User Reviews

Difficult to know how to rate this film: crap or classic !!

It is a bit of both, of course, and should definitely not be out of circulation. On the negative side, the plot is pretty "cheesy" and Anthony Steel is not "steel" but "wooden." As is everybody else. But the film is really a vehicle for some unique music-making and the "sub-plot" is an interesting travelogue of Spain before the tourists wrecked it !

Antonio, certainly at the time, was regarded as the greatest Flamenco dancer of all time, especially in England (what did they know ?)Whether he was or not, who knows but he is pretty spectacular ! His rendering of Pablo Sarasate's "Zapateado" is magical. Much of the music is conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham, no less; one of the great conductors of history, albeit slightly eccentric in his choice of music. But Falla was right up his street.

A performance of Léonide Massine's production of Falla's "El Amor Brujo." with Antonio playing the lead and Sir Thomas Beecham conducting can only be described as a "classic." There really is nothing else like it anywhere. As a side issue, it is fascinating to see Spain before the British wrecked it. The photography is good. The film originally was in CinemaScope, although, sadly, I have not seen that. Finally, Manuel and the Music of the Mountains had a smash hit with the "Honeymoon Theme."

So lots of positives ! If you can put up with Anthony Steel "hamming" his way through and admittedly lousy part (and he was a British "Matinée Idol" alongside Dirk Bogarde, after all, even if it is no great surprise that his new wife fell for the passionate and sexy "Latin Lover" Antonio!) this film does have some unique elements. I reckon it is worth bringing back for the exceptional "El Amor Brujo" alone - even if my own favourite bit of magic is Antonio dancing down the road to Sarasate's "Zapateado." There aren't many films like this and, because the plot is pretty rotten and the acting rather poor and very dated, people like Amazon probably don't realise that it is a classic !

Before the restoration it was like a travelogue with a few dance sequences.

Now that it's been restored (by Charles Doble) it is like a totally different film. Much better balanced than in previously seen versions where much of the story & the ballets were cut leaving it as little more than a travelogue. The flamenco between Antonio (I) and Carmen Rojas is the sexiest dancing I've ever seen on screen.

However, it does still show the lack of Emeric Pressburger. There are plot holes here & there and nobody can work out why Anthony Steel is there.

But do try to see it, preferably on the big screen (CinemaScope) that it was made for and makes good use of.

Enjoyable film very moving in its style with a superb Flamenco soundtrack and unique photography style . This is a ¨Road movie¨ in which the starring couple travel through several Spanish locations , showing a real sightseeing of the marvellous cities and villages . It deals with Australian Kit Kelly (Anthony Steel) and his new bride Anna (Ludmilla Tchérina) are driving through Galicia , Spain , when they help Antonio who was abandoned by a friend and while he is dancing down the road to Sarasate's "Zapateado" rythm . They then discover he is a famous Spanish dancer , and subsequently Antonio learning that Anna was a ballerina earlier she wedded , and Antonio attempts to persuade her to join his company . Along the way they travelogue across a number of Spanish towns as Santiago De Compostela , Madrid , Teruel , Toledo , Cordoba , Granada , among others . Finally , they meet again when he is representing ¨Amantes de Teruel¨dance spectacle . Here is the color and excitement of Spain...alive with the frenzy of the flamenco and the fires of a chaming love !

Quintaessential Dance film features brilliant and frenetic choreography and embellished thanks to its chromatic aesthetic and a high-caliber Flamenco score , adding sensual re-creations of love , passion , betrayal , and jealousy . The dazzling and devastating dancing set new standards for this splendid musical film in this wildly successful and classical musical of the late Fifities . It is essentially a ballet , that's why it is musically riveting , it is almost, also, perfect and laced with glimmer photography , particularly shown on the spectacular Alhambra De Granada when Ludmilla Tchérina and Antonio dance a sensitive dancing set piece . The glamorous representation: Manuel Falla's "El Amor Brujo¨ or ¨Bewitched Love¨ is the highlighting of the movie , including glorious acting of Léonide Massine and Antonio , it concerns a woman is cursed by a bewitched love and every night she goes to the place where his old lover died to dance with his ghost . This story based on the ancient tradition of promising children to marry each other has love, passion, betrayal, death, lust and redemption . Set on an elaborate stage representation of an Andalusian shanty location- at gypsy caves- in which a lot of dancers dancing splendidly . It is also enhanced by additional songs in the Andalusian style performed by some characters in the movie . Atractive soundtrack conducting Sir Thomas Beecham and Mikis Theodorakis's theme song , Honeymoon , in the film sung by Marino Marine was a classic music , in Spanish as : ¨Nunca sabré¨ sung by notorious singers as Gloria Lasso , Karina , Paloma San Basilio , Albert Hammond and was covered by The Beatles in 1963 as part of their "Pop Go The Beatles" series for BBC radio . Being well starred by Ludmilla Tchérina who formerly performed classic musicals : Red Shoes , The Tales of Hoffmann and in Spain also acted in Parsifal , while the seducer wooden Anthony Steel is miscast . And standing out the fabulous dancer Antonio considered to be one of the greatest Flamenco dancers of all time.

Special mention for the colorful cinematography by George Perinal in CinemaScope , Technicolor , Techniscope . The motion picture financed by powerful producer Cesáreo González and Michael Powell himself , being written by the prestigious Luis Escobar and compellingly made by Michel Powell , and it obtained some prizes as Cannes Film Festival 1959 Winner Technical Grand Prize and Nominee Palme d'Or : Michael Powell. This was one of the best British filmmakers , Michael started working at various jobs in the English studios of Denham and Pinewood on a series of quota quickies . Later on , he made all kinds of genres with penchant for Dramas , Musical and WWII films . As he directed : The tales of Hoffman , The red shoes , The elusive Pimpernel , Pursuit of Graf Spee , The small black room , Black narcisus , Contraband , The thief of Bagdad , Edge of the world , I know where I am going , Night ambush , The lion has wings , Spy in black , The forty-ninth parallel , One of our aircrafts is missing, Life and death of Colonel Blimp , Canterbury tale . Many of them are considered masterpieces, and being produced under banner his production company : The Archers , along with Emeric Pressburger . Powell was rediscovered in the late 1960s and early 70s by Martín Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola . In fact , Powell worked as Senior in Coppola's Zoetrope Studios and he married Scorsese's longtime editor Thelma Schoonmaker. He died of cancer in 1990 . Rating : 8.5/10 . This riveting movie is especially appointed to serious people and fonds about music, dance, and romance , this shouldn't be missed.

If you applaud Michael Powell's tendency towards kitsch, you'll love this over- the-top, Technicolor travelogue, in which grinning Anthony Steel consistently chooses Pepsi over wine, Antonio dementedly dances down real dust-caked country roads, and in very unreal gypsy caves, and nobody really believes in the plot, except as an excuse for another ravishingly photographed Spanish location, or a garishly produced mini-ballet. Antonio's acting is of the flouncing artiste school - but it's in perfect keeping with this whole joyful, zesty farrago of colour and movement, which should be seen in its original Technirama format.