Born in Valencia in 1921 and died in Madrid in 2010, Luis García Berlanga was among the first graduates of the Madrid film school, and became the great satirist of Spanish cinema under Franco. His comedies, written mostly with Rafael Azcona, were light on the surface but corrosive about hypocrisy, consumerism and authority, and slipped past the censors. Welcome Mr. Marshall! (1953), about a village that dresses up for American aid, was a hit at Cannes. The Executioner (1963), about a man who takes the job of hangman to get an apartment, is a dark classic.
Filmography
- Esa pareja feliz (1951)
- Welcome Mr. Marshall! (1953)
- Calabuch (1956)
- Los jueves, milagro (1957)
- Plácido (1961)
- The Executioner (1963)
- Life Size (1974)
- National Shotgun (1978)
- The Heifer (1985)