El final de una leyenda

The end of a legend or El fin de la leyenda (1951) is set in Menorca, early 20th century. Carlos Montaña (Cesare Danova) is a young from Menorca, he's a military man who falls in love with a student . Carlos is a Majorca-born military lieutenant in Barcelona where he meets the young student Inés , but he is then destinated to Madrid . Later on , he's appointed to Mahon , Minorca , and in his natal city , Ciudadela , he meets again Inés and both of whom rekindling their past romance . As Carlos returns to Ciudadela, his hometown, along with his colorful family, and , above all , his father (Rafael Calvo), a man who puts everything in the good name of the family. His enmity with the Oliváns has led him to brick up the windows of the house that overlook the house of his neighbors . A small offense causes Carlos to confront his eldest son (Luis Induni). Inés (Juny Orly) , the Oliván's daughter, is none other than the schoolgirl who stole Carlos' heart in Barcelona. Everything changes when Carlos Montaña falling in love with Inés Oliván , without both knowing his family history , then their respective mothers support them, but their fathers refuse to court . And Magdalena Montaña (Carmen Rey) mediates the love between her brother and her schoolmate .

A romantic drama about a couple who becomes involved in problems while attempting to develop their love and due to family hateful . The plot is plain and simple , the typical romance of two youngsters , a lieutenant and student from a girls' school falling during a visit to Barcelona with confronted families in ¨Romeo and Juliet¨style , and according to the laws of Shakespearean tragedy, telling the story of two families who, for years , have maintained a lawsuit that has made them hate each other in an almost unnatural way. Despite their sincere love and the fact that the mothers of both young people are willing to accept it, their parents cannot forget the hatred that they are processing. The end of a legend is a similar film titled ¨Correo del rey¨(Ricardo Gascón, 1951). The latter film was shot in Mahón, in Ciudadela, both are directed by Ricardo Gascón, scripted by Rafael J. Salvia, starring Cesare Danova and Juny Orly -that is , Juana Soler- and produced by José Carreras Planas . If the ¨Correo del Rey¨ was a more than remarkable adventure film, this El final de una leyenda (1951) follows the model of Italian calligraphic cinema from the first five years of the forties : a melodrama in which there's a look at the past , adaptation of literary texts -in this case of a novel by Joan Dotras Vila- and a certain formal rigor . Stars the extremely tall Cesare Danova , a gallant actor who had a long career both in Europe and Hollywood. Thanks to great producer Dino de Laurentiis , he was cast as the lead in 1947 : The Captain's Daughter. Thus began his career as an Italian Errol Flynn. In almost 20 European films, Danova played the dashing lead, riding horses, jumping through windows, dueling, and romancing beauties such as Gina Lollobrigida . Danova loved the theater and appeared onstage in Rome, Venice, Spain, New York, and Los Angeles. He was in the habit of carrying a small leprechaun good luck charm .Finally, with MGM's consent , Danova made his American debut in Los Angeles opposite Paul Muni in a musical version of Gran Hotel (1932). When it flopped, he traveled to Cuba to appear in Catch Me If You Can (1959), a film starring Gilbert Roland and Dina Merrill. Financed by soon-to-be-deposed Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista , it was apparently never released . Danova's American film debut was as the lover of Leslie Caron in the now-forgotten The man who understood women (1959) , starring Henry Fonda . He made his American television debut in a first-season episode of The Rifleman (1958) called 'Duel of Honor', the first of three appearances. United Press International summed up Danova's reversal of fortune this way : "Televiewers will have the opportunity to see the man who almost played the title role in Ben-Hur (1959). Cesare Danova got a second chance at stardom when he was cast as Cleopatra's court advisor, Apollodorus, in Cleopatra (1963). In his early years in America, Danova turned down the opportunity to appear as a series regular on TV for fear of being typecast and locked out of movies altogether. When he finally accepted, it was for the WWII ensemble cast Garrison's Gorillas (1967). In time, as movie roles became fewer, Danova did a great deal of television work . Two of his most memorable later screen roles and the ones for which he is best remembered were as Mafia Don Giovanni Cappa in Mean streets (1973), directed by Martin Scorsese, and as corrupt mayor Carmine DePasto in National Lampoon's Animal House (1978).

This unknown film was professionally directed by Ricardo Gascón , though it results to be dated and corny . In the postwar period, he worked as an assistant director for Ignacio F. Iquino and made his directorial debut in the comedy ¨Un Ladrón de Guante Blanco¨ 1945. Among his thirteen films, the ones he made at the end of the forties stand out : ¨When Los Angeles Sleep¨ 1947 starred by Amadeo Nazzari , the comedy ¨Unexpected Conflict¨ 1947) the biography ¨Juan de Serrallonga¨ (1948) with Amadeo Nazzari and the drama ¨La niña de Luzmela¨ (1949) based on the homonymous novel by Concha Espina, the peculiar comedy ¨A thief has entered¨(1949 based on the work of Wenceslao Fernandez Flórez and the paternal-filial drama ¨El hijo de la noche¨( 1949) . His last films are police films shot with little money and not much imagination. Like many directors of his time, he signed the co-production ¨El aventurero¨ (1957) for union reasons.