Sólo para hombres

This is one of Spanish films that more absolutely surprised me, and it's maybe my favourite. Almost unknown, that's a masterpiece of genius of humour Miguel Mihura, adapted in this case for the screenplay by another great Spanish humourist, Fernando Fernán Gómez.

Burlesque and feminist satire, maybe first work of the genre in our cinema, this film narrates the adventures and misfortunes of a beautiful lady that want to gain money by herself for win a quasi-utopian independence in the too sexist society of late nineteen century. The first half-hour is marvelous, extraordinary, the laughs are guaranteed; a "molto vivace" rhythm patterns a succession of surrealistic gags pleasantly against stupidity and old morality in the Spain of 'fin de siècle'. Only at the last moments of the film the action decline a bit toward a too common finale, but that's a trifle, at least.

If you want to know a few better the culture and idiosyncrasy of our little country, maybe this is your chance.

At the end of the 19th century, Florita Sandoval, is the marriageable daughter (Analía Gadé) of a wealthy family made up of widower father (Joaquín Roa), aunt (Rosario García Ortega) and sister (Ángela Bravo) . But the family has fallen on hard times, and Florita decides to become a civil servant at the Ministry of Development, taking advantage of the fact that the politicians of the Liberal Party are in power in the country, all in order to end the inequalities of women and end her boring life. The scandal is so great in a deeply patriarchal society that even the Government is forced to intervene, having no choice but to accept Florita's claim, if only by way of experiment. Instead of looking for a boyfriend to maintain her, as advised by her own family, she works in the public works department, surrounded by male civil officials (Fernando Fernán Gómez, Erasmo Pascual, Juan Calvo), which causes a real revolution and uproar both in the ministry and in political circles and in the national congress.

In 1955, Miguel Mihura premiered the highly successful theatrical comedy: ¨The Sublime Decision¨ and 5 years later Fernán Gómez wrote, directed and performed this cinematographic adaptation that closely follows the original, within the series of films that Analia Gadé and the actor perform for the producer José Luís Dibildos and his production company Agata Films. In addition to its slightly feminist tone, supported by the fact that Florita Sandoval shows that she is much more effective than most of the men in her ministerial department, the effective direction of Fernán Gomez stands out.

All this is competently told , with extremely comical scenes , absurd situations , and continuous amusement. Well-directed with great sense of humor as well as sparkling and witty dialogue , delivering a fairly reliable analysis to show the society of the XIX Century. The performances are uniformly good, Analia Gadé is terrific as the young woman who takes a heroic resolution, she decides to be an official of the Ministry of Public Works. She debuted in cinema in 1947 and in theater in 1950. She worked in around 20 films in Argentina and in 1956 she went to Madrid. She was married to the Argentinian actor and director Juan Carlos Thorry and later to the Venezeulan actor Espartaco Santoni. Analía Gadé played along with Fernán Gómez various successful films, such as: Las muchachas de azul, La vida alrededor, La vida por delante y Luna de verano. Starring duo , Fernando Fernan Gómez and Analía Gadé, are pretty good, giving nice and sympathetic interpretations .They are finely accompanied by a prestigious plethora of Spanish secondaries , full of familiar faces, such as : Elvira Quintillá, Juan Calvo, Manuel Alexandre, Joaquín Roa, Rosario García Ortega, Erasmo Pascual, José María Lado, José Orjas, Maite Blasco, Rafaela Aparicio, Pilar Gómez Ferrer, Emilio Rodriguez, among others.

It has a pleasant aesthetic full of light and with stupendous photography in black and white and in filmscope by cameraman Ricardo Torres. As well as atmospheric and evocative musical score by composer Antón Garcia Abril. Along with adequate settings and attractive production design. The picture was nicely played , written, produced , directed by Fernando Fernan Gómez. Fernando appeared in more than 200 films , directed around 20 and wrote novels , plays and poetry . After his debut in "Manicomio" , directed "La Vida por Delante" 1958 and in 1959 this follow-up "La Vida Alrededor" . He is the only person to be nominated as actor : El Abuelo, director : El Viaje a Ninguna Parte and writer : Lazaro de Tormes for three different films in the Goya Awards . He actually won in every category at least once . This prolific and notorious actor also directed a few films such as : Fuera de Juego, Lazaro de Tormes , Mambru se fue a la Guerra , 5 Tenedores , 5000 Dias Juntos, Ninette , Venganza de Don Mendo. These are fine movies but still far from the levels of talent would reach as a director with works as El Mundo Sigue , Bruja más que Bruja , El Extraño viaje , and his greatest hit : Viaje a Ninguna Parte. His important career as a filmmaker has been little appreciated by the ordinary public , being more known for his performances at the orders of other directors . Fernando was one of the most complete Spanish Cinema artists and a member of the Spanish Royal Academy and one of the best actors of Spanish Cinema . Sólo para hombres (1960) Rating : 7/10. The picture will appeal to Spanish comedy enthusiasts and Fernando Fernan Gómez/Analía Gadé fans .

The film won several awards: Cinema Writers Circle Awards, Spain 1961 Winner CEC Award Best Screenplay Miguel Mihura and National Syndicate of Spectacle, Spain. Fernando Fernán Gómez in II Premios Goya (1988) 1960 Winner Prize of the National Syndicate of Spectacle Best Film Fernando Fernán Gómez.