Actresses (María II at the left) with co-star and director Alberto Closas in the press conference to present his new play "Play Patricio" in which he plays Patricio, one of the main characters. The press stated that Maria II had mischievous eyes and laughing mouth.

At the press conference held yesterday afternoon at the Pedro Chicote beverage museum, at the presentation of "Play Patricio", Alberto Closas announced the theatrical novelty of the unique performance. Alberto Closas said: "Doing two theater shows is a hell of a job. That's why we are going to do the experience of one session per day, at half past eight in the afternoon, which is a suitable time for Madrid society, who is less of a night owl and more of an early riser."

The great actor and director also said that on Sundays the performance will be at seven in the afternoon, and that on Fridays and Saturdays there will be two performances. He added later that the European actors with whom he had spoken were very surprised that the Spanish acted in two sessions a day, which they "considered a crazy undertaking." He also stated that football has set the standard for what should be done regarding show time. Like soccer, theater, which is a social spectacle, must be incorporated into the daily activities of Madrid residents and, therefore, it must be done during social hours.

Photos by Leo, article by Serafín Adame.

Pueblo, 23rd September 1972.

Distrito Quinto (Julio Coll, 1957)

Lucia Bosè, January 28, 1931 – March 23, 2020.

With Alberto Closas on the set of Juan Antonio Bardem’s Death of a Cyclist (1955).

There’s something more important than you or me: fear.

MUERTE DE UN CICLISTA (1955) dir. Juan Antonio Bardem

Alberto Closas and Lucia Bosè in Death of a Cyclist (Juan Antonio Bardem, 1955)

Cast: Lucia Bosè, Alberto Closas, Otello Toso, Bruno Corra, Carlos Casaravilla, Manuel Alexandre. Screenplay: Juan Antonio Bardem, Luis Fernando de Igoa. Cinematography: Alfredo Fraile. Film editing: Margarita de Ochoa. Music: Isidro B. Maiztegui. 

Often cited as a landmark in Spanish cinema, Death of a Cyclist is notable for the way director Bardem (uncle of the actor Javier Bardem) manages to slip a satiric look at the Spanish upper classes past Franco's censors by tucking it into a suspense thriller. He often does this by startling jump cuts: The protagonist, Juan (Alberto Closas), looks down into the courtyard of a slum, but what we see are people attending a society wedding. The gossip Rafa (Carlos Casaravilla) angrily throws a bottle, but the window that breaks is miles away at the university where a student protest is taking place. The film is full of linkages like this, including the fact that Juan bears a striking resemblance to the man he is cuckolding, Miguel (Otello Toso). Sometimes, of course, Bardem and his co-scenarist Luis Fernando de Igoa make their satire more explicit, as when a society woman says she's supporting a charity "for poor children, or maybe for stupid children." Her distance from the objects of her charity is a comic twist on the distance that allows María (Lucia Bosé) to persuade Juan that they should leave the scene after they run down a cyclist on a lonely road at night: They are having an affair, and she doesn't want to get caught. Bardem doesn't show the actual accident or even the body of the cyclist (who is still alive after they leave the scene), leaving us to judge the couple as their guilt begins to mount -- even though they are never in any danger of being accused of the hit-and-run crime. The film continues to unfold as a saga of crime and self-punishment, made richer by Bardem's careful manipulation of point of view.

Alberto Closas-Carmen Sevilla "La fierecilla domada" 1956, de Antonio Román.

The Last Movie I Watched...

Death of a Cyclist (1955, Dir.: Juan Antonio Bardem)

Death of a Cyclist

It's a minor miracle that director-writer Juan Antonio Bardem got his Spanish masterpiece, DEATH OF A CYCLIST (1955, TCM), past Franco’s censors with only a change in the ending. Though that blunted the film’s critique of the country’s upper class, it makes the picture even more powerful as film noir. A couple driving along a country road hits a man on a bicycle. Although he’s still alive, the woman (Lucia Bose, the iciest femme fatale this side of Gene Tierney, only without the overbite) insists they leave. We then discover they’re illicit lovers. Her co-star, Alberto Closas, is an adjunct math professor thanks to his influential brother-in-law. She’s married to a wealthy industrialist. For the next nearly 90 minutes, they’re dogged by guilt and paranoia, particularly when a hanger-on (Carlos Casaravilla) tries to blackmail her into having sex with him because he knows about the affair. Bardem creates an upper-class society of privileged fools and sinners. One woman invites Bose to take part in a canasta tournament to benefit “poor children, or stupid children, or something — but it’ll be fun.” When a guilt stricken Closas tries to visit the dead man’s widow, the contrast between the haves and have-nots is painfully obvious. Bardem’s cameraman, Alfredo Fraile creates some stunning deep-focus shots that up the paranoia or emphasize Closas’ isolation. With its stark images of the couple against the country sky, the picture has been compared to the work of Michelangelo Antonio, though his films wouldn’t have been shown in Spain during Franco’s reign. For me, the stronger influence appears to be Luis Buñuel. Bardem’s cutting between scenes is often disorienting, as when he cuts from the couple watching horses train at a racetrack, playground of the rich, to clowns performing in a circus or from Casaravilla playing piano at a party to hands clapping rhythmically at a flamenco performance. There’s even a hint of satire in the cutting when Bardem goes from a Catholic mass (where the illicit lovers have met to discuss the accident) to a tight closeup of a young man’s rear end as he practices for a track meet. How he got that one past Spain’s censors is a mystery.

