Juan Antonio Bardem - Calle Mayor aka Main Street (1956)

Isabel (Betsy Blair) is a good-natured and sensible spinster who lives in a small town with her widowed mother. She is losing all her hopes of getting married and having babies. A bunch of bored middle-aged friends decide to play a trick on Isabel: Juan (José Suárez), the youngest and best-looking of them all, will pretend to fall in love with her. As Isabel lives the courtship full of hopes and joy, Juan realizes too late the cruelty of the situation; and, still pushed by his buddies, doesn't dare tell Isabel the truth. When the day of the gala dance in the town's Club comes, Isabel is still living her dream of love. She expects her engagement to be publicy announced from the stage, but Juan, desperate, tries to do anything to shy away from the muddle.







The plot of this film, although set in provincial Spain, has overtones of "Marty." Ms. Blair is cast as Isabel, an unmarried woman in her 30's. Isabel--and the people on Main Street--have decided that she will be forever unloved and unmarried. Then, several of the bored men of the town decide to play a cruel practical joke--one of them will declare his love for Isabel, promise to marry her, and then reveal the hoax at the last minute. The joke moves forward as planned, and during the middle of the of the movie, Isabel blossoms as she finds herself in love with, and seemingly loved by, a handsome young man.

Ms. Blair is an extraordinary actress, and she is able to give us a portrait of a woman who is capable of great romantic love, although she's been deprived by circumstances of any opportunity to express this emotion. It is to director Bardem's credit that he recognized Ms. Blair's talents, and was able to utilize these talents to the fullest in this film.

The plot of the movie plays itself out in a fascinating and compelling fashion. The film closes with a final shot of Ms. Blair that is absolutely breathtaking. For me this shot ranks alongside the final shot of Greta Garbo in "Queen Christina" as one of the most memorable endings of any film I've seen. The disgraceful witch hunt blacklist of the 1950's kept Betsy Blair from doing all the work of which she was capable, and kept us from the pleasure of seeing this work on the screen. We are fortunate that her immense acting skills are preserved for us in "Marty" and "Calle Mayor." "Marty" is readily available; "Calle Mayor" may be hard to find. Finding it is worth the effort--it's a film not to be missed. (IMDB user comment)









En una ciudad de provincias una mujer soltera llamada Isabel (Betsy Blair) es objeto de burlas de un grupo de hombres que, pretendiéndose mofar de ella, convencen a Juan (José Suárez) para que finja un falso enamoramiento.

Continuando con el espíritu abierto en las famosas e influyentes Conversaciones de Salamanca, y profundizando en la disección de la sociedad que le ha sido impuesta, Bardem desarrolla y perfecciona el “realismo crítico” en su vertiente más dura y directa, que ya iniciara en Muerte de un ciclista, y que poco a poco le irá distanciando del estilo más sarcástico de su compañero Luis García Berlanga. En Calle Mayor, examina la mediocridad de la vida en una pequeña ciudad de provincias, en la lastimosa España de los cincuenta (a pesar de la narración del prólogo, impuesta por la censura, que la sitúa en un lugar indeterminado).





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