杜西尼亚 Dulcinea (1963)

Wearing the veneer of a play on the legendary love of Don Quixote's life Dulcinea, this drama by Vicente Escrivá carries some subtle criticisms of the Catholic Church as well. During the 16th-century, the time of Cervantes, Don Quixote's sidekick, the faithful Sancho Panza (Folco Lulli), comes into the local tavern bearing a forlorn good-bye letter from Quixote to the love he never knew, Dulcinea. The barmaid Aldonza (Millie Perkins) is so moved by the altruistic passion of the letter that she rushes to the bedside of the dying Don Quixote and swears to him that she is his Dulcinea. Inspired by his idealism, she dedicates herself to working for the disenfranchised and the sick -- until the Church accuses her of being a witch. Before making his film debut with El Hombre de la Isla/That Man of the Isle (1959), Spanish director Vicente Escrivá spent much of the 1940s as head of Latin American programs at Radio Nacional; he also established himself as a writer of historical essays, the best known of which, "Jornadas de Miguel de Cervantes"/"Cervante's Journeys," earned him the National Literature Prize in 1947. Escrivá entered the film industry when he collaborated on the script for Sáenz de Heredia's La Mies es Mucha/That's a lot of Corn in 1948. In 1950, Escrivá co-founded Aspa Films with Rafael Gil. With Gil usually directing and Escrivá writing the scripts, the two created a series religious-themed films that were popular throughout Europe as well as Spain. Both Escrivá's debut and his sophomore effort, Dulcinea/Enchantment of Love (1962), received favorable critical reviews, but neither garnered much public interest, leading Escrivá to abandon his notions of making art films. Instead, he came to specialize in mainstream light fare; many of these films starred pop singer Raphael. Escrivá also made many sex comedies and later in his career turned to directing television series.