Directed by Luis García Berlanga • 1956 • Spain
Starring Edmund Gwenn, Valentina Cortese, Juan Calvo
In one of Luis García Berlanga’s gentlest comedies, an aging American scientist (Oscar winner Edmund Gwenn) goes incognito, trading in his career as a prominent atomic-bomb expert for a tranquil retirement on the Mediterranean coast. While in hiding, he cultivates the persona of a friendly wanderer, finding companions among his neighbors and using his pyrotechnical expertise to create a dazzling fireworks display for the local fiesta. Where Berlanga’s most acclaimed films skewer the blinkered provincialism of village life, this heartfelt valentine to small-town Spain celebrates the friendships that hold such tight-knit communities together.
Up Next in Directed by Luis García Berlanga
-
Miracles of Thursday
Directed by Luis García Berlanga • 1957 • Spain
Starring Richard Basehart, José Isbert, Paola StoppaLooking for ways to boost the local economy, leaders in the village of Fuentecilla set their hopes on a medicinal spa that was once a popular destination but has since fallen on hard times. With ...
-
Plácido
Directed by Luis García Berlanga • 1961 • Spain
Starring Cassen, José Luis López Vázquez, Elvira QuintilláWidely considered one of the greatest works of Spanish cinema, this relentlessly paced satire chronicles an ill-advised charity campaign sweeping across a small industrial town on Christmas...
-
The Executioner
Directed by Luis García Berlanga • 1963 • Italy, Spain
Starring Nino Manfredi, Emma Penella, José IsbertThis masterpiece of black humor, beloved in Spain but too little seen elsewhere, threads a scathing critique of Franco-era values through a macabre farce about an undertaker who marries an ex...
