El golfo

This film actually shows surprising cinematographic control in the way it was filmed and edited. The narrative begins in 1897 and concludes in 1919 (they started the project in 1917, and it was not released till 1919). Geographically it is set in and around Bilbao and Nebraska (USA. If you have the chance to see it, I recommend it, especially if you have a sentimental disposition.

Ernesto Vilches has had an erratic boyhood, with no parents . But when he returns the purse of the daughter of a rich widow, that widow sees to his education in ironworking. But after gaining a good understanding of the trade, he's off again, to America. There he makes good in the city of Nebraska, where the iron mills work day and night. He becomes an engineer. His improvements in the Bessemer process get his company a contract with a Spanish mill, where he is to apply all the up-to-date methods. There he re-encounters the generous widow, her daughter grown into Irene Lopez Heredia, and her louse of a fiance, Olozaga. He's a grandee, but he has squandered the family fortune, and still spends. Senorita Heredia and he are engaged, despite no love. He wants the family money, and her mother wants a title. And here Vilches is.

It's the sort of plot that was pretty common in the era, with the amount of degeneracy shown on the screen dependent on the tastes of the film maker and the budget. Here, it's indicated by means of bills and a lot of titles.

A great many titles, of very great length, filled with long descriptive and metaphoric clauses, and repeating things that have already been told the audience. It's as if the film maker -- and Vilches not only stars, he also helps write the movie -- wishes to flatter the audience with his ornate language and has no confidence in them, in their ability to understand what is going on or to remember what has happened.

It's hard for me to say how good the movie is with these titles distracting me from the characters and landscapes on screen. But they certainly don't help. And since when is Nebraska an iron town?