Spanish Fiesta (1942)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

Jean Negulesco

Release Date:

16 May 1942 (USA)

Genre:

Short | Music

Plot:

The Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo perform a ballet to Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's "Capriccio Espagnol." |

Plot Keywords:

Ballet

Cast

Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo	...	Ballet dancers
Léonide Massine	...	Dancer
Tamara Toumanova	...	Dancer
Alexandra Danilova	...	Dancer
Frederic Franklin	...	Dancer
Nathalie Krassovska	...	Dancer
Andre Eglevsky	...	Dancer

Runtime:

19 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #7683)

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

Vitaphone production reels #A622-A623

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Ballets russes (2005)

Soundtrack:

Capriccio Espagnol

Rimsky-Korsakov's Spanish caprice (Massine)

Massine's Capriccio Espagnol, which premiered not long before this film was made, is generally considered to be a work of little significance. This is partly because it is incorrectly performed, no doubt, and partly because its unusually compressed and insinuating style has caused it to be overlooked. Hence this film is invaluable to an understanding of it, even among the experts. The crucial masterwork (after Parade) is Le Tricorne with its Spanish dancing studied from a practitioner.

La Argentinita herself is called in to effect a surprise in the choreography and give it the imprimatur of the Madrid Ballet. In the midst of all the flamenco-style drama (Massine crossly waggles his stick at Toumanova as she passes the hat round the plaza, shows him its contents, then deposits them in her bosom before they dance a sinuous duet, slowly drawing the townspeople in), a dancer leaps onto the stage and inspires a bit of folk dancing that might be from anywhere but comes from Spain. This whole finale exhibits Massine's skill in creating complex ensembles that seem to coalesce unknowingly out of idleness or chaos.

With this company, there is even a bit of history. Rimsky-Korsakov at first didn't want his Scheherazade danced to, and here is Massine continuing a tradition Fokine established.

Also Toumanova, who is the Soviet ballerina in Hitchcock's Torn Curtain, and the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, expressing precisely the spirit of Rimsky's Spanish caprice.

As a great cinéaste once wrote, "every film is a day of fiesta in the world's eternity."