The Girl in Mourning (1964)

Rocío, daughter of a humble Andalusian family, is very happy because the end of the mourning that she has to save for the death of her grandmother arrives. At last she will be able to marry... See full summary »

Director:

Manuel Summers (as Summers)

Writers:

Tico Medina (screenplay collaborator), Francisco Summers (screenplay collaborator)

Stars:

María José Alfonso, Alfredo Landa, Pilar Gómez Ferrer

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
María José Alfonso	...	Rocío Vázquez Romero
Alfredo Landa	...	Rafael Castroviejo
Pilar Gómez Ferrer	...	Concha, madre de Rocío
Vicente Llosa	...	Paco, padre de Rocio
José Vicente Cerrudo	...	Abuelo de Rocío
Carmen Santonja	...	Amiga de Rocío
Doris Kent	...	(as Doris Ken)
Mercedes Huete
Manuel Ayuso	...	Tío de Rocío
Manuel Guitián	...	Cura (as Manuel Guitian)
Salvador Cortés
Emilio García Domenech	...	Sargento Guardia Civil (as Emilio G. Domenech)
Diego Rañón
Francisco Summers	...	Conductor coche fúnebre
Antonio P. Costafreda	...	Ramón, empleado de pompas fúnebres (as Pascual de Costafreda)

Storyline

Rocío, daughter of a humble Andalusian family, is very happy because the end of the mourning that she has to save for the death of her grandmother arrives. At last she will be able to marry with Rafael, her boyfriend, since they had to postpone the wedding due to granny's death. But next day, her grandfather eats too much at a baptism, and dies of indigestion. Again, Rocío has to mourn and postpone the wedding.

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Plot Keywords:

mourning | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Did You Know?

Connections

References Aprendiendo a morir (1962)

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Soundtracks

Llámame
Performed by Lorenzo González

User Reviews

Nice and amusing black comedy with two very good actors and compelling direction by Manuel Summers

In a little town of Huelva province lives the young Rocio Vazquez Romero (Maria José Alfonso) who holds a six-month strict mourning for death her grandmother . After that , he meets her boyfriend Rafael Castroviejo (Alfredo Landa). Then , they go walking to the field and go to the cinema to see a Peplum film . Soon after , they are going to dance at the town ball . Alfredo engages marriage to Rocio , but then , Rocio's grandfather dies and Rocio once again has to bear a stiff mourning .

Black comedy with plenty of humor , light drama , social habits and a lot of songs . Good film that was beset by difficulties with the censors caused by a relentless critical to Catholic religion , sour rural conventionality and extreme religious practices . This is not the typical comedy by that time , here there is a brief social denounce about the repression and excessive religion during Franco dictatorship . As all the villagers are repressed characters , coerced by social conventionalism , gossip and hypocrisy . In the flick there is especially comedy , humor , satire and social critical which tended not to be very well received by the censor . This is the following to Summers's first film : ¨Del Rosa Al Amarillo¨ (63) that was formed by two episodes about love stories between teenagers and elderly people . But a third episode dealt with a young romance , but it was adapted on another movie , this ¨La Niña De Luto¨ that pays tribute to previous picture . In fact , the grandfathers roles are incarnated by the same actors who played in ¨Del Rosa Al Amarillo¨ , but while the grandfather Jose Cerrudo gives a brief acting , the grandmother Lina Onesti only appears on a photo . It belongs to a Spanish period ¨New Spanish cinema¨ of the 60s directed by students of the ¨Official Academy of Cine¨ or Escuela Oficial De Cinematografia . ¨La Niña De Luto¨ or "The Girl in Mourning" has an interesting as well as amusing script by Tico Medina , Manuel-Francisco Summers and Pilar Miro , subsequently to be become a famous filmmaker . This film packs a colorful and evocative cinematography by Francisco Fraile . And atmospheric musical score full of ordinary sounds of the sixties by Antonio Pérez Olea . Adding Andalucian , Folkoric music , popular songs and modern music as twists . And , of course , the famous Bolero , and film leitmotif : ¨Están Clavadas Dos Cruces En El Monte Del Olvido...¨ The motion picture was well directed by Manuel Summers .

Manuel was a comic books humorist who publicized in ¨Pueblo¨ diary and on magazines as ¨Hermano Lobo¨and ¨La Codorniz¨. He was a comedian actor and an acceptable filmmaker . His successful first film ¨Del Rosa Al Amarillo¨ was followed by personal works wasted by excessive jokes as ¨El Juego De La Oca¨(65) . He had a big flop titled ¨Juguetes Rotos¨ (66) . Summers , then , made two typical Spanish comedies with Alfredo Landa : ¨No Somos De Piedra¨(67) and ¨Porque Te Engaña Tu Marido¨ (68) . He , subsequently , directed teenager films as ¨Adiós Ciqueña Adios¨ (71) , ¨El Niño Es Nuestro¨(73) that achieved big hit and some of them are censored as ¨Ya Soy Mujer¨(75) , ¨Mi Primer Pecado¨ and ¨Me Hace Falta Un Bigote¨. His last works are mediocre , making fake documentary , such as : ¨To er Mundo e Gueno ¨ , ¨To Er Mundo E Mejo¨ , ¨To Er Mundo E Demasiao¨ and ¨Biblia En Pasta¨ (85) . He finishes his career directing his son David Summers , a known singer leader of the band ¨Hombres G¨ in commercial titles as ¨Sufre Mamon¨(87) ,¨and ¨Sueltate El Pelo¨(88)

Details

Country:

Spain

Language:

Spanish

Release Date:

21 April 1965 (Denmark)

Also Known As:

A Rapariga de Luto

Company Credits

Production Co:

Eco Films, Impala

Technical Specs

Runtime:

85 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex)

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)