Amusing and agreeable Spanish comedy splendidly played the great Fernando Fernán Gómez and competently written and directed from newcomer directors Luis Garcia Berlanga and Juan Antonio Bardem. Good-natured Juan (Fernando Fernán Gómez) marries likeable Carmen (Elvira Quintillá) , as they become an out-of-luck pair of young Spanish newlyweds . Juan starts suffering what he believes her and their friends' scorn at his proven inability to make an easy living . Meanwhile, Juan begings studying correspondence courses to obtain a degree as electrician . They have reached a delicate economic balance after their marriage . He works as an atrezzo worker at the cinematic CEA studios and Carmen as a seamstress and she's really raffles enthusiast. Their slight wages from allowing them to survive and fantasize about some whim . But good-for-nothing and unluck Juan is dismissed and with no employment until he's lured to an apparent sound business that will for sure make them rich . As he fights heavily in finding another job , but he gets nothing . As the optimist marriage are looking for work to buy a little flat and start a better life together , but they will face huge problems along the process and things go wrong . Eventually , they win a broadcasting contest : ¨Un Dia Feliz para una Pareja Feliz¨ sponsored by Soap Florit .
It is a good comedy of exquisite manners full of fine critical spirit and observation dealing with the enormous difficulties suffer a marriage throughout the post-war Madrid , adding some enjoyable flashbacks . Following the surprising adventures , misfortunes and incidents of this particular couple and their peculiar behaviors leading to hilarious situations . Some of them deserve to be mentioned , especially its final part , adding the filming a costumer film , when the intimate couple goes to the cinema and watching ¨Love affair (1939)¨ by Leo McCarey , and he tells how to shoot a travelling , as they spend a night at a Ferris wheel , among others . All this is compellingly told , including some attractive flashbacks with some extremely comical scenes , adding emphasis on some masterfully paced scenes . Also noteworthy are the soliloquies of the main roles who prove their huge presence and experience . It is plenty of nice critical spirit and resulting to be an observational comedy of social habits , it displays a cleverly subversive tone , and intelligent as well as engaging dialogue , resulting to be a "Sui Generis" comedy for the traditional Spanish cinema by that time and it influenced in subsequent films . Duo of warming protagonists are really magnificent . Support cast is frankly excellent with several familiar faces , such as : Felix Fernandez , Antonio Ozores , José Luis Ozores , Manuel Arbo, Matilde Muñoz Sampedro, Antonio Garisa , José Franco, , Paquito Cano, Rafael Bardem, Rafael Alonso , Francisco Bernal , Lola Gaos, José Orjas , radio man Matias Prats , José María Rodero who married Elvira Quintillá , José Luis López Vazquez's introduction and cameo by director Juan Antonio Bardem .
The picture is well set in the fifties , nicely photographed by the notorious cameraman Willy Goldberger , being stunningly shot on location , in streets and plazas of Madrid and Estudios Cinearte, Madrid , but a perfect remastering being necessary , that's why the film copy is washed-out . The flick was competent and with lively rhythm directed by Juan Antonio Bardem and Luis García Berlanga , in their first movie . This charming film very well performed by the classic actor Fernando Fernan Gómez who appeared in more than 200 films , made another 20 and wrote novels , plays and poetry . After his debut in "Manicomio" directed this great film "Life Ahead" with a great sense of humor as well as sparkling and witty dialogue , giving a fairly reliable analysis to show the society of the 50s . His turbulent career as a filmmaker has been little appreciated by the public , being more known for his acting career at the orders of other directors . This has made possible in part , we lose some of the gems that this director has given across his career . Fernando was one of the most complete Spanish Cinema artists and a member of the Spanish Royal Academy and one of the best actors of the film history . Along with Icíar Bollaín , he's the only person to have been nominated as performer El Abuelo (1998), director : El Viaje a Ninguna Parte (1986) and writer Lázaro De Tormes (2001) for three different movies at the Goya awards . He actually won in every category at least once . This prolific and prestigious actor also directed a few films , such as : ¨Lazaro De Tormes¨ , ¨Fuera De Juego ¨, ¨Mambrú Se Fue a La Guerra¨ , ¨5 Tenedores¨ , ¨5.000 Dias Juntos¨ , ¨Ninette¨ , ¨Venganza De Don Mendo¨ . These are stunning pictures but still far from the levels of talent would reach director years later with works like ¨El Mundo Sigue¨ (1963) ,¨El Extraño Viaje¨ that is today deemed a real ¨Cult Movie¨ and his greatest success ¨Viaje a Ninguna Parte¨ , the latter showing the harsh daily life of the traveler actors .
The motion picture was stunningly directed by two great maestros : Juan Antonio Bardem , and Luis García Berlanga . Berlanga directed successful and usually polemic films in the 50s , such as : ¨Welcome Mister Marshall¨ and ¨El Verdugo¨ which was well-received at the Venice Festival and along with ¨Bienvenido Mister Marshall¨ are considered to be two of the best Spanish films of the history . Their next joint venture was ¨Plácido¨ (1961), which received an Oscar nomination in 1963. That same year, Berlanga made one of his best films : ¨El Jueves Milagro¨ ; however, his strong portrait of Spanish society didn't please the pro-Franco authorities and was strongly censored . He continued filming other interesting pictures as in 1973 he went to Paris to begin filming ¨Grandeur nature¨ , another problematic film , focusing this time on the fetishism of a man who falls in love with a doll . Several years later, after Franco's death, he filmed a trilogy comprising ¨La Escopeta Nacional¨ (1978), ¨Patrimonio Nacional¨ (1981) and ¨Nacional III¨ (1982), where he clarified the disorders evident in the Spanish upper middle-class upon being confronted with a new political status quo . Following the same theme he filmed a peculiar comedy titled ¨La Vaquilla (1985¨, set in the Spanish Civil War until his last movie ¨Paris Tombuctu¨ (1999) . While Bardem directed the essential ¨Main Street¨or ¨Calle Mayor¨(1956) . Bardem was an outspoken critic of the Franco regime, his political views prevented him from gaining a diploma from the Spanish cinema institute in 1947 . Thereafter, he worked as a critic and finally broke into films as writer/director of the much acclaimed ¨Death of a cyclist¨ or Muerte De un Ciclista (1955), which won the 1956 Cannes International Critics Award . Other classic films he wrote or directed are the following ones: ¨Bienvenido Mr. Marshall¨ (co-directed by Luis Garcia Berlanga) , ¨Esa Pareja Feliz¨, ¨Comicos¨ , ¨Sonatas¨, ¨La Venganza¨, among others . Rating : Above average , essential and indispensable seeing for Spanish cinema fans .
