Shot practically in a studio, it is a product of entertainment and enjoyment of our cultural roots , a simple musical comedy that under the pretext of an unoriginal story, but full of grace and simplicity , abound scenes of humorous situations and musical numbers follow one another . The movie title refers to a little girl who is abandoned in a courtyard of a typical Madrid corrala in the 50s. Depicting emotionally life in a Madrid neighborhood when an unfortunate person leaves an orphaned girl in the care of her maiden aunt . An orphan child arrives at a house courtyard where the neighbours must organise a flamenco show to avoid the house from being sold by its owner . Among them, Carmen (Toni Soler) stands out, a beautiful and friendly forties with a strong character and a kind heart. Behind her are two suitors: Zacarías (Alfonso del Real) , a cobbler, and Miguel (Roberto Font) , a pretty nice scrap metal. Since the girl is a true prodigy, a great success is expected, but the tourists are missing and for this they have to go out to look for them. Various musicals such as copla, flamenco, chotis and even invited figures such as Juanito Valderrama and Dolores Abril in an one-on-one for a noble cause, to help financially hard-pressed neighbors. With this solution, everyone manages to get out of the bad economic situation gracefully.
The film could almost be said to be a musical comedy ; however , it falls short . There is no lack of sentimentality and the childish grace of a child prodigy who dances with an enormous art and sympathy . The little girl is the protagonist of this comedy in which some neighbors decide to organize a flamenco show directed by Coralito/Estrellita Castro , an old and fanciful artist, and in which of course the star is the girl Rocío, attracting tourists to raise funds and avoid the eviction of one of his most beloved neighbors, by a sinister administrator. Great flamenco artists and the wonderful Spanish copla parade, such as Estrellita Castro, who had retired but returned for this unique film, the traditional Pepe Blanco who acts and interprets quite well, an almost forgotten Sultana de Jerez, and even a girl called Rocio of ephemeral success if she had it . I fervently recommend it, especially for young people to rediscover these great artists and to refresh the forgetful ordinary Spanish artists of a golden age of the Copla . More great actors like Argentine Roberto Font , Xan das Bolas , Alfonso del Real , Antonio Riquelme , Tony Soler , Angel Ter. And finally Luis Sánchez Polack nicknamed ¨Tip¨ who shows up without Top his first couple and without Coll the last and most successful . And in a stellar appearance by Juanito Valderrama and Dolores Abril in all their splendor their best time . The plot takes place in a typical Madrid corrala where the traditional and the Andalusian come together in a community of unique neighbors . It boasts veteran actors of the Spanish musical comedy and adding the secondary classic players forming an attractive human group for a mostly popular type of cinema.
The picture was professional but middlingly directed by Amando de Ossorio . Amando began in films as a writer and assistant director and continued his career by making short films and industrial documentaries . He was one of the main directors of the Spanish horror boom in the 70s , in fact this ¨Malenka¨was his handiwork , best known for his series of Knights Templar zombie films , which began with La Noche del Terror Ciego (1971).specially for his quartet of films about the living dead templars which started with his first great success and immensely popular ¨Tombs of the Blind dead¨ which to be continued by a trilogy : ¨Return of evil dead¨ , ¨Ship of Zombies or Blind dead 2¨ and ¨Blind dead 3 or The night of the sea gulls¨ . Amando owns his own studio and created and/or designed many of the simple special effects sequences you see in any of his many imaginative undertakings . He displayed a varied career and specialized on all kind of genres as Western in "Rebels in Canada" and "Grave of the Gunfighter" , Historical as ¨Los Cantabros¨ , Monster movie as ¨Serpent of sea¨ and , of course, Terror as ¨Malenka¨ , The possessed¨ and ¨night of witches¨ . Ossorio also studied painting and photography , moreover, he also made his living as a painter of creepy images of the Knights Templar in his later years. Rating : 4.5/10 . A regular but passable movie without excessive artistic pretensions, conventional and withers in the corner of oblivion. If it were not rescued by some nosalgic chain, no one would miss it, except lovers of this type of cinema. It's not one of the best, I think it fulfills its main intention, which is none other than to make us have a good time, and to a large extent it succeeds.
