Cita imposible (1958) Poster

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6/10
Decent Spanish Noir competently performed , stunningly photographed in black and white , and being well set in Barcelona
ma-cortes15 December 2018
Rosario : Josefina Guell, is wrongly condemned for robbing committed at a cabaret theatre where she works as a secretary of an employer called Gaston : Luis Induni . After spending 1 year incarcerated and out of prison she attempts to prove her innocence and then hires a lawyer : Philippe Lemaire, cousin of a cop , Arturo Fernandez , who is investigating the case. Shortly after , Rosario receives a phone call from his previous entrepreneur to go his home .But then Gaston appears killed and she becomes the main suspect. Who's the killer¿

This is an attractive thriller about suspects and killings , packing some twists and turns ; containing an adequate cinematography in black and white by cameraman Salvador Torres . As well as an appropriate and atmospheric musical score by Federico Martinez Tudo. Main cast as Philip Lemaire, Josefina Guell, Arturo Fernández and Luz Márquez give decent interpretations . And support cast is pretty good such as Luis Induni , Francisco Piquer , Fernando Rubio ,Beni Deus and Estanis González . Special mention for Gustavo Re at a sympathetic acting as a swindler called Máximo Waleska when he is actually Giovanni Esposito .The picture is developed with intrigue and suspense , the thrilling events are unfolded with absolute logic until the predictable final outcome , including conventional pitfalls . An effective , properly made and well played production that alrightly brings most of the roles of the Classy Noir Films and also contributing occassionally some novelties .Typical issue about the wrong guilty , the film offers an ordinary portrayal of two prototypes of women by the time , the fifties : "The good girl" whose origin results to be the rural world and "the bad girl" a Femme Fatal from the night world , Cabaret and varíetes shows. This acceptable film belongs to the Spanish Film Noir of the fifties and sixties whose main centre was in Barcelona , though this Cita Imposible is inferior than other titles as Distrito quinto 1957 by Julio Coll , Brigada Criminal 1950 by Ignacio F Iquino , A sangre fria 1959 by Juan Bosch , Un vaso de Whisky by Julio Coll , A tiro limpio 1963 by Francisco Pérez Dolz. And other important movies as O91 Policia al habla by José Maria Forque and the best turned to be "Los Peces Rojos" by Jose Antonio Nieves Conde .The usual characters respond to the classic archetypes from Noir Film such as : an evil woman , a Femme Fatale who maneauvers on her own using her cunning , the wrong culprit , the astute cop investigating , and some criminals predisposed to crime and the ordinary treason.

The motion picture was professionally directed by Antonio Santillan, though it has failures and flaws. It was contemptuously considered and unjustly forgotten , but , nowadays, being better valued than the past . Santillan film debut was in 1942 with Enemigos and 1944 with La noche del martes . After that , he is hired by the famous and cheap producer/director Ignacio F Iquino with whom makes the moralizing works : Almas en peligro 1951, about a priest at a reformatory institution and , Sucedió Una Noche, about adventures of two church apprentices. Later on , he returns to thriller with : El presidio 1954 , El Ojo de Cristal 1956 deemed to be his best film based on the US writer William Irish, Cita imposible 1958, Cuatro en la frontera, Los Desamparados 1960 , Senda Torcida 1963 , some of them based on scripts by José Antonio De La Loma and Antonio Santillan himself under pseudonym A.S. Esteban . Shortly after , he made a drama: Hospital de Urgencia and an exotic, adventurous production: Una ráfaga de plomo 1966. Rating : 6/10 . Decent , acceptable and passable film that will appeal to Spanish Noir fim aficionados.
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7/10
Impossible Appointment
bpeb29 December 2008
Just re-released as a DVD in 2008: When Rosario is released from a one year prison sentence in Barcelona women's detention center, she is determined to prove her innocence. As she gets into the deep waters of a murky plot, whose twists and turns are well handled, she is finally helped by the professionally and sartorially impeccable Arturo Fernandez cast as the Inspector (Franquoist cinema could present nothing less from its Police Force). Do watch out for the police car and chauffeur driving three inspectors to the scene of a crime! The plot includes Cabaret sets, to appeal to the taste of the time for spectacle, and listen to the Jazz sound track. (bpeb)
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5/10
decent spanish film noir
happytrigger-64-39051724 December 2019
"Panique au music hall" is an ok spanish revenge film noir but with no surprises or important noir sequences, no violent scenes. I saw the version in french with the delightful Claudine Dupuis as Rosario Martin ; reading the cast, I see thre's a spanish actress I imagine for a spanish version. Claudine Dupuis doesn't shine playing her character searching for revenge and truth, she is much more pretty in comedies when she smiles. Philippe Lemaire is quite energic wishing to help Claudine Dupuis.
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Murder ,they said.
dbdumonteil20 September 2010
The coming of the Nouvelle Vague and the decline of the "romantic young male/female lead" lead some actors to live their native France for the broader horizons (at the time) of Italy;some others choose Spain,such as Philippe Lemaire and Claudine Dupuis ,who were no longer "romantic young leads " anyway.She plays the part of a falsely accused of theft -and later of murder-woman and he is her attentive escort ,the attorney ,supposedly smarter than his cousin/detective (but the ending shows it isn't so).The murder mystery is rather mediocre ,the average viewer being able to discover the guilty ones after thirty minutes.Actually ,as it takes place around a music hall,it recalls Mitchell Leisen's works of the thirties :"murder at the vanities" ," four hours to kill",complete with "real" action on stage ....
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