In the Varietés 30 company, Carmen Soler (Trini Alonso) is spending her final days as a showgirl, without giving up her position to those who are still waiting, like Ana Márquez (Sara Montiel). When the company decides to release a new 'Revista Musical' , Ana hopes to get the leading role. Recommended by Ana, Miguel (Vicente Parra) joins the company as a musician to assist the orchestra conductor. Miguel is the son of a bourgeois family who disapproves of her passion for the theater, but he is madly in love with Ana. Later, Ana meets Arturo (Chris Avram), a wealthy theater owner who offers her the role of lead showgirl in a new company in exchange for an intimate relationship.
A passable and at times agreeable movie about the world of actors who represent theatrical works with their humble companies throughout the towns of Spain. Being a remake by Bardem himself of his great hit "Cómicos," produced for the service of the great star Sara Montiel. Sarita is carefully photographed throughout and is always at the centre of everything - this is a true vehicle for her - and brings that slightly ironic naughtiness around issues of sex, interwoven with and superseded by the full-blown romanticism that is a trademark of her films. As the title of the film indicates, what was once a theater company that traveled from town to town is now a "Musical Revista¨ (Musical Magazine)" company, a genre that was very popular and multitudinous during the Franco era, and which today is unfortunately almost forgotten.
Stars the superstar Sara Montiel giving a mediocre acting in her usual style as Ana Ruiz, a young actress who works in a traveling theater company, performs only small roles, but she hopes to succeed. In fact, this is a film for fans of Sara Montiel, and they were legion at that time - she was not only the superstar of Spanish cinema but also box office throughout Latin America and in countries like Italy . Of course, she sings some beautiful and catching songs (Te lo juro yo, Lagrimas negras, La bien pagá, Toda una vida. The film is full of pleasures, and musical numbers, many of them campy. As is usual in Spanish films of the sixties and seventies, the main entertainment is discovering the appearance of noble secondary characters -accompanying the main star- making brief but pleasant performances, among which the following are worth highlighting: Trini Alonso, Vicente Parra, José María Mompín, Antonio Ferrandis, Emilio Laguna, Rafael Alonso, Rafael Conesa, Miguel del Castillo, Pilar Bardem, among others.
For purely economic reasons Bardem is forced to write and direct ¨Varietes¨ (1970), a new version in the service of the actress and singer Sara Montiel that lacks appeal and is a lack of respect towards his first film, the classic 'Cómicos' (1954) .After co-directing ¨Esa Pareja Feliz¨ with Luis Garcia Berlanga, screenwriter and director Bardem delivers his knowledge of the theatrical world due to being the son of comedians Rafael Bardem and Matilde Muñoz Sampedro and the famous North American production ¨All About Eve¨(1950) by Joseph L. Mankiewicz to make his first solo film: ¨Cómicos¨ dealing with a young actress trying to make her way but in the sordid post-war theatrical world with its usual economic hardships and living in miserable boarding-houses. Craftsman director Bardem was a fine writer and director, an uneven filmmaker who either directed very good movies or mediocre ones or even terrible flicks. Bardem was an outspoken critic of the Franco regime, his political views prevented him from gaining a diploma from the Spanish cinema institute in 1954. Thereafter, he worked as a critic and finally broke into films as writer/director of the much acclaimed ¨Death of a cyclist¨ or Muerte De un Ciclista (1955), which won the 1956 Cannes International Critics Award . Other classic films he wrote or directed are the following ones: ¨Bienvenido Mr. Marshall¨ (co-directed by Luis Garcia Berlanga) , ¨Esa Pareja Feliz¨, ¨Comicos¨ , ¨Sonatas¨, ¨La Venganza¨, among others . Rating: 5.5/10. Passable and acceptable, being essential and indispensable seeing for Sara Montiel fans .
