7/10
Murder mystery by the great Edgar Neville , set in the atmospheric Madrid during Carnival days
27 November 2017
Carnival Sunday (1945) is the story of a weird crime is unwound during carnival days in 1910s Madrid in this stunning Spanish film . Spledidly directed by Edgar Neville Romrée , Count of Berlanga de Duero (28 December 1899 – 23 April 1967) who was a Spanish playwright and film director, a member of the "other" Generation of '27. "Domingo De Carnaval" is an interesting , entertaining , well paced thriller ; besides , being full of intrigue and comedy . A very well made movie in which the roles are correctly presented and magnificently interpreted . Set early XX century at a ¨Castizo¨ Madrid and in a popular ¨Corrala¨ , there happens a mean pawnbroker is killed during the carnival's first day . A Commissioner (Fernando Fernan Gómez) investigates the strange murder and there are several suspicious people . Nieves (Conchita Montes , Neville's wife , as improvised detective) , daughter of the prime suspect (Joaquin Roa) , also begins her own investigation to discover the true killer . Who is the killer? . A bit later on , there takes place a spectacular ball with lots of strangers behind the masks.

This ¨Doming De Carnaval¨ belongs to an excellent trilogy about Madrid , adding criminal elements , along with ¨Torre De Los 7 Jorobados¨ and ¨Crimen De La Calle Bordadores¨. This is a highly mysterious and amusing Film Noir , filled with plot twists , including an unexpected denouement in its final part . The picture is made in comedian style , including influences from Solana paintings . Here Neville writes , produces and directs ; giving a grateful and documentary portrait about a small part of popular culture , being a magnificent and historical portrait of the Rastro , a known Madrid market that was born about 1740 , the privileged setting of the screenplay written by Neville himself . "Domingo De Carnaval" is a nice movie with moralist elements , romantic touches , and Edgar makes a compelling work in the enjoyable dialogues . Neville delivers atmospheric scenarios with a great treatment of crowds , adding impressive masking dance-balls , including large shots of ecstatic people in those sequences carnival . The flick exudes style with attractive dance sequences in the popular theatre to the thrilling final at the "burial of the sardine" , it plunges the viewer into a hubbub of crowds , confusion and mayhem .

The motion picture was competently directed by Edgar Neville . Neville was born in Madrid but lived in Hollywood in the 1930s , in the period of the dubbed Spanish versions of the studios' English-language films. Edgar Neville married Ángeles Rubio Argüelles y Alessandri . Their son, Raphael Neville, Count of Berlanga de Duero (11 August 1926 – December 1996) was a filmmaker painter , writer and playwright who, in 1958, created a seaside resort in Sardinia . Upon his return to Spain, Edgar Neville directed La Señorita De Trevélez, and it was hailed one of the best films of its time . Edgar wrote dialogue for MGM's Spanish language films, and won acclaim for his script adapted from George Hill's The Big House (1930). After separating from his first wife , Neville fell for a brash brunette beauty , Conchita Montes , who played his successive films and in Domingo De Carnaval plays as an investigator when her father is accused of a crime . Neville is a writer and filmmaker , friend of Chaplin and as many authors and artists, finds the humor to reach audiences and attempting to flee tragic realities of today and to entertain the public with comedy touches and evasion . During the Spanish Civil War , Neville made a few short propaganda films for the Nationalist side . He also made three movies in Rome . The films he directed in the 1940s and 1950s mixed realism and romanticism , but did not perform particularly well at the box-office . He directed a lot of prestigious films such as : The Tower of the Seven Hunchbacks (1944) , Life on a Thread (1945) The Crime of Bordadores Street (1946) The Bullfighter's Suit (1947) Nada (1947) , El Marqués De Salamanca (1948) El Señor Esteve (1948) The Last Horse (1950) Cuento De Hadas (1951) Devil's Roundup (1952) Flamenco (1952) La Ironía Del Dinero (1955) The Dance (1959) and My Street (1960)
6 out of 6 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Recently Viewed