reading

ÍNDICE

INTRODUCTION

FROM THE TWENTIES TO THE FORTIES

Rogues and Romance (1920)

Blood and Sand (1922)

The Spanish Jade (1922)

The Bandolero (1924)

Duck Soup (1933)

Grand Canary (1934)

Desire (1936)

The Last Train from Madrid (1937)

The Bullfighters (1945)

THE FIFTIES

Black Jack (1950)

Pandora and the Flying Dutchman (1951)

Penny Princess (1952)

Babes in Bagdad (1952)

The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952)

Decameron Nights (1953)

Our Girl Friday (1953)

That Man from Tangiers (1953)

Malaga (Fire Over Africa) (1954)

The Black Knight (1954)

King’s Rhapsody (1955)

Richard III (1955)

That Lady (1955)

Contraband Spain (1955)

Thunderstorm (1955)

The Spanish Gardener (1956)

Around the world in 80 Days (1956)

Zarak (1956)

Alexander the Great (1956)

Moby Dick (1956)

The Man Who Never Was (1956)

Port Afrique (1956)

Action Stations (1956)

Chase a Crooked Shadow (1957)

The Pride and the Passion (1957)

The Sun Also Rises (1957)

Sail into Danger (1957)

Action of the Tiger (1957)

Spanish Affair (1957)

Across the Bridge (1957)

Tip on a Dead Jockey (1957)

Interpol (1957)

Sea Fury (1958)

The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958)

South Pacific (1958)

The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw (1958)

The Man Inside (1958)

Wonderful Things (1958)

Soloman and Sheba (1959)

Suddenly Last Summer (1959)

John Paul Jones (1959)

North West Frontier (1959)

Honeymoon (1959)

It started With a Kiss (1959)

Tommy the Toreador (1959)

SOS Pacific (1959)

THE SIXTIES

The Boy Who Stole a Million (1960)

The Three Worlds of Gulliver (1960)

Holiday in Spain/Scent of Mystery (1960)

Spartacus (1960)

September Storm (1960)

Moment of Danger/ Málaga (1960)

King of Kings (1961)

El Cid (1961)

Mysterious Island (1961)

The Colossus of Rhodes (1961)

The Savage Guns (1961)

The Singer Not the Song (1961)

Francis of Assisi (1961)

Billy Budd (1962)

HMS Defiant (1962)

Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

The Happy Thieves (1962)

The Day of the Triffids (1962)

Guns of Darkness (1962)

Commando (1962)

The Running Man (1963)

Cleopatra (1963)

55 Days at Peking (1963)

The Castilian (1963)

The Ceremony (1963)

From Russia with Love (1963)

Woman of Straw (1964)

The Thin Red Line (1964)

A Fistful of Dollars (1964)

The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964)

Circus World (1964)

Wonderful Life (1964)

The Pleasure Seekers (1964)

The Hill (1964)

The Truth about Spring (1964)

Gunfighters of Casa Grande (1964)

Pyro...the Thing without a Face (1964)

Saul and David (1964)

Von Ryan’s Express (1965)

A Few Dollars More (1965)

Chimes at Midnight (1965)

Doctor Zhivago (1965)

The Battle of the Bulge (1965)

Crack in the World (1965)

Finger on the Trigger (1965)

Masquerade (1965)

10.30 P.M. Summer (1965)

Sands of the Kalahari (1965)

The Tramplers (1965)

Joaquín Murrieta (1965)

Navajo Joe (1966)

A Funny thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966)

How I Won the War (1966)

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)

Return of the Seven (1966)

Lost Command (1966)

One Million Years BC (1966)

Kid Rodelo (1966)

Savage Pampas (1966)

The Texican (1966)

The Fantastic World of Doctor Coppelius (1966)

El Greco (1966)

Hallucination Generation (1966)

Finders Keepers (1966)

The Caper of the Golden Bulls (1967)

Camelot (1967)

You Only Live Twice (1967)

Custer of the West (1967)

Tobruk (1967)

The House of a Thousand Dolls (1967)

Fathom (1967)

Bikini Paradise (1967)

The Long Duel (1967)

The Christmas Kid (1967)

Cervantes (1967)

The Bobo (1967)

Grand Slam (1967)

OK Connery (1967)

Bang Bang (1967)

Duffy (1968)

The Magus (1968)

Villa Rides (1968)

Play Dirty (1968)

The Immortal Story (1968)

Beyond the Mountains/The Desperate Ones (1968)

Shalako (1968)

Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)

A Twist of Sand (1968)

The Face of Eve (1968)

Deadfall (1968)

The Vengeance of She (1968)

Son of a Gunfighter (1968)

The Day the Hot Line Got Hot (1968)

The Wild Racers (1968)

Run Like a Thief (1968)

Kiss and Kill (1968)

Ace High (1968)

White Comanche (1968)

They Came to Rob Las Vegas (1968)

Massacre Harbour (1968)

Laughter in the Dark (1969)

The Royal Hunt of the Sun (1969)

100 Rifles (1969)

The Battle of Britain (1969)

A Talent for Loving (1969)

The Castle of Fu Manchu (1969)

Java: East of Krakatoa (1969)

The Valley of Gwangi (1969)

Guns of the Magnificent Seven (1969)

The Desperados (1969)

Hard Contract (1969)

The Land Raiders (1969)

More (1969)

Some Girls Do (1969)

Island of Despair (1969)

Honeymoon with a Stranger (1969)

The Looking Glass War (1969)

Future Women/ The Girl From Rio (1969)

