This is one of Peter Sellers' more forgotten efforts that only occasionally appears in documentaries and biographies so that it can be ritually slagged off before being left to gather dust once more. And yet I'm going to have to say that I quite like this little film.
I've seen it twice now, and I can't work out what's supposed to be so wrong with it. Granted, it's not perfect, but it's nowhere near as bad as it's made out to be. In fact, Juan Baustista, the singing matador, is probably one of Sellers' better acting roles (and that's saying something as he's bloody brilliant in almost everything), with every line either arousing sympathy or humour. Though Juan shouldn't be hugely likable - after all, the plot is about him trying to "conquer" a particular woman in three days so that he can get a singing contract at the local theatre - Sellers makes him so, with baleful glances and a genuine romantic quality. It's a subtle performance in many ways, and also, at times, a very funny one, Sellers displaying his usual comic flair. "I may look to you like a man who is waiting, but I can assure you that I am actually looking like a man who is *not* waiting. Mmm." Whether the Spanish accent is realistic I don't know, but it worked fine for me.
Britt Ekland co-stars as the focus of Juan's attentions, the vamp Olimpia. Sellers and Ekland were still married at the time and apparently filming was very tense as they were going through one of many rough patches in their relationship. However, this doesn't show on screen, and the two have a delightfully interesting chemistry. As for Britt as an actress in general, she does quite well here, and neither overacts nor underacts as she has a tendency to do in various other films I've seen her in (the otherwise marvellous Amicus anthology "Asylum", for instance).
There are actors of various nationalities on display, and as a result I knew few of them - there's a chap wearing a fez identical to the one he wore in "I'm All Right Jack", and the excitable Pepe is played by Boulting Brothers Welsh regular actor Kenneth Griffith, all but unrecognisable under thick specs and an even thicker Spanish accent. However, the always lovable Hattie Jacques has quite a substantial role as Britt's maid/housekeeper/minder, and it's interesting to see her in scenes opposite Peter Sellers, after her many years having been on radio with the other comedy legend Tony Hancock in "Hancock's Half Hour".
Though overall this is a very gentle and humorous film, there are some flaws. There seem to be several subplots going on at the beginning to do with men falling in and out of love with Olimpia, all of which get forgotten about once Sellers actually gets involved in the main plot line a whole half hour into the film, having spent his time prior to this wandering around a cafe ordering cheese sandwiches. There's a hideously OTT French camp bloke in the pervy hotel scene, who is, quite frankly, as irritating as a mosquito with asthma. And the film grinds to a halt about forty-five minutes in to make way for a bizarre five minute flamenco-dancing scene that drags interminably and has the scariest looking woman I've ever seen in a film, snarling and wracked with pain throughout, the dance itself making one's feet hurt just watching it. I bet her honeymoon was memorable. Her hubbie's back must have felt like murder in the morning. The things people do for love, eh? As for the whole singing blue matador bit, which was used to promote the film on posters, trailers, and merchandise (including the video and DVD), I have to ask - why? Sellers only actually goes blue about ten minutes from the end, so I'm not sure what the point of it was. There's also some dire sound syncing during his opera bit in the arena.
However, these niggles don't really detract from the film as a whole, which moves along quite nicely with some whimsical humour chucked in and a rather top notch Spanish musical score. It's even quite touching in places towards the end. Certainly worth a viewing, I'd say, even if nobody else thinks so.
8/10
I've seen it twice now, and I can't work out what's supposed to be so wrong with it. Granted, it's not perfect, but it's nowhere near as bad as it's made out to be. In fact, Juan Baustista, the singing matador, is probably one of Sellers' better acting roles (and that's saying something as he's bloody brilliant in almost everything), with every line either arousing sympathy or humour. Though Juan shouldn't be hugely likable - after all, the plot is about him trying to "conquer" a particular woman in three days so that he can get a singing contract at the local theatre - Sellers makes him so, with baleful glances and a genuine romantic quality. It's a subtle performance in many ways, and also, at times, a very funny one, Sellers displaying his usual comic flair. "I may look to you like a man who is waiting, but I can assure you that I am actually looking like a man who is *not* waiting. Mmm." Whether the Spanish accent is realistic I don't know, but it worked fine for me.
Britt Ekland co-stars as the focus of Juan's attentions, the vamp Olimpia. Sellers and Ekland were still married at the time and apparently filming was very tense as they were going through one of many rough patches in their relationship. However, this doesn't show on screen, and the two have a delightfully interesting chemistry. As for Britt as an actress in general, she does quite well here, and neither overacts nor underacts as she has a tendency to do in various other films I've seen her in (the otherwise marvellous Amicus anthology "Asylum", for instance).
There are actors of various nationalities on display, and as a result I knew few of them - there's a chap wearing a fez identical to the one he wore in "I'm All Right Jack", and the excitable Pepe is played by Boulting Brothers Welsh regular actor Kenneth Griffith, all but unrecognisable under thick specs and an even thicker Spanish accent. However, the always lovable Hattie Jacques has quite a substantial role as Britt's maid/housekeeper/minder, and it's interesting to see her in scenes opposite Peter Sellers, after her many years having been on radio with the other comedy legend Tony Hancock in "Hancock's Half Hour".
Though overall this is a very gentle and humorous film, there are some flaws. There seem to be several subplots going on at the beginning to do with men falling in and out of love with Olimpia, all of which get forgotten about once Sellers actually gets involved in the main plot line a whole half hour into the film, having spent his time prior to this wandering around a cafe ordering cheese sandwiches. There's a hideously OTT French camp bloke in the pervy hotel scene, who is, quite frankly, as irritating as a mosquito with asthma. And the film grinds to a halt about forty-five minutes in to make way for a bizarre five minute flamenco-dancing scene that drags interminably and has the scariest looking woman I've ever seen in a film, snarling and wracked with pain throughout, the dance itself making one's feet hurt just watching it. I bet her honeymoon was memorable. Her hubbie's back must have felt like murder in the morning. The things people do for love, eh? As for the whole singing blue matador bit, which was used to promote the film on posters, trailers, and merchandise (including the video and DVD), I have to ask - why? Sellers only actually goes blue about ten minutes from the end, so I'm not sure what the point of it was. There's also some dire sound syncing during his opera bit in the arena.
However, these niggles don't really detract from the film as a whole, which moves along quite nicely with some whimsical humour chucked in and a rather top notch Spanish musical score. It's even quite touching in places towards the end. Certainly worth a viewing, I'd say, even if nobody else thinks so.
8/10