Adolfo Marsillach Movies
- 1992
In 1939, Ramon (Jacques Penot) was a young man, caught up in his Barcelona family's involvement on the Republic side in the brutal Spanish Civil War. He and his family fled into exile ahead of Franco's troops. Now it is many years later, and he has come back to see how his old homestead fared in the intervening years. The only person he can find who is able to remember those years clearly is his family's old butler Claudio (Vittorio Gassman). This film is a sequel to the 1975 film by director Jaime Camino, Largas Vacaciones del 36. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vittorio Gassman, Jacques Penot, (more)
- 1988
After the death of Carlos II in 1700, the throne of Spain was up for grabs, and all the European powers got involved. Even after the next king was crowned, anarchy and poverty marred the lives of the Spanish for many years. Finally, Carlos III, attempted to bring significant reforms with the assistance of his minister, the Marques de Esquilache. This film, based on the play Un Sonador Para Un Pueblo by Antonio Buero Vallejo, portrays the struggles of Esquilache (Fernando Fernan Gomez) to implement his monarch's vision for Spain. Despite touching on many issues in Spanish history, it's really more of a character study of the title character. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ángela Molina
- 1985
This entertaining comedy is set in 1938 during the Spanish Civil War when a group of Republican soldiers sneak into a village in enemy territory to steal a bull with plans of butchering it to feed themselves. Fate and the bull itself, however, have other plans. One of the surreptitious bull-snatchers knows the village well -- he grew up there, but that advantage alone cannot guarantee their success, as it turns out. The group of five would-be thieves dress themselves in uniforms of the Nationalist troops in an attempt to dissimulate their true identity. But instead of a neat getaway with a bull in tow, they are caught up in the "correo" or running of the bull, they get involved in a religious procession, and in the end, watch as the bull breaks out of a flimsy ring in a bullfight and heads for the hills. Still hungry, the group of men now have to worry about getting back to their own battalion before they are found out. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Guillermo Montesinos, Alfredo Landa, (more)
- 1984
Director José Luis Garci has turned his camera inward on filmmakers and screenwriters to portray them as so self-absorbed in the creative process that there is no other world, no other human relationship that can compete. As José (Adolfo Marsillach) and Federico (Jesus Puente) work together on a new screenplay, their interactions with their family (José's teen daughters, Federico's wife) disappear under the all-consuming task of creation. The daughters give up and go off on their own, and the wife joins a convent while Federico barely notices. And when the producer is interrupted by profound grief at the sudden death of his older son, he almost automatically returns to thinking about the film project when the funeral has ended. Garci honors many great directors at the beginning of this film, and the film continues to play out as an elaboration on this homage -- an illustration both of the dedication and the cost of filmmaking, no judgments given. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Adolfo Marsillach, Jesus Puente, (more)
- 1978
Set in the late Franco era in a lonely region of northwestern Spain, this story examines the process by which a socially quite conservative "Miss Lonelyhearts" radio counsellor becomes a woman with a much broader view of life. The girl in question lives with her very religious sister in a large house and gives advice in keeping with the prevailing attitudes of the times. When a man seeks her out and determinedly woos her, she resists him, just as he resists everything she and her program stand for. Eventually, they have a tempestuous and even abusive short-lived affair. Despite the un-romantic ending of their relationship, something has stirred in her, and she questions her old ways of seeing things. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marilina Ross, Adolfo Marsillach, (more)
- 1976
Political circumstances draw the people in this film into the ill-fated Spanish rebellion of 1909, which sought the overthrow of King Alfonso XIII. Set mainly in Cataluña and its capital Barcelona, the story begins in 1899 with soldiers returning from the Cuban front of the disastrous Spanish-American War, and it revolves around the romantic aspirations of two sisters who are swept up into the dangerous intrigues of the time. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Xavier Elorriaga, Francisco Casares, (more)
- 1976
A drama with plenty of symbolism, this film centers around a black boy found in the jungle near a waterfall by an elderly Mexican plantation owner, who raises the child as his own. His youngest daughter falls in love with the boy as they grow older, and they also grow affectionate with a black panther chained in their courtyard, which mysteriously gets loose and runs off. The mother, who hates the panther, tries to get romantic with the young man, but he refuses her. She runs away and is killed by the panther. The owner, who is not comfortable with the interracial romance, forces the young man into the job of mushroom taster: if he eats a poisoned mushroom and dies, the pickers will know which areas to stay away from. He escapes and has a liaison with the daughter, who then goes off by herself to the waterfall and meets the panther, which kills her in spite of her affection for it. The young man then returns to the jungle. ~ Steve Huey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Isela Vega, Ofelia Medin, (more)