The House that Screamed (1969)

A Candidate for a Killing (1969)

THE SEVENTIES

Count Dracula (1970)

Dracula Versus Frankenstein (1970)

When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth (1970)

Julius Caesar (1970)

Patton (1970)

Cromwell (1970)

The Last Grenade (1970)

The Great White Hope (1970)

Four Rode Out (1970)

A Man Called Sledge (1970)

Figures in a Landscape (1970)

The Condor (1970)

Cannon for Cordoba (1970)

The Buttercup Chain (1970)

Road To Salina (1970)

The Phynx (1970)

Le Mans, Shortcut to Hell (1970)

The Kashmiri Run (1970)

Man in the Wilderness (1971)

Nicholas and Alexandra (1971)

The Light at the Edge of the World (1971)

Blindman (1971)

F for Fake (1971),

The Horsemen (1971)

The Trojan Women (1971)

Hannie Caulder (1971)

Red Sun (1971)

Catlow (1971)

Duck You Sucker/ A Fistful of Dynamite (1971)

Valdez is Coming (1971)

The Deserter (1971)

The Hunting Party (1971)

Doc (1971)

Murders in the Rue Morgue (1971)

A Town called Hell (1971)

Kill (1971)

The Last Run (1971)

Hunt the Man Down/ Bad Man’s River (1971)

Deathwork/ The Guns of April Morning (1971)

Black Beauty (1971)

Rain for a Dusty Summer (1971)

A Gunfight (1971)

The Call of the Wild (1972)

Anthony and Cleopatra (1972)

Treasure Island (1972)

Travels with my Aunt (1972)

Pancho Villa (1972)

Horror Express (1972)

Chato’s Land (1972)

The Strange Vengeance of Rosalie (1972)

Doctor Phibes Rises Again (1972)

What the Peeper Saw/ Night Child (1972)

Innocent Bystanders (1972)

Summertime Killer (1972)

A Reason to Live, A Reason to Die (1972)

A Touch of Class (1973)

Love and Pain and the Whole Damn Thing (1973)

Papillon (1973)

The Three Musketeers (1973)

The Deadly Trackers (1973)

A Man Called Noon (1973)

Chino (1973)

Charley One Eye (1973)

The Final Programme (1973)

Shaft in Africa (1973)

The Adventures of Don Quijote (1973)

The Night of the Sorcerers (1973)

The Corruption of Chris Miller (1973)

My Name is Nobody (1973)

Charge (1973)

The Legend of Blood Castle (1973)

Crypt of the Living Dead (1973)

The Four Musketeers (1974)

What Changed Charley Farthing? (1974)

Stardust (1974)

The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1974)

The Spikes Gang (1974)

And then there were None (1974)

Blood Money/ The Stranger and the Gunfighter (1974)

Touch Me Not (1974)

Watch Out, We’re Mad (1974)

The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue (1974)

The House of the Damned (1974)

B Must Die (1974)

The House of Exorcism (1975)

The Land that Time Forgot (1975)

Three for All (1975)

The Passenger (1975)

The Wind and the Lion (1975)

Once is not Enough (1975)

Take a Hard Ride (1975)

Breakout (1975)

The Adolescents (1975)

Zorro (1975)

Cry Onion! (1975)

Robin and Marian (1976)

Voyage of the Damned (1976)

Journey to the Centre of the Earth (1976)

Spanish Fly (1976)

The Story of David (1976)

Island of the Damned (1976)

Blue Jeans and Dynamite (1976)

The Four Feathers (1977)

Valentino (1977)

Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (1977)

The Last Remake of Beau Geste (1977)

March or Die (1977)

The People that Time Forgot (1977)

Widows’ Nest (1977)

The Black Pearl (1977)

Battleflag (1977)

Impossible Love (1977)

The Lord of the Rings (1978)

Clayton Drumm (1978)

The Thief of Baghdad (1978)

The Nativity (1978)

The Greatest Battle (1978)

China 9, Liberty 37 (1978)

Cuba (1979)

Bloodbath (1979)

Jaguar Lives! (1979)

The House on Garibaldi Street (1979)

THE EIGHTIES

Rough Cut (1980)

Black Jack (1980)

City of the Walking Dead/ Nightmare City (1980)

The Martian Chronicles (1980)

Reborn (1980)

Reds (1981)

Monster Island (1981)

Clash of the Titans (1981)

Coming at Ya (1981)

Evil Under the Sun (1982)

Conan the Barbarian (1982)

Best Revenge (1982)

Triumphs of a Man Called Horse (1982)

Black Commando (1982)

Pieces (1982)

Dragon Blood (1982)

Never Say Never Again (1983)

Krull (1983)

The Curse of the Pink Panther (1983)

The Treasure of the Four Crowns (1983)

Escape from El Diablo (1983)

The Keep (1983)

Bolero (1984)

The Hit (1984)

Yellow Hair and the Fortress of Gold (1984)

Eleni (1984)

Neverending Story (1984)

Scarab (1984)

Hydra-Monster of the Deep (1984)

Ibiza Connection (1984)

Lace (1984)

The Sun Also Rises (1984)

Meals on Wheels (1984)

Monster Dog (1984)

Black Arrow (1985)

Flesh and Blood (1985)

Rustlers’ Rhapsody (1985)

Bad Medicine (1985)

Enemy Mine (1985)

Dust (1985)

Star Knight (1985)

Christopher Columbus (1985)

Alien Predator (1985)

Solar Babies (1986)

Gunbus/ Sky Pirates (1986)

