Vengeance (1958 film)

Vengeance
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Juan Antonio Bardem
Written by	Juan Antonio Bardem
Produced by	Cesáreo González Manuel J. Goyanes
Starring	Raf Vallone Carmen Sevilla Jorge Mistral Manuel Alexandre Fernando Rey
Narrated by	Francisco Rabal
Cinematography	Mario Pacheco
Edited by	Margarita de Ochoa
Music by	Isidro B. Maiztegui
Release dates	1958 (1958)(Cannes Film Festival) 16 February 1959 (1959-02-16)
Running time	122 minutes
Country	Spain
Language	Spanish

Vengeance (Spanish : La venganza) is a 1958 Spanish drama film directed by Juan Antonio Bardem. It was co-produced with Italy, starring Italian Raf Vallone. Francisco Rabal narrates the film.

The film was shown at the 1958 Cannes Film Festival ^[1] but not released in Spain until the following year. The film had serious troubles with Spanish censorship. Bardem even went to prison and it was an international scandal. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. ^[2]

Plot

Juan (Jorge Mistral) comes back to the village after being wrongly imprisoned for ten years. Alongside his sister Andrea (Carmen Sevilla), they plot revenge against Luis "el Torcido" (Raf Vallone), whom they believe caused their family's suffering. To execute their plan, they join a group of harvesters searching for work in the Castilian fields, where their enemy is also present as their leader.

Cast

• Carmen Sevilla as Andrea Díaz
• Raf Vallone as Luis 'El Torcido'
• Jorge Mistral as Juan Díaz
• José Prada as Santiago 'El Viejo'
• Manuel Alexandre as Pablo 'El Tinorio'
• Manuel Peiró as Maxi 'El Chico'
• Conchita Bautista as Cantante
• José Marco Davó
• Rafael Bardem
• Maria Zanoli
• Xan das Bolas as Segador gallego
• Rufino Inglés
• Ángel Álvarez
• Goyo Lebrero
• José Riesgo

Production

The movie faced censorship issues, including a ban on its original title "The Reapers" because it coincided with the name of the Catalan anthem. To avoid political controversy, the time frame of the story was shifted from the 1950s to 1935. Eventually, the setting was placed in 1931 to relieve the Republic of any blame for the characters' hardships.

Filming started on June 26, 1957, and wrapped up on September 29 of the same year.

See also

• List of submissions to the 31st Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film
• List of Spanish submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film

References

1. "Festival de Cannes: Vengeance". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 2009-02-14.
2. "The 31st Academy Awards (1959) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Retrieved 2011-10-27.

External links

• Vengeance at IMDb