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Calle Mayor (1956)
Director: Juan Antonio Bardem
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Calle Mayor is adapted from a classic novel of Spanish provincial life by Carlos Arniches, which had previously been filmed in the '30s. Bardem's version of this bitter tale of a woman's oppression was made at the height of Francoism, and had to carry an unconvincing foreword claiming that the story could happen 'anywhere'. When a group of idle young men decide as a joke that one of them should seduce an unmarried woman in her mid-30s, she becomes smitten by him, and the situation turns sourly serious. Bardem's neo-realist pretensions look a trifle thin now, but the film's portrait of a town riddled with prejudice and hypocrisy still packs a weighty punch. The central performance by the un-Spanish seeming Betsy Blair is especially touching.Author: DT
Cast & crew
Director: Juan Antonio Bardem
Cast: Betsy Blair, José Suárez, Yves Massard, René Blancard, Dora Doll, Lila Kedrova full cast
Duration: 95 mins
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