Crystal Heart (1986)

Instant Justice (1986)

Eliminators (1986)

Harem (1986)

Strong Medicine (1986)

The Empire of the Sun (1987)

Monsignor Quixote (1987)

Siesta (1987)

Good Morning Babylon (1987)

Straight to Hell (1987)

Dark Tower (1987)

The Trouble with Spies (1987)

Crystalstone (1987)

The Living Daylights (1987)

Neat and Tidy (1987)

Beaks (The Movie) (1987)

Anguish (1987)

Rest in Pieces (1987)

Dark Mission (1988)

The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988)

Rowing in the Wind (1988)

Slugs (1988)

A Time of Destiny (1988)

Counterforce (1988)

Iguana (1988)

The Most Dangerous Man in the World (1988)

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)

The Return of the Musketeers (1989)

Fine Gold (1989)

Blood and Sand (1989)

Time to Kill (1989)

The Man in the Brown Suit (1989)

Twisted Obsession (1989)

The White Room (1989)

Esmeralda Bay (1989)

A Man of Passion (1989)

The Shell Seekers (1989)

THE NINETIES

Bethune The Making of a Hero (1990)

Angel at My Table (1990)

Dr. M (1990)

Navy Seals (1990)

Honeymoon Academy (1990)

Cthulhu Mansion (1990)

Arrivederci Millwall (1990)

The Rift (1990)

Hot Blood (1990)

City Slickers (1991)

Immortal Sins (1991)

Born to Ride (1991)

Operation Condor (1991)

José Carreras: My Barcelona (1991)

Eye of the Widow (1991)

Under the Sun (1992)

Shooting Elizabeth (1992)

1492: The Conquest of Paradise (1992)

Christopher Columbus: The Discovery (1992)

Revolver (1992)

The Sands of Time (1992)

Remember (1993)

Death and the Maiden (1994)

Uncovered (1994)

Barcelona (1994)

A Business Affair (1994)

Doomsday Gun (1994)

Land and Freedom (1995)

Two Much (1995)

Vendetta (1995)

Costa Brava (1995)

Sons of Trinity (1995)

Blue Juice (1995)

The Disappearance of Garcia Lorca (1996)

Evita (1996)

Killer Tongue (1996)

Eye for an Eye (1996)

Wilde (1997)

In Praise of Older Women (1997)

Talk of Angels (1998)

Spanish Fly (1998)

Dollar for the Dead (1998)

Three Businessmen (1998)

Diana: A Tribute to the People’s Princess (1998)

The Sea Change (1998)

Amazing Women by the Sea (1998)

Presence of Mind (1999)

The Ninth Gate (1999)

The World is not Enough (1999)

Outlaw Justice (1999)

Plunkett & Macleane (1999)

The Last Seduction II (1999)

All The King’s Men (1999)

The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Spring Break Adventure (1999)

Camino de Santiago (1999)

The Strange Case of Delphina Potocka or The Mystery of Chopin (1999)

THE NOUGHTIES

The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Espionage Escapades (2000)

The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: My First Adventure (2000)

Love and Basketball (2000)

Sexy Beast (2000)

Faust: Love of the Damned (2000)

One of the Hollywood Ten (2000)

Helter Skelter (2000)

Kevin & Perry Go Large (2000)

Don Quixote (2000)

Sabotage (2000)

The Pilgrim factor (2000)

Happy Days (2000)

Off Key (2001)

Moulin Rouge (2001)

The Others (2001)

Gaudi Afternoon (2001)

Dagon (2001)

The Discovery of Heaven (2001)

Arachnid (2001)

Stranded (2001)

Megiddo: The Omega Code 2 (2001)

Intact (2001)

Baby Blue (2001)

Sword of Honour (2001)

Is Harry on the Boat? (2001)

Hemingway, the Hunter of Death (2001)

Hornblower: Mutiny (2001)

Die Another Day (2002)

Star Wars: Attack of the Clones (2002)

Callas Forever (2002)

The Dancer Upstairs (2002)

Food of Love (2002)

Come Together (2002)

Darkness (2002)

Welcome 2 Ibiza (2002)

Mystics (2002)

The Bourne Identity (2002)

High Speed (2002)

Second Name (2002)

Incubus (2002)

Morvern Callar (2002)

Chopin, Desire for Love (2002)

Lost in La Mancha (2002)

L’Auberge Espagnole (2002)

Bear’s Kiss (2002)

Angel of Death (2002)

The Galindez File (2003)

The Emperor’s Wife (2003)

Face of Terror (2003)

The Life of David Gale (2003)

The Visual Bible: The Gospel of John (2003)

Beyond Re-Animator (2003)

The Tulse Luper Suitcases (2003)

Imagining Argentina (2003)

Kombi Nation (2003)

Jericho Mansions (2003)

Oh Marbella! (2003)

Seeing Double (2003)

Are We There Yet? (2003)

Cambridge Spies (2003)

A Talking Picture (2003)

The Reckoning (2004)

The Bridge of San Luis Rey (2004)

The Machinist (2004)

It’s all Gone Pete Tong (2004)

Ae Fond Kiss (2004)

Rottweiller (2004)

Art Heist (2004)

Blueberry (2004)

Fakers (2004)

The Birthday (2004)

Crusader (2004)

Glitterati (2004)

Romasanta: The Werewolf Hunt (2004)

People (2004)

Merlin (2004)

Visions of Europe (2004)

Within the Way Without (2004)

Kingdom of Heaven (2005)

Sahara (2005)

Fragile (2005)

