Faustino Garcinuño

Inspired by "The diabolical" by Clouzot. The life of a woman becomes a sinister nightmare due to the plan drawn up by her husband.

Manuel, a young man of eighteen, arrives in Madrid with the illusion of being a bullfighter. On arrival he meets Juan a ruined singer in his fifties who, along with his friend Lola, will help the boy to get a chance to bullfight in a probe at the estate of a famous businessman.

This excellent short film written by the magnificent filmmaker duo of Luis García Berlanga and screenwriter Rafael Azcona was to be part of a series entitled Los Pícaros (The Rogues) which was never continued. These two artists were responsible for such masterpieces of Spanish cinema as Plácido and El verdugo (The Executioner). Here, Berlanga and Azcona collaborated for the first time, setting the stage for the post-war "Berlanguiana" vision that would develop. José Luis López Vázquez plays Julián, a seedy swindler, who with his cronies tries to sell a streetcar to a rich but naive farmer, a newcomer to the city. High jinx ensue. With this film begins the great stage of Berlanga's filmmaking in which he mixes a little social criticism and notes of anti-clericalism with a great deal of farce.