Siguiendo con el Apocaliptico y revelador Alex CASADEMUNT..destacar que la actriz SILVIA GAMBINO [famosa x la serie ESCENAS DE MATRIMONIO q también hizo DANIEL MURIEL o marido de la hija de Joan Manel SERRAT..con el que me bañe en calzoncillos en el FIN DE FIESTA de la GALA DE MISS ESPAÑA'09 en CANCUN [MEXICO] en la q me COLE como en el bus de PELUK_EROS Y MAQUILL_ADORES para ir luego al hotel RESORT OASIS a la fiesta..haciendo AHOGADILLAS a las MISSES y diciéndome el MISTER MUNDO JUAN GARCIA POSTIGO q no entendía q hacia yo allí..para luego consolar a la MISS MURICIA T_AMARA VERA=CIERTO..entrometiendose la MISS ESPAÑA 2008 PATRICIA YURENA q ganó con 18 años y q volvió a ganar cuando REFUNDARON el CONCURSO, etc] ..con la que hizo la obra EL OTRO LADO DE LA CAMA..hizo como última obra BELLAS Y BESTIAS pues luego la salió un CANCER q la mató con 57 años en 2022 tras 20 años divorciada del DIRECTOR Y ACTOR Alberto CLOSAS jr.

Por cierto..algunas MISSES me dieron su email y pastora soler [pilar sanchez] ME FIRMO tras decirla q si iba a concursar ganaba seguro, pero creo q no entendió el piropo porque me dijo que HABIA VENIDO A CANTAR como hizo con LA MALA COSTUMBRE del cd BENDITA LOCURA que estrenaba tras CD TODO MI VERDAD y cd UNA MUJER COMO YO viéndola desde la zona PARAISO del auditorium FIBES de SEVILLA [sep 2014] cantar SEVILLA de la malograda ROCIO JURADO [q dijo q necesitaba hacer el amor todos los días y su relación con el torero ya era de total frialdad] junto a INDIA MARTINEZ q presentaba cd DUAL tras el cd CAMINO DE LA BUENA SUERTE [posterior a cd 13 VERDADES y cd OTRAS VERDADES]

..y al día siguiente NO xq tenia una RESACA BESTIAL pero a los 2 días fui al HARD ROCK CAFE de CANCUN y me fotografie con una SERPIENTE BLANCA=WHITE_SNAKE grupo q grabó 3 videos con la ex_mujer del cantante HERE I GO AGAIN, IS THIS LOVE? y STILL OF THE NIGHT donde al final la arresta la SEX POLICE y que ya murió de cancer..y cuyo nombre es un tipo de vino de OPORTO q probé en sus bodegas llamado Twany [kitaen]

 3.044. Distrito quinto (Julio Coll Claramunt, 1957)

Un año ante de la prodigiosa Un vaso de whisky realizó esta obra, con un cierto tinte y toque propagandista y de control de la moralidad pública. Hay que fijarse en el año, la época más dura del franquismo, con una España todavía muy cerrada y oscura y con un dominio absoluto del espacio público y del arte por parte del régimen.

Sabes cómo va a terminar nada más empezar, pero el planteamiento del discurso es lo que cuenta, y éste está muy bien trazado, muy bien narrado.

Alberto Closas, con esa gabardina que juraría que no se quitó en la vida, Arturo Fernández, Jesún Colomer  y otros magníficos actores de aquella época de gran creatividad del cine español.

Qué pena que no haya una colección de 500 dvd de películas de aquellos años. Creo que hay joyas escondidas y no tan escondidas que merecen la atención de un buen cinéfilo. Como ésta, por ejemplo.

Sería un exceso por mi parte suponer que Reservoir Dogs es una copia o una adaptación de esta obra, pero es tan evidente que tiene formas similares de contar la historia que el paralelismo es evidente. Me encanta esa forma de narrar desde adelante hacia atrás, recuperando matices de la historia tal y como los personajes vivieron los encuentros significativos de la historia.

La trama es interesante, varios hombres han realizado y atraco y están esperando a quien lleva el dinero para repartirse el botín. Es momento para recordar quiénes son, cómo le conocieron y qué opinión tienen de él. Desesperan en la espera, recuperan las vivencias con el que falta y no saben a qué atenerse. Cada uno tiene su sueño, pero cada vez parecen más pequeños a medida que las posibilidades de que vuelva se van diluyendo.

X cierto.. VIRGINIA MAESTRO.. sabes q SILVIA GAMBINO (q hizo EL OTRO LADO D LA CAMA con malogrado ALEX CASADEMUNT q se salio de FORMULA ABIERTA antes de cd LA VERDAD)..famosa x sus papeles de COMEDIA en MATRIMONIOS.. estaba divorciada del actor ALBERTO CLOSAS JR q acaba de superar un CANCER y cuyo PADRE, MADRE, HERMANA Y EX_MUJER han muerto de ELLO

Te dedico BRAVO AMOR BRAVO del cd COMPLICES de MEXICANO LUIS MIGUEL..es sobre TEATRILLO DE UN MATRIMONIO ACABADO jaja

Alberto Closas con la orchestra Calesita, 1950s. Cover by D'Orsi.

Death of a Cyclist (1955)

Death of a Cyclist (1955) Directed by Juan Antonio Bardem

DEATH OF A CYCLIST

Lucia Bosè and Alberto Closas in Muerte de un ciclista (Juan Antonio Bardem, 1955)