The Hitch-hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (2005)

Soldier of God (2005)

Americano (2005)

Beneath Still Waters (2005)

The Business (2005)

The Secret Life of Words (2005)

The Nun (2005)

Wannabe (2005)

Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo (2005)

Runt (2005)

A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2005)

A Sound of Thunder (2005)

One Day in Europe (2005)

The Kovak Box (2006)

Goya’s Ghosts (2006)

Perfume: the Story of a Murderer (2006)

Cargo (2006)

Tirant Lo Blanc (2006)

Backwoods (2006)

Mysterious Creatures (2006)

The Deal (2006)

Moscow Zero (2006)

Find Her, Keep Her (2006)

The Stoning (2006)

The Cheetah Girls 2 (2006)

The Fall (2006)

Ride Around the World (2006)

The 9/11 Commission Report (2006)

Savage Grace (2007)

El Greco (2007)

Body Armour (2007)

Four Last Songs (2007)

Velocity (2007)

Intergalactic Combat (2007)

Blackout (2007)

Irina Palm (2007)

The Heart of the Earth (2007)

Hidden Camera (2007)

Goal 2 (2007)

Never Sleeps (2007)

The Matador’s Mistress (2008)

Vantage Point (2008)

The Bourne Ultimatum (2008)

Che: Part 2 (2008)

Vicky, Cristina Barcelona (2008)

The Garden of Eden (2008)

Deception (2008)

Little Ashes (2008)

Unnatural Causes (2008)

Black Forest Gateau (2008)

The Twisted Tale of Bloody Mary (2008)

Ser o Estar (2008)

Donkey Punch (2008)

The El Escorial Conspiracy (2008)

The Crew (2008)

Reflections (2008)

Stevie (2008)

Sing For Darfur (2008)

Goodnight Irene (2008)

Telstar: the Joe Meek Story (2008)

My Life in Ruins (2009)

Green Zone (2009)

The Limits of Control (2009)

Triage (2009)

Tetro (2009)

Open Graves (2009)

The Frost (2009)

Paintball (2009)

The Damned United (2009)

The Third Testament: The Antichrist and the Harlot (2009)

Nothing Personal (2009)

My Last Five Girlfriends (2009)

The Lost (2009)

Original (2009)

Just Shy of Being (2009)

THE TWENTY TENS

Knight and Day (2010)

Mr. Nice (2010)

Clash of the Titans (2010)

The Way (2010)

Buried (2010)

The Disciple (2010)

Four Lions (2010)

I Want to Be a Soldier (2010)

Room in Rome (2010)

Magic Journey to Africa (2010)

Exorcismus (2010)

Puzzled Love (2010)

Di Di Hollywood (2010)

Mad Dogs (2010)

Underground (2010)

Maximum Shame (2010)

Circuit (2010)

Katmandu (2011)

Powder (2011)

The Honey Killer (2011)

The Impossible (2011)

The Cold Light of Day (2011)

Weekender (2011)

11-11-11 (2011)

There Be Dragons (2011)

Intruders (2011)

We Need to Talk about Kevin (2011)

Haywire (2011)

Jack and Jill (2011)

The Inbetweeners (2011)

Boronia Backpackers (2011)

The Perfect Stranger (2011)

Trangression (2011)

Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (2011)

Checkout (2011)

Road to Wacken (2011)

Apartment 143 (2011)

Haunted Poland (2011)

Saving Isis (2012)

Red Lights (2012)

A Puerta Fria (2012)

The Dictator (2012)

The Zig Zag Kid (2012)

Cloud Atlas (2012)

Wrath of the Titans (2012)

Stranger Within (2012)

The Strange Case of Wilhelm Reich (2012)

Deranged (2012)

Dancing Dogs (2012)

Invader (2012)

Miami II Ibiza (2012)

Ibiza: My Way or the Highway (2012)

Animals (2012)

The Corpse Grinders 3 (2012)

Things We Do for Love (2012)

The Wine of Summer (2013)

Spook (2013)

The Nowhere Son (2013)

Grand Piano (2013)

The Fast and the Furious 6 (2013)

The Counselor (2013)

The Macabre Ayahuasca Hammer Experience (2013)

Mindscape (2013)

Wax (2013)

Blue Lips (2013)

Open Windows (2013)

Panzer Chocolate (2013)

Kid Gloves (2013)

A Long Way Down (2013)

Leaving Hotel Romatic (2013)

Another Me (2013)

Mama (2013)

Afflicted (2013)

A Night in Old Mexico (2013)

The World (2013)

Encontrados en NYC (2013)

The Liberator (2013)

Paper, Scissors, Stone (2013)

Violet (2013)

10,000 km (2014)

Stunt Games (2014)

Exodus: Gods and Kings (2014)

Traces of Sandalwood (2014)

A Perfect Day (2014)

Summer Camp (2015)

Let the Die Be Cast: Initium (2014)

Twice upon a Time in the West (2014)

Six Bullets to Hell (2014)

Seve the Movie (2014)

Aloft (2014)

The Afterglow (2014)

Shooting for Socrates (2014)

Brokeback Mountain (2014)

Mosquito: A Fistful of Bitcoins (2015)

Summer Camp (2015)

The Gunman (2015)

The Rezort (2015)

Never Let Go (2015)

The Hunting of the Snark (2015)

In the Heart of the Sea (2015)

Jupiter Ascending (2015)

Tomorrowland (2015)

Nobody Wants the Night (2015)

Don’t Speak (2015)

Taken 3 (2015)

