Throughout reflections of an old actor called Carlos Galvan : Jose Sacristan, he tells the adventures and misfortunes of a group of comedians that work in villages and little towns across Spain during the Forties and Fities . As Galvan at an asylum remembers with his psychologist doctor : Miguel Rellan, when his stranger son Carlos : Gabino Diego suddenly appears , while his girlfriend : Laura del Sol is really angry due to Carlos doesn't pay her attention and his father : Fernando Fernan Gómez who is the entrepreneur by hiring scenarios where to perform and being a main player too . Concerning the post-Spanish Civil war and regarding the final of an era , the end of the travelling theatrical scene replaced by the big screen . As eventually things go wrong , and deeming that they result to be disgraced vagrants , they finish following different ways .
Very good and interesting film about the traveler actors , in Spain called : Cómicos de la Legua , whose main representation was Federico García Lorca and his Barraca company . Based on a broadcasting serial , subsequently on an attractive novel and adding self-biographic elements by Fernando Fernan Gómez himself , he plays/directs an agreeable movie dealing with a family theatrical company whose existence gets very hard for them since they cannot compete any longer with a spectacle much more popular, the cinema . Main cast is frankly fabulous : Jose Sacristan , Fernando Fernan Gómez, Laura del Sol , Gabino Diego , all of them are really awesome . Being well accompanied by a good support cast with a lot of familiar faces as Juan Diego, Nuria Gallado, Agustín González, Maria Luisa Ponte , Queta Claver , Carlos Lemos , Simon Andreu , Jose Maria Caffarel, Carmelo Gómez, Raúl Freire , Nacho Martínez and many others.
It displays a colorful and evocative cinematography by prestigious cameraman Jose Luis Alcaine . Adding an atmospheric musical score by Pedro Iturralde by performing saxophone . The motion picture was competently written and directed by Fernando Fernan Gómez, considered to be one of his best ones . His first film as a director was Maniconio , following El malvado Carabel , La Vida pot delante , El Mundo sigue , la Venganza de Don Mendo , Ninette y un señor de Murcia , Mayores con reparos , Crimen imperfecto, Mi hija Hildegart , 5 tenedores , Mambru se fue a la Guerra , El mar y el tiempo , Siete mil días juntos , Pesadilla para un rico and the cult movie : El Extraño Viaje that along with El Viaje a ninguna Parte are deemed to be his masterpieces . Rating : Above average . Essential and indispensable watching for Spanish cinema fans .
