CUANDO MANRESA SE CONVIRTIÓ EN PLATÓ CINEMATOGRAFICO. PLACIDO

SUBSCRIBE:    / @barcelonamemory   BECOME A MEMBER:    / @barcelonamemory   WEBSITE: http://barcelonamemory.com/ INSTAGRAM:   / barcelonamemory   FACEBOOK:   / barcelonamemory   CONTACT: [email protected] Plácido is a masterpiece of Spanish cinema. Its director, Luis García Berlanga, had already demonstrated his talent and social commentary in films such as Welcome, Mr. Marshall (1953), Novio a la vista (1954), Calabuch (1956), and Los jueves, milagro (1957). Berlanga had become famous with *Welcome Mr. Marshall*, which triumphed at Cannes in 1954. In 1958, Berlanga began working on the script for his sixth feature film. To outsmart the censors, he sought out Rafael Azcona, a master at that. He had previously collaborated with him on the script for *A Tram for Sale*, a short film from 1959. But Azcona was in Italy and couldn't come. So Berlanga asked Josep Lluís Font and José Luis Colina to revise the script. They wanted to portray life in a provincial town and focus on Plácido, a poor truck driver who had to make the first payment on his motorcycle on Christmas Eve. To begin with, the script's title, "Invite a Poor Man to Your Table," didn't sit well with the censors. For the time being, they called it "The Blessed." They planned to film in Madrid and in Cuenca or Vitoria. But there were production problems, and they moved to Barcelona. There, they looked for a small city not too far from the capital. They found Manresa, which was perfect for the script. The production company had its offices at 33 Séneca Street in Barcelona. Most of the interior scenes were filmed at the Orphea Studios in Barcelona, ​​which would burn down the following year. We have a video of those studios. On February 27, 1961, the production team went to Manresa. They stayed at the Hotel Santo Domingo and the Bar Perdiu, resting and eating between takes. They held a casting call at the Manresa Casino, where more than two hundred locals showed up. Those who played extras were paid sixty pesetas a day. The members of the municipal band, three hundred. For the supporting roles with dialogue, they chose amateur actors. They were paid one hundred and fifty pesetas a day. One of them was Paquita Blanch, who fell during the audition, and Berlanga found it so funny that he included the fall in the scene. The filming was hard and arduous, mainly due to the cold. It began on March 1st and ended on the 29th. Many interior scenes were filmed at night. On weekends, the director and his team would take the train to Barcelona to see what they had filmed at the Windsor cinema. The film was the talk of the town. Every day, the neighbors would gather to watch the filming and meet the actors. To avoid too much of a commotion, the newspaper advised that no more than two family members attend. The story took place in a provincial town, where some devout women who liked to do good deeds in public came up with an idea for Christmas. They were going to hold a strange auction. The town's wealthy residents would have to bid to take a poor person to dinner on Christmas Eve. The slogan was "Invite a poor person to your table." The one in charge of organizing the charity campaign was Quintanilla, a dandy who hired a poor man to ride in the parade with his new three-wheeled motorcycle. Plácido gets into one mess after another, afraid he won't be able to make it to the bank to pay the first installment on his vehicle. At the end of the night, tired and disappointed, he realizes that the Christmas campaign, instead of helping the poor, has been a farce. Plácido is a film about miscommunication, a theme Berlanga was very fond of. All his characters, rich or poor, are caught up in their problems and contradictions and can't see beyond their own noses. They are a kind of sociological gallery of the Franco regime, through which an entire era spoke. A characteristic of the film is its ensemble spirit, always present in the screenplays of Berlanga and Azcona. The three-wheeled motorcycle with a Christmas star on its roof is another character in the film. A symbol of the poverty of Spain at the time, and also the protagonist's only source of income. As an interesting tidbit, it was rented from Enric Martí, a local transporter. He was the one who drove the three-wheeled vehicle in the most challenging scenes. The film's actors were superb: José Luís López Vázquez, Manuel Alexandre, Elvira Quintillà, Agustín González, Antonio Ferrandis, Amparo Soler Leal... And Casto Sendra, "Cassen," was also in it. YOU CAN FIND THE FULL TEXT ON OUR WEBSITE https://barcelonamemory.com/placido-s...