Sweet Home (2015)

Shadows in the Distance (2015)

The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2015)

Extinction (2015)

Don’t Grow Up (2015)

Second Origin (2015)

The Forsaken (2015)

The Evil that Men Do (2015)

Monsoon Tide (2015)

Carpe Diem (2015)

The Singleton (2015)

Vampyres (2015)

Dance Angels (2016)

The Night Watchman (2016)

Stopover in Hell (2016)

History’s Future (2016)

Anomalous (2016)

Erasmus (2016)

My Bakery in Brooklyn (2016)

Wild Oats (2016)

D is for Detroit (2016)

Assassin’s Creed (2016)

Altamira (2016)

Mine (2016)

Risen (2016)

Realive (2016)

A Monster Calls (2016)

The Chosen (2016)

The Promise (2016)

All I See is You (2016)

What About Love (2016)

Brimstone (2016)

Jason Bourne (2016)

Foe (2016)

Voyeur (2016)

White Island (2016)

The Night Manager (2016)

Gernika (2016)

Allied (2016)

Blood Orange (2016)

Me Before You (2016)

Renzo (2016)

Lucas (2016)

Seat in Shadow (2016)

Toxic Apocalypse (2016)

Ibiza Undead (2016)

Barcelona: a Love Untold (2016)

I Love Her (2017)

The Girl From the Song (2017)

Rise of the Footsoldier 3 (2017)

Megan Leavey (2017)

It Came from the Desert (2017)

Coco (2017)

Gunned Down (2017)

Cold Skin (2017)

The Kill Team (2017)

Black Hollow Cage (2017)

The Bookshop (2017)

Marrowbone (2017)

Geostorm (2017)

Blade Runner 2049 (2017)

Maus (2017)

Submergence (2017)

Still Star-Crossed (2017)

Maniac Tales (2017)

Dirty White Lies/ Sea of Lies (2017)

Yerma (2017)

Solo (2017)

Luz (2018)

Agent Kelly (2018)

Fishbone (2018)

Escape From Marwin (2018)

Dancing with Sancho Panza (2018)

Onyx: Kings of the Grail (2018)

Dead on Time (2018)

The Sisters Brothers (2018)

Han Solo (2018)

The Man Who Killed Don Quixote (2018)

Ibiza (2018)

Blackwood (2018)

The Titan (2018)

Trained to Kill (2018)

The Price of Death (2018)

Domino (2018)

Hello Au Revoir (2018)

The F**k it List (2018)

Sonja: The White Swan (2018)

The Bounty Killer (2018)

Legionnaire’s Trail (2018)

After the Lethargy (2018)

Trevor (2018)

The Rhythm Section (2019)

The Matador’s Cape (2019)

Wonder Woman 1984 (2019)

The Kill Team (2019)

Terminator Reboot (2019)

The Hustle (2019)

Be Happy! (the musical) (2019)

Love Unlimited (2019)

Never Outshine the Master (2019)

The Middle Man (2019)

King of Crime (2019)

Rambo 5 (2019)

War Pigs (2019)

I’ll See What I Can Do (2019)

Remember Me (2019)

Paradise Hills (2019)

Chasing Satellites (2019)

GALERÍA DE IMÁGENES

FROM THE TWENTIES TO THE FORTIES

Rogues and Romance (1920)

In the days long before Franco would happily loan his period piece army to American producers, the Kingdom of Spain would not allow fight scenes to be filmed on its soil, and consequently a Spanish village was built for this film in Larchmont, New York State.

Some non-violent scenes were however permitted in Algeciras, Cadiz, Granada, Sevilla and Malaga, where the mountains of Ronda were a popular place to film films about banditry. And for banditry!

On the other hand, perhaps it was the subject matter, about a Spanish revolutionary abducting a rich, American girl that triggered the refusal.

This silent movie was directed by George B Seitz, who also played the part of the rich father.

Blood and Sand (1922)

This silent movie (although they would have been speaking English if we could have heard them) starring Rudolph Valentino, was set in Sevilla, although largely shot in Hollywood studios by Fred Niblo, who made the first version of ‘Ben Hur’ among other things.

According to Francisco Perales, Sevilla University teacher and author of books about Hollywood in Spain, a second film unit was sent to Sevilla for background shots, and so we can see the famous Giralda tower and Calle Mateos Gago, with its typical orange trees (not so orange in black and white of course, nor rustling pleasantly in the whispering breeze, come to think of it).

The film is one of several based on the book by the Valencian writer Vicente Blasco Ibañez.

The film contains all the kitsch of films of that epoch, with exaggerated gestures and intense, moody staring at the camera. In an early scene we see one of Juan Gallardo’s (Valentino’s) friends mortally wounded by a bull, and Juan, instead of helping him, rushes off, kills the bull and only then rushes back for his friend’s final seconds. Priorities are priorities after all!

The film is all about rags to riches, with our hero living in a hovel with strategically placed brickwork protruding from the broken plaster just to prove the point, and an array of colourful characters dressed in carefully-crafted rags.

The soundtrack couldn’t have cost much, consisting of droning organ music, as if somebody were working up the energy to compose a dirge.

Our hero is too weak to wholly love the woman he loves, falling inevitably into the wicked clutches of the nefarious Doña Sol. Doña Sol’s servant is perhaps the most intriguing character, dressed like something out of Arabian Nights, or possibly Arabian Mornings After, and of uncertain gender, it prances around casting meaningful looks that turn out to have nothing to do with anything; “meaning nothing” as Shakespeare pointed out.

