Second part of the Leguineche preceded by "The National Shotgun" and completed by "National III" . Spanish coral film with a merciless denounce to hypocrite society located at a luxury mansion , being professionally directed by the veteran Berlanga and full of a high level of ingenious humor , including relentless critical in malevolent intention . A bustling comedy with a big plethora of players and an interesting script . After the death of Franco (1975) and the restoration of the monarchy , the Marquis of Leguineche (Luis Escobar) along with his misfit family return to this palace in Madrid , at Cibeles Square . After thirty years of voluntary exile in his farm-mansion in Los Tejadillos , Guadalajara , the marquis intends to approach the King to resume the court life of yesteryear . However , it is not so easy to access to the Royal Family . In Madrid palace he meets his invalidated old wife (Mary Santpere) . Then , arguments and disputes emerge among the left-wing marquis , the Francoist marchioness and her ex-lover Nacho (Alfredo Mayo) . The marquis and his son Luis José (José Luis López Vázquez) , helped by his nephew Alvaro (José Luis De Villalonga) -married to beautiful French woman Solange (in real-life Villalonga spouse Syliane Stella)- attempt to incapacitate the marchioness . Meantime , they try to reform the ruined palace to give aristocratic parties . But then problems emerge when there appears two Finance Inspectors , and the resourceful marquis has to do everything to get his aims , as becoming the palace into a museum .
After getting success with the first part and a great popularity by Luis Escobar playing the offbeat marquis , it led to filmmaker Berlanga , writer Azcona and producer Alfredo Matas to make this second outing "National Heritage" , dealing with the national policy and monarchy restoration by Juan Carlos I . In the flick there are especially busy comedy , ironical humor , frantic pace , amusing gags , rowdy satire , strange roles , noisy hustle and social critical . Furthermore , it contains certain confusion and relies heavily in exaggerated mayhem ; being in anyway clearly inferior to former film . One time finished the Franquist dictatorship , Berlanga along with his regular screenwriter Azcona carry out the realization a known trilogy about the political and social Spanish situation , concerning on the peculiar aristocratic family of the Marquis of Leguineche . Shot in long , complex shots : ¨Planos Secuencia¨, with a lot of rare roles talking , shouting and walking . The main and support actors stand out under perfect direction of Berlanga very far from the tenderness that carried out in previous works , including a bitter , pessimistic mirror on the Spanish society by that time and of the egoistic aristocracy , especially . We can find very fun roles , all of them caricatures and mirrors of the Spanish society . The movie displays a Spanish star-studded , such as : the sex-hungry Jose Luis López Vázquez , the loud-mouthed priest Agustin González (Berlanga's also regular), Amparo Soler Leal (married to producer) , Chus Lampreave (Almodovar's ordinary), and , of course , Luis Ciges . And brief roles and cameos by the graphic humorist Mingote , writer Joaquin Calvo Sótelo , stage director José Luis Alonso and filmmaker Francisco Regueiro . Its big success originated ¨Nacional III¨(82) about the power rising of Socialists with Felipe Gonzalez . Berlanga's conceptual and political audacity, so evident in this film that achieved a considerable hit . It turned out to be a nice picture plenty of diverting situations as well as black humor and social hypocrisy .
Direction by Luis Garcia Berlanga is acceptable but inferior to precedent film , he shows his skill for edition , realizing long shots with crowd who moves easily and shows the miseries of an amoral society. Berlanga filmed several polemic movies during the 50s , all of them were beset by difficulties with the censors caused by real critical to social stratum such as ¨Bienvenido Mister Marshall¨ (1953) , a very good film which tended not to be very well received by the censor for its acidity and considered to be one of the best Spanish films of the history , including a strong portrait of Spanish society . His next joint venture was ¨Los Jueves, Milagro¨ (1957), it was modified by the censors and delayed for several years before its eventual release . Subsequently , Berlanga made ¨Placido¨ (1961) , this is the film debut for the great producer Alfredo Matas and received an Oscar nomination in 1963 , being well-received at the International Festivals , reviewing the useless charity , it's a sublime film but with censorship . Later on , Berlanga made one of his best films : ¨El Verdugo¨ (1963), one of the undisputed masterpieces and fundamental in filmography of Luis Garcia Berlanga and shot at the height of his creativity, in a period cultural difficult , where the enormous censorship of the political regime , exacerbated the ingenuity and imagination of the scriptwriters . He continued filming other interesting pictures , as in 1973 he went to Paris to begin filming ¨Grandeur nature¨ focusing on the fetishism of a man who falls in love with a doll . After Franco's death, he filmed the ¨Leguineche Trilogy¨ where he clarified the evident disorders in the Spanish upper , middle-class upon being confronted with a new political status quo , realizing a sour denounce of the Spanish society . Soon after , he made ¨La Vaquilla¨ (1985) set in the Spanish Civil War , resulting to be the first time dealing with this convulsive period in comedy style . Following the same themes, he went on filming coral films such as ¨Moros and Cristianos¨ and ¨Todos a Carcel¨ (1993) that won Goya Awards ; being his final film : ¨Paris Tombuctu¨.
