The Dog in the Manger

Comedy based on a play by Felix Lope De Vega Y Carpio with screenplay by the same filmmaker Pilar Miro , but slowing paced , spoken in verse , being for this reason quite a lot difficult to follow and ultimately turns out to be a bit boring . Spanish production with fine acting , colorful cinematography and rousing score by Jose Nieto . El Perro Del Hortelano¨ deals with Diana , countess of Belfour (Emma Suarez) falls in love for her secretary , Teodoro (Carmelo Gomez) , who at the same time is engaged to other woman (Ana Duato) . As envy and jealousy lead to Diana to separate both lovers.

This is a slow-paced , deliberate though enjoyable comedy costumer . It is a riveting film though a little dull . Comedy with historical background and romantic elements ; adding culture and fun , including enjoyable performances and appropriate set design . A funny story plenty of amusing moments , moving feelings and fun finale . It is a light , wistful comedy , easy to watch , and easier to love . It is as beautifully filmed as it is written and acted . This is one of those rare gems that does not stray from its purpose - to be a celebration of love and romance - . Based on a play written by Felix Lope De Vega , the most prolific Spanish playwright of the Golden Age, he was nicknamed "The Monster of Nature", because of his incredible ability to turn out plays quickly ; it is assumed he wrote at least 135 of them, some in as little time as three days . It contains marvelous cinematography , breathtaking musical score , enjoyable production design by Felix Murcia, but , for a variety of reasons, it does not quite pull as much punch as it should have . Anyway, the film is interesting , thematically amusing but hard to follow , as it is played in verse . Fine production design and scenarios with adequate sets , being filmed on location in Palácio de Sintra, Portugal and Queluz National Palace, Queluz, Setúbal church, Lisbon,Portugal . Agreeable and evocative musical score composed and conducted by Jose Nieto . In addition , a spotless pictorial cinematography by Javier Aguirresarobe and a willingness , almost perfect of the elements of each shot , every sequence , every space . Aguirresarobe subsequently would make a prestigious career in Hollywood such as ¨Fright night , ¨The twilight saga: eclipse¨, ¨The road¨ , ¨The others¨ and many others .

The motion picture was well directed by Pilar Miro , though results to be some dull . In 1982 Pilar was designated General Director of Cinema . She was an expert filmmaker of Television chapters and occasionally for cinema , getting some successes such as ¨The dog in the manger or El Perro del Hortelano¨, ¨Beltenebros¨ ¨The bird of happiness¨ , ¨Werther¨ and especially ¨The Cuenca crime¨ . ¨Perro Del Hortelano¨ resulted to be a success and got a lot of money at the Spanish box office , thanks to good cast , spectacular set production and enjoyable atmosphere . Rating : Better than average .

I saw this Spanish film in Mar del Plata Film Festival in 1996, where it won the top prize. As an anecdote, Mexican filmmaker Arturo Ripstein (who was on the jury in that festival) sat right next in front of me at the theater. Based on a play by Lope de Vega, written in 1615, during the golden age of Spanish literature, this movie never rises above filmed theater, but it is very well done. I think if you don't speak Spanish, though, you will lost a lot in the translation, a lot of the word games the play is based on. Emma Suarez (a fine Spanish actress) is the leading female; this was one of the last films of director Pilar Miro. Unfortunately, the movie hasn't been seen a lot since then. Many films (including good films, like this one, that won the first prize in a film festival) get forgotten with time. When you see an art movie today, most of the people in the audience are old people, you see very few young people watching this sort of movies; I guess they are playing computer games in their homes instead. This makes me me wonder about the future of cinema as an art.

This excellent movie shows the skills achieved by Pilar Miro as well as the outstanding improvement in the photography/cinematography in the Spanish cinema, as now it can even afford to be sensationalist. Very amusing and entertaining but very difficult to follow too, as it is based on a Lope de Vega play characterized by the most baroque and exquisite use of Spanish. The last part is not up to the rest of the movie, but this is just a direct consequence of the play it is based on and in general to the baroque comedy plays.