La tía de Carlos

Shameless Carlos (Ricardo Merino) receives the news that a distant aunt has named him the sole heir to a large fortune. The comic actor Fermín Recuero (Paco Martínez Soria) receives the unusual proposal of impersonating the Brazilian multimillionaire, Ms. Lucía Castelo (Maria Lusa Ponte). It turns out that Ms. Lucía's presence is necessary for the wedding of her nephew Carlos, Fermín's friend, with the daughter (María Kosty) of Mr. Servando Becerra (Rafael Alonso) to get Carlos out of a tight spot . The wealthy woman, has announced her arrival from Brazil and Carlos's wedding with Don Servando's daughter depends on Fermín. Seeing that the woman does not appear, the emergency solution of using the actor as her substitute is adopted. And this replacement aunt is none other than Fermin, who is dressed and made up appropriately. What everyone ignores is that Carlos's real aunt arrived on the peninsula some time ago, and does not want to reveal her presence until she is convinced that her nephew is worthy of being his heir. As the lady delays her trip, and when he arrives he does so incognito,and while the actor disguising himself as a millionaire Brazilian aunt, then Fermín is besieged by several suitors (Rafael Alonso, Luis Barbero, Angel Terrón).

One of the various cinematic recreations of the famous play "La Tia de Carlos", relevant in the history of Spanish cinema because it marked the film farewell of the popular comedy actor Paco Martinez Soria. An entertaining fim containing crazy events , laughs , amusement , confusion, messes and absurd situations . It takes a simple concept, a sympathetic stage actor executing petty tricks while disguising as a woman, as he poses as a a wealthy Brazilian. It benefits from the efficient acting by Paco Martínez Soria who's the complete show as Fermín who agrees to pose as a woman millionaire to deceive all around. He started playing supporting roles in many films until 1944 when he returned to theatre as an actor and entrepreneur. His name achieved some fame between 1942 and 1944, when he was named director and first actor in the theatre company of Teatro de la Zarzuela. He again returned to cinema in 1950s. In 1965 he was very successful with the film La ciudad no es para mí (The city is not for me) directed by Pedro Lazaga. From that moment on, his screen character as an affectionate country bumpkin, headstrong old man did not cease to appear in films until his death, along with his friend filmmaker Pedro Lazaga who directed him in most of his films . In addition , the support cast is frankly excellent , filled with familiar faces and notorious Spanish secondaries , such as : Ricardo Merino, Rafael Alonso, Luis Barbero, Rafael Hernández, María Luisa Ponte, María Luisa Bernal, María Kosty, Ángel Terrón, Luis Varela, Mary Paz Pondal, Carmen Lozano, Luis Lorenzo, among others.

The original work "Charley's Aunt" by writer Brandon Thomas has been adapted to film on several occasions, such as: ¨Charles's Aunt¨ (1947) by Leopoldo Torres with Pedro Quartucci and ¨Charles's Aunt in a Miniskirt¨ (1967) by Augusto Fenollar, Ignacio F. Iquino with Cassen, Silvia Tortosa, Adrián Ortega, Gustavo Re. As well as in: ¨Charley's Aunt¨ (1925) by Scott Sidney with Syd Chaplin and ¨Charley's Aunt¨ (1941) by Archie Mayo with Jack Benny, Kay Francis, Anne Baxter.

The motion picture was mediocrely directed by Luis Maria Delgado . He was son of filmmaker Fernando Delgado who directed ¨Currito De La Cruz¨ . Luis Delgado's film debut was ¨La Estrella Del Rey¨, though previously directed with Henri Decoin ¨El Deseo y el Amor¨, with Dulio Coletti ¨Los Italianos Estan Locos¨ and with Fernando Fernán Gómez co-directed ¨Manicomio¨. Luis directed various kiddies films such as ¨Secuestro En La Ciudad¨, ¨Aventuras En Las Islas Cies¨, ¨Hamelin¨ a musical starred Miguel Rios , ¨Chispita y Sus Gorilas¨ and ¨Loca Por el Circo¨ with Ana Belén . Luis Delgado made multitude of comedies , most of them written by playwright Juán José Alonso Millán , and mostly vehicles for known Farceurs or comedians as ¨Tip and Coll¨ in ¨Garbanza Negra Que En Paz Descanse¨ , Alfredo Landa in ¨Onofre¨ , ¨Guapo Heredero Busca Esposa¨ , ¨Cuando Cuerno Suena¨, ¨Alcalde Y Politica¨ , ¨Profesor Eroticus¨ , ¨Obsesiones De Armando¨, Paco Martínez Soria in ¨La Tia de Carlos¨.

Certainly Luis María Delgado's specialty was mainly comedies, such as: Las Señoritas de uniforme, Pepito Piscinas, Monica Stop , Mirame con ojos pornograficos , Cuando Almanzor perdió su tambor , Loca por el circo , La tia de Carlos .But he also directed other genres as adventures : Adventures en las islas Cies, Flautista de Hamelin , and even a gay musical : ¨Diferente¨, considered to be the best of his prolific work. And also produced various films for Jose Luis Garci as Tiovivo 1950, You are the one , El Abuelo , Historia de un beso. La tía de Carlos(1982) rating: 5/10.