The Water on the Ground (1934)
Film directed by Eusebio Fernández Ardavín, in 1934.
Screenplay: Eusebio Fernández Ardavín, about the work of the Álvarez Quintero brothers.
Director of photography: Henri Barreyre and José María Beltrán.
Editing: Eduardo García Maroto.
Music: Francisco Alonso.
Performers: Maruchi Fresno, María Anaya, Pilar García, Angelita Pulgar, Selica Pérez Carpio, José Calle, Nicolás Navarro, José María Alonso Pesquera, Paulino Casado, José de Abarca, Rufino Inglés, Luis Peña.
Premiere: April 14, 1934, Cine Lírico (Valencia) and April 16, 1934, Cine Callao (Madrid).
Synopsis: The slander that looms round a noble family’s reptation by some false and damning verses published in a newspaper by some unscrupulous man. Falseness is like water on the ground, which although it may be swept up some of it always seems to linger hence the title of this work.
The press of the time described it as “a Spanish film, made and styled on the whole according to our racial style and essence, but without falling back on local stereotypical features, without brush strokes of regional color, without “españoladas”, in a word”.
It was the first Spanish sound film, the first that was shot in the famous Madrid studios of the CEA and also the first of the Álvarez Quintero brothers.
As for the music of Alonso, a “Song of the Boyero” and a “Gypsy Song” were praised.
The photograph and the quality of the sound attracted attention.
Celsa Alonso, from the University of Oviedo, has written an interesting work: “De la zarzuela y la revista a la música de cine: El maestro Francisco Alonso y el cine de la República” which offers highly readable information about this movie. The study of C. Alonso, is included in the volume edited by Matilde Olarte Martínez: “Reflexiones en torno a la música y la imagen desde la musicología española” (Salamanca, 2009).