The various bullfights, although made in a studio, are interspersed with real bullfight footage, presumably shot by director Fred Niblo’s second crew. A large advertisement for El Aguila beer, whose first brewery was opened in Madrid in 1900, is clearly visible in one scene.

The original brewery in Calle Ramírez de Prado, nº 3 was closed in 1985 and is now a regional library.

After making enquiries at the Library, bullfighting enthusiasts working there told me that the bullring images could have been filmed at Pamplona (Navarra), Alicante or Zamora bullrings, although it might also have been the now demolished Fuente del Berro bullring in Madrid.

The Spanish Jade (1922)

It is amazing to think that when Alfred Hitchcock was just starting out in the film business, that he came to Spain, to Sevilla in fact, as a location scout, when working as title designer on this silent movie, which is officially classified as ‘lost’.

Among the ‘Spanish’ cast of this American film were British actor David Powell and Australian Marc McDermott.

Canadian John S Robertson directed. He was the inspiration for the song ‘Old John Robertson’ on the legendary ‘Notorious Byrd Brothers’ album by The Byrds.

The Bandolero (1924)

Although a silent movie, this was one of the first American productions made in Spain (and Cuba), and was shot entirely in English, but with subtitles obviously.

Pedro de Cordoba, Gustav von Seyffertitz, and Renée Adorée starred in a film about ravishing bandits (bandits who ravish I mean to say), directed by Tom Terriss.

Manuel Granado, a young Argentine actor was actually gored by a bull in the bullring at Cordoba during shooting; footage which found its way opportunistically into the final cut. Ouch!

Duck Soup (1933)

One town where Hollywood has left a lasting impression is the village of Loja, situated in the mountains of Granada province.

Although the Marx Brothers were never there, for some reason lost in the mists of time, an image of the village appears at the beginning of the film, supposedly portraying the kingdom of Sylvania.

The place from where the photo was taken has since been renamed ‘Mirador (viewpoint) de Sylvania’, and silhouettes of three of the Brothers have been erected there to commemorate its brief moment of glory.

Mussolini banned this film about political misdeeds, which is always a good reason for revisiting it.

Grand Canary (1934)

Despite the name, the film was mostly shot on the southern, sunnier shores of Tenerife Island rather than Gran Canaria, from which it takes its name.

In the film the island is suffering from an epidemic of Yellow Fever, with just a dash of cholera to add variety, which isn’t the best kind of tourist promotion, but then no news is bad news.

Maybe the producers confused ‘yellow’ with ‘tanned’, which is not surprising on an island that averages 255 sunny days per year.

Based on the novel of the same name by A.J. Cronin and directed by Irving Cummings, the film tells the story of a doctor in disgrace who heads for a new life in tropical climes, only to find sweaty love, jealousy and sickness.

The Spanish authorities were not amused by the film, and diplomatic protests were registered about the poor image of the Canaries and, perhaps worst of all, the positioning of Spain’s highest mountain in Gran Canaria island instead of Tenerife, where it can usually be found.

The doctor was played by Warner Baxter, who was not only the first American to win the Academy Award for Best Actor, but also lived through the San Francisco earthquake of 1906.

Desire (1936)

Gary Cooper is on his way from Paris to San Sebastian in Guipúzcoa for a holiday, when he runs across jewel thief Marlene Dietrich, who uses him to smuggle some jewels into Spain (Cooper is only smuggling cigarettes, although his greatest crime here is his singing).

Once there, after an eventful trip in which donkeys play a prominent part, they meet up in the Hotel Continental Palace, (opened in 1884 and closed in 1972).

Unfortunately the stars never made it to Spain in the year for whom the bells tolled, although a film crew was despatched to film the images that formed a backdrop.

As a portal for Spanish tourism, Cooper’s phrase “what a country! What eggs!” must be one of the most original tourist slogans ever invented, and one that surprisingly hasn’t been borrowed by the Spanish authorities. Yet.

About half an hour into the film we see brief scenes of San Sebastian’s famous curving Concha beach, its promenade ‘Paseo Nuevo’ with its tamarind trees and the Alderdi Eder square, where the Town Hall stands.

San Sebastian must have been extraordinarily international in the 30s; according to the film, the local newspaper, ‘Diario de San Sebastian’, was published entirely in English (which is even more amazing when considering that it had ceased publishing back in 1887), and the customs officers who discover Cooper’s cigarettes speak impeccable Oxford English.

The looming Urgull Mountain can also briefly be seen in the film, with its castle and English cemetery, a reminder of the siege of the city in 1813, when the Duke of Wellington defeated Napoleon’s troops (and then rather churlishly burnt the town).

When Cooper and Dietrich leave the hotel they drive through some ‘typical’ Spanish scenery, replete with rocky crags and rushing rivers.

They also drive out of Toledo, across the San Martín bridge with the castle of San Servando (now a Youth Hostel) behind them. Their journey ends at the Villa Rubio in non-existent Guadarale.

The Last Train from Madrid (1937)

Inevitably an American fim about the SpanishCivil War couldn’t be made in Spain in 1937 without connivance from one side or the other, and this one had to observe American neutrality.

Nevertheless, historical records show that some of the footage in the film was actually from Spain.

Specifically, at the beginning, the images of destruction of what is supposed to be Madrid, were in fact of Palencia, while an aerial bombardment of the capital came from Soviet sources; despite which it was included.

Anthony Quinn appears in an early role, beginning a life-long relationship with Spain.

