La reina del Tabarín

This musical romance concerns the tragic entanglements of a beautiful Gypsy girl named Lolita in 1892 Spain. Lolita is singing at a party which she has crashed and she meets the wealthy Fernando, who is posing as a waiter to flirt with her. They begin to fall in love. Yet after Lolita finds out Fernando is engaged, she is devastated and moves to Paris; there she makes her glamorous debut at the Tabarín club. Fernando reads of her great success and goes to Paris to see her. Cult starlet Soledad Miranda has a cameo in this movie. This was an important film for Jess Franco as it was his entry into the professional film world. Several years later, Soledad became Franco's star in numerous movies (Count Dracula, Eugénie, Les cauchemars naissent la nuit, Sex Charade, Vampyros Lesbos, She Killed in Ecstasy, and The Devil Came from Akasava). Oddly enough, the French version is in black and white and begins several scenes into the Spanish version, at the introduction of Fernando.

This average black and white melodramatic comedy from 1960 is one of Franco's early curiosities. It is Beautifully filmed, with a lot of budget and a very big crew, and lots of historical details - the story takes place in 1913. It's about a young gigolo called Fernando who is always chasing girls and cheating on his fiancée. He meets a flamenco singer at a party and he falls in love. From then on the story is very foreseeable, but entertaining and sometimes even funny. Being a french/spanish co-production, there are a couple of scenes shot in Paris, of course, but the main story takes place in Madrid. I guess Franco didn't have a lot to decide while shooting that one - he didn't even take part in the script writing - but his unusual camera angles are already there, and his visual style is on the verge of breaking out. Definitively a must to understand Franco and his work.

This movie is cult star Soledad Miranda's first collaboration with Jess Franco. Soledad went on to become his major star in movies such as Vampyros Lesbos and Eugénie. She plays the part of a duchess who walks into the club and sits for a while. You have to look hard to recognize her: she is bedecked in a large silver/white wig and looks much older than in most of her movies. However I have seen this movie once and did not spot her...yet she IS in it! This was an important film for Franco as it was his entry into the professional film world.