Enjoyable film very moving in its style with a superb Flamenco soundtrack and unique photography style . This is a ¨Road movie¨ in which the starring couple travel through several Spanish locations , showing a real sightseeing of the marvellous cities and villages . It deals with Australian Kit Kelly (Anthony Steel) and his new bride Anna (Ludmilla Tchérina) are driving through Galicia , Spain , when they help Antonio who was abandoned by a friend and while he is dancing down the road to Sarasate's "Zapateado" rythm . They then discover he is a famous Spanish dancer , and subsequently Antonio learning that Anna was a ballerina earlier she wedded , and Antonio attempts to persuade her to join his company . Along the way they travelogue across a number of Spanish towns as Santiago De Compostela , Madrid , Teruel , Toledo , Cordoba , Granada , among others . Finally , they meet again when he is representing ¨Amantes de Teruel¨dance spectacle . Here is the color and excitement of Spain...alive with the frenzy of the flamenco and the fires of a chaming love !
Quintaessential Dance film features brilliant and frenetic choreography and embellished thanks to its chromatic aesthetic and a high-caliber Flamenco score , adding sensual re-creations of love , passion , betrayal , and jealousy . The dazzling and devastating dancing set new standards for this splendid musical film in this wildly successful and classical musical of the late Fifities . It is essentially a ballet , that's why it is musically riveting , it is almost, also, perfect and laced with glimmer photography , particularly shown on the spectacular Alhambra De Granada when Ludmilla Tchérina and Antonio dance a sensitive dancing set piece . The glamorous representation: Manuel Falla's "El Amor Brujo¨ or ¨Bewitched Love¨ is the highlighting of the movie , including glorious acting of Léonide Massine and Antonio , it concerns a woman is cursed by a bewitched love and every night she goes to the place where his old lover died to dance with his ghost . This story based on the ancient tradition of promising children to marry each other has love, passion, betrayal, death, lust and redemption . Set on an elaborate stage representation of an Andalusian shanty location- at gypsy caves- in which a lot of dancers dancing splendidly . It is also enhanced by additional songs in the Andalusian style performed by some characters in the movie . Atractive soundtrack conducting Sir Thomas Beecham and Mikis Theodorakis's theme song , Honeymoon , in the film sung by Marino Marine was a classic music , in Spanish as : ¨Nunca sabré¨ sung by notorious singers as Gloria Lasso , Karina , Paloma San Basilio , Albert Hammond and was covered by The Beatles in 1963 as part of their "Pop Go The Beatles" series for BBC radio . Being well starred by Ludmilla Tchérina who formerly performed classic musicals : Red Shoes , The Tales of Hoffmann and in Spain also acted in Parsifal , while the seducer wooden Anthony Steel is miscast . And standing out the fabulous dancer Antonio considered to be one of the greatest Flamenco dancers of all time.
Special mention for the colorful cinematography by George Perinal in CinemaScope , Technicolor , Techniscope . The motion picture financed by powerful producer Cesáreo González and Michael Powell himself , being written by the prestigious Luis Escobar and compellingly made by Michel Powell , and it obtained some prizes as Cannes Film Festival 1959 Winner Technical Grand Prize and Nominee Palme d'Or : Michael Powell. This was one of the best British filmmakers , Michael started working at various jobs in the English studios of Denham and Pinewood on a series of quota quickies . Later on , he made all kinds of genres with penchant for Dramas , Musical and WWII films . As he directed : The tales of Hoffman , The red shoes , The elusive Pimpernel , Pursuit of Graf Spee , The small black room , Black narcisus , Contraband , The thief of Bagdad , Edge of the world , I know where I am going , Night ambush , The lion has wings , Spy in black , The forty-ninth parallel , One of our aircrafts is missing, Life and death of Colonel Blimp , Canterbury tale . Many of them are considered masterpieces, and being produced under banner his production company : The Archers , along with Emeric Pressburger . Powell was rediscovered in the late 1960s and early 70s by Martín Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola . In fact , Powell worked as Senior in Coppola's Zoetrope Studios and he married Scorsese's longtime editor Thelma Schoonmaker. He died of cancer in 1990 . Rating : 8.5/10 . This riveting movie is especially appointed to serious people and fonds about music, dance, and romance , this shouldn't be missed.