- 1974
This dark drama, based on a classic Spanish novel, chronicles the troubled life of an unhappily married woman living in a village of indifferent or prejudiced neighbors. The poor woman suffers even more when the town Casanova begins to pursue her as does the local representative for the Spanish Inquisition. AKA La Regenta. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Emma Penella, Keith Baxter, (more)
- 1972
This Spanish film explores one of the Carlist rebellions of the mid-19th century -- a period in that country's history which is little-known elsewhere. King Ferdinand VII changed Spain's laws to permit his daughter Isabella II to come to the throne. Many Spaniards objected to the idea of a woman on the throne, and since they considered her rule illegal, they also considered the rule of her heirs illegal. From 1839 until 1873 a series of bloody rebellions broke out in Spain. The ultraconservative Carlist movement continues to be influential in Spain even today, and its adherents strongly supported the rule (from 1939 to 1975) of Francisco Franco. This film chronicles the religious, military and political intrigues which flourished during the Carlist rebellions in rainy Galicia, in 1852. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1966
An aspiring young writer lives with his pregnant wife and works for a newspaper to provide for his growing family. When his sister-in-law comes to visit, there is a mutual attraction between the guest and the writer. Knowing they must fight their impulses, the two exchange only hugs with each other. His wife finds the two hugging and misinterprets (or does she?) the gesture. The sister leaves on New Years Eve when the writer's wife goes into labor in this unfulfilled love triangle. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Simon Andreu, Teresa Gimpera, (more)
- 1964
Alain Delon stars as twin brothers in Christian-Jaque's film based on a novel from Alexandre Dumas. Set in 18th century France during rumblings of revolution, Guillaume De Saint-Preux is the legendary Black Tulip, battling for the people against the monarchy. In reality, he is not much more than a self-serving thief who steals from the rich in the name of the people, but keeps it for himself rather than giving to those in need. After his face is scarred to mark him as a bandit, he enlists the aid of his identical twin, Julien, to carry on his work. Unfortunately for him, Julien is a revolutionary at heart and the ensuing events are nowhere close to Guillaume's expectations. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alain Delon, Dawn Addams, (more)
- 1960
Popular Hispanic thespians Sylvia Pinal and Adolfo Marsillach star in this rather verbose, straightforward comedy about shy young Marcelino (Marsillach), who meets the attractive Maribel (Pinal) while out in a bar one night. Maribel has all the glitz and glitter that Marcelino lacks, something that his mother (Guadalupe Sampedro) and Aunt Paula (Julia Caba Alba) cannot help but notice when he brings Maribel home to meet them. The response of the two older women is certainly unexpected -- they want Maribel to marry Marcelino. In the meantime, it is revealed that Marcelino's first wife died under what might be suspicious circumstances -- something that has to be cleared up before things really get serious. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Adolfo Marsillach, Julia Caba Alba, (more)
- 1959
Salto a la Gloria is an interesting biography of Dr. Santiago Ramon y Cajal (Adolfo Marsillach), who shared the 1906 Nobel Prize for his research on the structure of the nervous system. Born in 1852 in Spain and eventually becoming affiliated with the University of Madrid, Dr. Ramon y Cajal's research period -- on film at least -- does not come off as well as his early childhood when his inspired shenanigans got him into trouble more than once. For such a lively child, it is ironic that his future research career would take him into the functions of the nervous system. Director Leon Klimovsky brings in the researcher's wife and children and family life in the latter part of the 96-minute film. This film was an entry in the 1959 San Sebastian Film Festival. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Adolfo Marsillach
- 1958
Picking up on a real incident in Florida, scripters for Un Hecho Violento adapted another screenplay to create this drama of injustice, brutality, and torture. A young man is accused and convicted of a crime he never committed and then sent to prison and subsequent work in a chain-gang. His fellow prisoner-workers are shown to be violent, inhuman beings, but the mentally unbalanced warden of the prison (Adolfo Marsillach) outdoes everyone else in physical abuse. The young man is tortured by the very man who is supposed to maintain peace in the prison, and in the film, the abused prisoner is brought to the brink of death before he is rescued. In real life, the young man died. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Adolfo Marsillach
- 1941
The Argentinian romantic comedy Historia de Una Noche was based on a play (billed as a "comedy drama") by Leo Perutz. Pedro Lopez Lagar stars as a profligate playboy who returns to his home town with empty pockets. He learns to his dismay that his sweetheart Sabina Olmos has married a solid, dependable, hard-working chap (Santiago Arrieta). This arouses Lagar's competitive nature, and for the rest of the film he tries to charm his way back into Olmos' good graces. Director Luis Slavasky invests Historia de Una Noche with a wealth of clever cinematic touches, lifting the story quite out of the ordinary. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
