An advocate named Javier Zarco (Rafael Durán) and a beautiful young woman called Blanca (Amparo Rivelles) meet during a trip and fall in love , but soon she disappears . Years later , the solicitor becomes a judge and is destinated at a village where he finds in a cemetery a skull pierced by a nail that turns to murder in the light of new events . While searching for his lost love , he decides to investigate the case and suspicion of murder falls on the woman who must marry the deceased.
After the exceptional success of ¨El Escándalo¨ 1943 by José Luis Saenz de Heredia , CIFESA commissioned Rafael Gil (who had just filmed the blockbuster Eloisa Está Debajo de un Almendro) a new literary adaptation , this time based on a story by Pedro Antonio Alarcón , considered by many to be the first example of detective literature in Spain. Surely he was encouraged by the success he had obtained with the previous film, also based on a novel by the same author and receiving the generous economic grant given by the Francoist government . Rafael Gil will demonstrate his skills to transform this twisted story into a remarkable film , from the contribution of certain details of intrigue and mystery, as well as a phantasmagorical atmosphere, making the viewer ignore the improbability of a plot based on too many coincidences. And it contains some echoes of some classic American films , such as: Mr Deed goes to town (Frank Capra 1936), Rebecca (Alfred Hitchcock 1940) and Love Affair (Leo McCarey 1939) . Interpretations are acceptable at the time , but , nowadays , result corny and dated . Stars Rafael Durán as a rural magistrate who tries to solve the mystery of a man's death and Amparo Rivelles as the beautiful and enigmatic woman who suddenly missing . They are well accompanied by a lot of notorious secondaries from the Forties and Fifities , such as : Juan Espantaleón , Milagros Leal , Joaquín Roa , Irene Caba Alba, Manuel Arbó , Jesús Tordesillas , José Franco , Manuel Requena, Rafael Bardem , Nicolás D. Perchicot , Juan Calvo, Félix Fernández, Enrique Herreros, José María Lado, among others.
Displaying an atmospheric cinematography in black and white with plenty of lights and shades by cameraman Alfredo Fraile , adding evocative musical score by Juan Quintero . As well as luxurious production design with stunning settings by prestigious Enrique Alarcón. The motion picture lavishly produced was well shot by Rafael Gil and it had aid enough by the Ministry of Culture that gave grant to all those directors who were inspired by literary texts that adequate to ruling power criteria . In fact, The Nail or El Clavo was nominated National Syndicate of Spectacle, Spain 1944 , Nominee Prize of the National Syndicate of Spectacle Best Film. Director Rafael Gil took advantage of the marvelous actors from this budget enough production . Being filmed in his usual style and in stylistic scholarship , without leaving a trace the tragic and provoking issues , in terms of dramatic and narrative excitement . Rafael was one of the best filmmakers from Spanish cinema , directing several classic and interesting movies , such as : ¨Don Quijote De La Mancha¨ , ¨El Clavo¨ , ¨Eloisa está debajo de un almendro¨, ¨Murió hace 15 años¨ ¨La Fe¨ , ¨La Señora De Fatima¨, ¨La Reina Santa¨ , ¨La pródiga¨, ¨La Guerra De Dios¨ , ¨El Beso De Judas¨ , ¨Sor Intrepida¨, ¨El gran galeoto¨, ¨El Litri¨, ¨Currito de la Cruz¨, ¨La otra vida del capitan Contreras¨, ¨La Casa de Troya¨, ¨Rogelia¨, ¨La gran mentira¨ , as well as Sara Montiel vehicles as : ¨Samba¨ , ¨La reina del Chantecler¨ and several others. Rating : 7/10 , above average . Well worth watching .
