After watching the brilliant A sangre fría (1959-also reviewed) last night,I decided to again dig into my pile of unwatched films from Spain. Reading a detailed review by ma-cortes for the first unseen title to pop up,I got set to welcome Mr. Marshall.
View on the film:
Ordered by the Franco-era censors to cut a scene from his feature film debut of a school teacher dreaming of meeting a American due to it being deemed "Erotic", co-writer/(with Juan Antonio Bardem) directing auteur Luis García Berlanga & cinematographer Manuel Berenguer go into town with a wickedly sly satire on the Marshall Plan.
Dissecting the town with dissolves mapping out parallel action sequence shots (a recurring motif of Berlanga) that bring the place to life, Berlanga draws a hilarious animated atmosphere, painting Fernando Rey's dead-pan narration moving at a Screwball-Comedy speed, which spins the whip-pans onto each locals attempt to present a fantasy version of the town in order to impress the Americans.
Bringing the dream crashing down to earth with a very funny bitter punch-line,Berlanga sets up the gag with ultra-stylised dips into absurdest surrealism,entering the dreams of the locals with tracking shots circling the fantastical level the town is hyping the arrival of the Americans to.
Whilst playwright Miguel Mihura was only given credit to give the title a prestige image (Mihura did not work on the movie),the screenplay by Berlanga and Bardem paint the town with genuine prestige from their incredibly witty script, via the writers drilling into the Marshall Plan allowing the US to become more involved in Europe, from the locals of the impoverished Castilian town wanting to be the best in show for a delegation of visiting Americans, by spending every penny they have ,in the hope that the false version of the town they present won't leave them empty handed,but gain wealthy benefactors,as they welcome Mr. Marshall.
View on the film:
Ordered by the Franco-era censors to cut a scene from his feature film debut of a school teacher dreaming of meeting a American due to it being deemed "Erotic", co-writer/(with Juan Antonio Bardem) directing auteur Luis García Berlanga & cinematographer Manuel Berenguer go into town with a wickedly sly satire on the Marshall Plan.
Dissecting the town with dissolves mapping out parallel action sequence shots (a recurring motif of Berlanga) that bring the place to life, Berlanga draws a hilarious animated atmosphere, painting Fernando Rey's dead-pan narration moving at a Screwball-Comedy speed, which spins the whip-pans onto each locals attempt to present a fantasy version of the town in order to impress the Americans.
Bringing the dream crashing down to earth with a very funny bitter punch-line,Berlanga sets up the gag with ultra-stylised dips into absurdest surrealism,entering the dreams of the locals with tracking shots circling the fantastical level the town is hyping the arrival of the Americans to.
Whilst playwright Miguel Mihura was only given credit to give the title a prestige image (Mihura did not work on the movie),the screenplay by Berlanga and Bardem paint the town with genuine prestige from their incredibly witty script, via the writers drilling into the Marshall Plan allowing the US to become more involved in Europe, from the locals of the impoverished Castilian town wanting to be the best in show for a delegation of visiting Americans, by spending every penny they have ,in the hope that the false version of the town they present won't leave them empty handed,but gain wealthy benefactors,as they welcome Mr. Marshall.