The Bullfighters (1945)

‘The Bullfighters,’ directed by Mal St. Clair, stars none other than Laurel and Hardy in their penultimate film together, and in which Stan has to face up to the bulls down Mexico way.

The famous duo never actually made it to Spain, but according to Ramon Herrera, author of ‘La Cineclopedia Navarra’, the film contains some documentary inserts from the early 40s of bulls being released in the bullring of Pamplona, Navarra, following the famous bull run of the festival of San Fermin, made internationally famous by the writings of Ernest Hemingway.

THE FIFTIES

Black Jack (1950)

George Sanders, who would later make several films in Spain and finally commit suicide here, (although that kind of tourism is not encouraged), is the star, playing a drug smuggler in a film that suffered all sorts of setbacks during seven months of filming in Mallorca.

Among the turquoise waters of Mallorca’s glorious coves is Cala Barques, situated seven kilometres from Pollença, separated from Cala Clara by Punta dels Ferrers and belonging to the four beaches called Cala Sant Vicenç, the setting for this film.

The spectacular ravine and river at Torrent de Pareis was also used, and would become a popular set for many films to come, including ‘Cloud Atlas’. Nicaresco, an immoral ship’s Captain comes ashore at Torrent de Pareis and then walks to Palma; a heroic feat if we know our geography.

He comes across George Sanders, painting to forget the war and flame-throwers, whose first words are “there’s something about Spanish architecture that gets me.”

Clearly this is a complex character, who quotes the Ancient Greeks as he drifts towards a clear conscience and death.

We see the castle of Bellver, on the outskirts of Palma, four times; three times in the distance, when Sander’s boat leaves harbour to check out the refugee ship, when he chases Nicaresco, recently turned mass murderer, through the harbour, and when the police set off to chase and kill poor George, who would return many years later to Spain to commit suicide. The best view however is when Mrs Burg arrives by plane and announces that she always wanted to buy a Spanish castle, as she circles above it.

Many Spanish performers, including the legendary flamenco singer Lola Flores, participated in the film’s making.

One popular cabaret, later dance hall and discothèque, installed in an old windmill at Es Jonquet, even took its name from the film: ‘Jack el Negro’ in 1952.

‘Black Jack’ was directed by Frenchman Julien Duvivier, with Patricia Roc taking the female lead.

Pandora and the Flying Dutchman (1951)

Just as in Barcelona’s port a statue of Christopher Columbus looks out to sea, so from the heights of the Vila Vella castle on the Costa Brava’s Tossa de Mar, Girona, a statue of a scantily clad Ava Gardner has stared moodily out to sea since 2000.

In April 1950 that most beautiful of all animals was in Spain working on this film with James Mason.

Gardner may have been the best sexual beast for the job, or the studios may have wanted to put a few pants between her and her married lover Frank Sinatra.

Whatever the reason, Gardner spent most of her time filming the beach scenes at El Castell between Tossa de Mar and Palamós, while the interior scenes looked down upon the beach behind the emblematic towers of the castle; although this is in fact impossible, as there is nowhere in Tossa from where you could look down at that angle. It was in fact a studio fabrication.

The surrealist painter Man Ray contributed a painting, designed a chess set and did some of the still photography, which was after all shot in the town where Chagall had lived in the thirties; information not unknown to the art loving American director Albert Lewin.

Lewin chose Tossa over his original choices of Greece or Italy after a meeting with the Catalan businessman Albert Puig Palau in London in 1949. Palau, a film buff himself, convinced Lewin to visit the Costa Brava, and the die was cast.

The story does in fact take place in Spain, in the mythical seaport of Esperanza, which means ‘Hope,’ where the ghost of the Flying Dutchman, who has given up all hope (clever?), played spectrally by James Mason, becomes the object of Ava’s lust, when she’s not seducing her daily brace of bullfighters.

Mason plays the ghost with the passion of an old English butler, bringing a new dimension to the concept of stiffness, seemingly standing at eternal attention.

When Mason says “I love you Pandora,” he speaks like a true Englishman, making his declaration of love sound like a curt refusal to pay a library fine.

The love story contains a ‘ménage a cinq,’ with smouldering looks all around in what passes for passion among Anglo-Saxons. The five include a Spanish bullfighter, Mario Cabré, who, even if he plays it as rigidly as all the rest, does at least have the good taste and criteria to stab Mason in the back, only to be gored himself by a bull, which does not appear in the credits despite a welcome performance.

The bullfight took place in the ‘Plaza de Toros’ in Girona, now demolished, and the locals, unlike the citizens of Tossa, who were paid the princely sum of 25 pesetas a day to participate in the film, actually paid for the privilege of watching the ‘Corrida’.

It is never quite explained what a large group of obviously well-off, tuxedoed ex-pats are doing in Esperanza, a Catalan village (the fishermen are actually speaking the banned at the time Catalan language when they find the bodies at the beginning) or how their luxurious surroundings are integrated with an otherwise fairly poor fishing village, whose only bar looks and sounds suspiciously Andalusian, complete with gypsies dancing flamenco, one of which was a famous dancer of the time, La Pillina.

In real life the stars occupied suites at the Hotel Peninsular in Girona, an advertisement for which can be seen in the scenes shot in the town bullring. Ava Gardner had suite 103, although the press insinuated that she spent her nights in room 53 with the film’s bullfighter Mario Cabré, one of many Iberian machos who succumbed to her charms and liberal favours over the years. News of their passion reached Frank Sinatra in Hollywood, causing him to grab a plane to Spain, and arrive with a large emerald necklace (the colour of envy) and a vile temper.

