movie, starring Patxi Andion, a pop singer of the mid 1970s, retells several of its tales based on the courtship of a poet (Andion) and a noblewoman (Blanca Estrada) amid family opposition and the Black Plague. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Patxi Andion, Blanca Estrada, (more)
- 1974
In this sci-fi horror film, the brain of a male engineer is transplanted into a female's body. He soon finds himself unable to cope with the daily sexist discrimination most women deal with. For example, he is surprised when no one will hire a female engineer. When he is faced with dealing with female sexuality, he quickly begins exhibiting lesbian tendencies. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
This is the third installment in Amando de Ossorio's "Blind Dead" series featuring the legions of the undead Knights Templar -- a sect of medieval monks who were executed in the 15th century for their occult practices and who periodically rise from their tombs to torment the living. This chapter puts the Templars on a ghostly Spanish galleon (which looks like it was built from a ship-in-a-bottle kit), cloaked in perpetual fog and roaming the seas in search of victims. When two bikini models are set adrift as part of a sporting-good chain's publicity stunt, they are seized by the flesh-eating ghouls. The company's frantic CEO sets out in his yacht to find them, accompanied by the head of the modeling agency, one of the models' friends, and an expert on Templar lore. They eventually collide with the galleon, whereupon the meandering plot finally gets down to business. The blind, slow-moving zombies shamble up from below decks and wait patiently, as always, for their shrieking, flailing victims to stumble into their clutches. This is one of the creepier entries in the series, making good use of the confined, fog-shrouded sets (presaging very similar scenes in John Carpenter's The Fog), and only wavers during long shots of the cheesy-looking model ship. The shock ending is also remarkably effective. Followed by the final chapter, Night of the Seagulls. ~ Cavett Binion, Rovi
- 1974
The real star of this police action/adventure is the "Guardia Civil" or Spanish national police force. In the story, a robber who consistently eludes capture by the police by crossing over the border into France, taunting the lawmen mercilessly, is cornered in a border farmhouse and receives his just desserts. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- John Saxon, Francisco Rabal, (more)
In this thriller, a woman searches for an estranged relative. Trouble ensues when the traveler stops at a tiny Spanish roadhouse owned by two twisted sisters. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
