The Last Torch Song
1957 film by Juan de Orduña
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Last Torch Song, better known under its Spanish title El último cuplé, is a 1957 Spanish jukebox musical film directed by Juan de Orduña and starring Sara Montiel, Armando Calvo and Enrique Vera.[1]
- Jesús María de Arozamena
- Antonio Mas Guindal
| The Last Torch Song | |
|---|---|
Spanish theatrical release poster | |
| Spanish | El último cuplé |
| Directed by | Juan de Orduña |
| Written by |
|
| Produced by | Juan de Orduña |
| Starring |
|
| Cinematography | José F. Aguayo |
| Edited by | Antonio Cánovas |
| Music by | Juan Solano |
| Color process | Eastmancolor |
Production company | Producciones Orduña Films |
| Distributed by | Cifesa |
Release date |
|
Running time | 110 minutes |
| Country | Spain |
| Language | Spanish |
It was released in Spain on 6 May 1957. It was immensely popular domestically and it had a wide international release making it the worldwide highest-grossing Spanish-language film made up to that point. The film's soundtrack album had also a wide international release.
Cast
- Sara Montiel as Maria Luján
- Armando Calvo as Juan Contreras
- Enrique Vera as Pepe Molina
- Julia Martínez as Trini
- Matilde Muñoz Sampedro as Paca
- Alfredo Mayo as Gran Duque Vladimir de Rusia
- José Moreno as Cándido Chamorro
- Laly del Amo as Luisa
- Aurora García Alonso
- Beni Moreno as Chole
- Luis Orduña
- Erasmo Pascual as Don Praxeres
- Consuelo de Nieva as Gloria Palacios
- Miguel Fleta
- Manolita Guerrero
- Antonio Alcázar
- Rafaela Aparicio as Singer
- Emilio Alonso
- Salvador Garrido
- Juan Monfort
- Francisco Mario de Bustos
- José María Caffarel as Monsieur Dupois - Empresario de París
- Luis Muñoz
- Manuel Gómez
- Florentina Garcia
- Clotilde Gijón
- Lola Gómez Moreno
- Juan Parera
- José María Cases
- Rafael Tamarit
- Toni Fernández as Mari Chamorro
- Mercedes Monterrey
- Guadalupe Muñoz Sampedro
Production
The filming took place in Barcelona between November 1956 and January 1957. Montiel accepted to star in the film as a deference to its director Juan de Orduña and during a vacation in Spain in between her Hollywood filmings Serenade and Run of the Arrow.[2] The film was filmed with a very low budget. Initially, the songs in the film were going to be sung by a professional singer who would dub Montiel, but due to the low budget, she eventually sang the songs herself.[3] Orduña had to sell the distribution rights to Cifesa to finance the completion of the filming.[4]
Release
The Last Torch Song opened on 6 May 1957 in Spain. The film was running at the 1,400-seat Rialto Theatre for forty-seven weeks,[5] making it the highest grossing film in Madrid in the 1950s.[a] The film was there for so long that, as a result of the rain and the wind, the large billboard announcing the film had to be replaced by another, something unusual in the history of film exhibition in Spain.[8] The film soundtrack album also became a hit.[citation needed]
The film had a wide international release with the dialogues dubbed or subtitled into other languages in non-Spanish speaking countries, while the songs kept in their original version. It was the worldwide highest-grossing Spanish-language film made up to that point, only surpassed in the 1950s–60s by her next film The Violet Seller, and catapulting Montiel's career as an actress and a singer.[9]
