Without doubt, the best movie of Juan Antonio Bardem, perhaps thanks to the excellent support from the competent Spanish studio Suevia Films. Links both with the best tradition of Hollywood melodrama (reinforced by the presence of the excellent American actress Betsy Blair in the main character) and with the Spanish literature about life in provincial towns (Clarin, Perez Galdos and other authors). Bardem is inspired by the play The Lady from Trévelez, by Carlos Arniches. But he completely overrides any vestige of humor, retains social criticism and intensifies the dramatic facet. The cruel joke made by several unscrupulous pranksters at the expense of a spinster ends in tragedy. The very executor of the deception (the love-maker according to one of the titles that the film had in the United States), is aware of the devastating consequences that will result in the naive Isabel. But it is also unable to break with the rest of the gang and confess the truth. Bardem, militant of the underground Communist Party of Spain, made a subtile criticism to the General Franco's dictatorship. However, censorship was more concerned to limit the references to the Catholic Church and adding a prologue that tries in vain to place the action anywhere. However, the film can be watched perfectly regardless of the political message and understood as mere social criticism.
Review of Main Street