Photos of Sinatra, accompanied by musician James Van Heusen, visiting the Villa Vella castle abound in Tossa, as do rumours and misinformation.

He finally caught up with Ava at Las Gavinas Hotel in S’Agora, and whether this reunion resolved the problem caused by Ava’s ability to turn brave bullfighters into clinging children, is not known.

Gardner would later write in her auto-biography that she found Cabré presumptuous, proud and noisy, although she added that after a night full of stars, drinking and flamenco, she woke up the next morning in bed with him.

Tossa came off better in her book; she remembered it as having shady squares and bubbling fountains, with market stalls everywhere full of fish.

The Peninsular Hotel in Calle Sant Francesc, is run by Asunció Niccolazzi, whose grand-father had the dubious pleasure of serving Ava breakfast in her room. Her great grandfather had founded the hotel in 1853.

Surprisingly it was the presence of so many Americans that saw orange juice introduced onto the hotel breakfast menu, and Ava apparently ate nothing but strawberries, only using her room to change.

Asunció told me that she was present when Ava and Mario first met, in her hotel, and how he blushed when she kissed him on the cheek, maintaining that their romance was in reality an exercise in marketing.

Asunció, who spent two and a half years interned in an air force base during the civil war, is full of anecdotes about the event that introduced Girona and Tossa to the world at large, and about the uproar that the making of the film caused in a city where “nothing ever happened”.

Girona now has a Cinema Museum, which is probably not unconnected with the events that took place there during the spring of 1950.

Finding out where the stars stayed in Tossa isn’t easy, and many locals have their own version, but a chat with the town archivist David Morè clarified that James Mason stayed at a little town house called Casa Draper at number 3 Calle San Josep, whereas Ava was higher up the hill in a villa called Can Batista.

The technical staff stayed at the Hotel Ancora, now demolished and replaced by apartments and a car park, and at Hotel Rovira, which still stands along the seafront in Passeig de Mossèn Cinto Verdaguer, although much expanded. The original building is the part to the left of the main door as you enter.

It was in the Rovira that the team would have their lunches, and would be taught by the landlady, Antonieta how to eat a crab without losing dignity or clean trousers.

The datedness of the film gives us some thrilling moments, like when Stephen (Nigel Patrick) leans over his car in the garage smoking a cigarette as flammable liquids pour out of the damaged engine. No doubt contractual obligations to the tobacco industry had to be fulfilled.

Stephen too is in love with Pandora, and she persuades him to push his favourite sports car off a cliff to prove his love to her after a whirlwind drive along the coast road just north of Tossa. Later she allows him to recover and repair the car, proving (to her) that he doesn’t really love her after all, and that women are really not so complicated.

Pandora was, in Greek myth, the first mortal woman, bestowed by Zeus upon humanity, whose curiosity in opening her box brought evil into the world, although at least she never asked anyone to give up their favourite car.

One place where Ava is remembered is the Hotel Tonet in the Plaça Església, where photos of her stay in Tossa are exhibited.

Penny Princess (1952)

Described by newcomer Dirk Bogarde as being as funny as a baby’s coffin, Penny Princess was filmed in Catalonia in the Natural Park of Montseny on the border between Barcelona and Girona provinces, and in Mallorca, both of which represented a Kingdom called Lompidorra, located fortunately for us very precisely in the film at the second turn to the right after you pass Mont Blanc.

New York shop-girl, Yolande Donlan, inherits this small European principality in true Grace Kelly style but without the marriage, and meets a London department store cheese salesman, Dirk Bogarde. Between them they design a mixture of cheese and Schnapps, which they call Schneeze, designed to boost the local economy.

The plot doesn’t get much better, and the outcome is inevitable, but at least the scenery is nice.

Val Guest directed, and later married Yolande.

Babes in Bagdad (1952)

The star of this Arabian fantasy was Charlie Chaplin’s very own Paulette Godard, who unfortunately didn’t bring silence to a movie with appalling acting and degrading dialogue.

There is an early suggestion of feminism in a film that includes among its actors both Lees: Gypsy Rose and Christopher, who plays a slave dealer in a black silk dress, as he remembered it.

While in Spain, Gypsy Rose Lee lost a husband called Julio but gained a cat called Gaudí, named after the famous Catalan architect. Gaudí’s city, Barcelona, was one of the locations, where shooting took place for seven months at studios in Montjuic.

Director Edgar Ulmer was forced to ‘adopt’ a Spanish co-director in order to gain a state subsidy for a film he didn’t even want to make.

The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952)

Tortured Gregory Peck plays Hemingway surrogate Harry Street in the film version of the great man’s book.

Street recalls his life, including two episodes in Spain.

First of all we find him at Pamplona, Navarra, watching a bullfight and then losing his woman to a Flamenco dancer.

Later he is in Madrid, at the front, fighting half-heartedly for the Republic.

Decameron Nights (1953)

The film is an adaptation of Bocaccio’s ‘Decameron’ starring Joan Fontaine with studio work in England and locations for authentic Italian scenery filmed in the Moorish Alhambra palace of Granada, with the actors staying at the Hotel Alhambra Palace.

The walls of Ávila open the film as the inhabitants of Florence flee from a mercenary army and Boccaccio arrives to teach us about love.

When he rides from Ávila/Florence in search of Fiametta (Fontaine), the aqueduct of Segovia can be seen in the background as he approaches her house.

Later, when Fontaine plays a female doctor who saves the king’s life, the locals celebrate his salvation dancing beneath the Alcázar castle of Segovia.