It was before Julie Andrews and 'the sound of music" !There was already a nightingale in the mountains.
The third Joselito Jimenez movie:like his previous efforts,religion plays a prominent part in it.Whereas the first dealt with the prodigal Mary Magdelene daughter , the highlight of the sophomore effort was the Holy Week in a small town near Sevilla.In the mountains,Joselito (all his first movies cast him as Joselito),who is a shepherd ,finds an old deserted chapel.He sculpts a saint in a piece of wood and puts it on the altar.The grand finale shows the bishop consecrating the place ,with priests,altar boys,and all the inhabitants of the village.On the other hand,"Escucha mi Cancion" which followed and which made Joselito a big star outside Spain was pure melodrama with only an occasional devout line.
The screenplay seems closer to the first effort:Joselito has got problems again with his family:rejected by his stepfather in the 1956 film,here he runs away from his house cause his dad is an alcoholic brute.He follows a busker who pretends he is blind to move to pity the crowds.This subject is quite derivative,coming from the melodramas of the nineteenth century (Hector Malot's "Sans Famille" ),but at the time,Joselito's voice was really phenomenal,he had spontaneity and charm going for him ;the landscapes are lovely .And Peppino ,the busker with a big heart is an endearing character.Another permanent feature of the Joselito saga: when someone's got the singer with the golden voice,there is always someone else who wants this goose that lays the golden eggs.
