Jose Antonio Nieves Conde

Born on December 22, 1915 in Segovia, José Antonio Nieves Conde began in the world of cinema as a screenwriter in 1942, when he wrote Vidas cruzadas , an adaptation of a work by Jacinto Benavente , which would be made into a film by Luis Marquina . Shortly after he was recruited as an assistant director by Rafael Gil , for Huella de luz , with Antonio Casal . His first film as a director was Senda ignorada , a correct suspense film with Alicia Palacios . During the 1940s, he directed such interesting films as Anguish and Late Night, but the filmmaker would establish himself in the early 50s, especially with Balarrasa , from 1951, in which Fernando Fernán Gómez played a priest. It was a great success that, together with La guerra de Dios , by the aforementioned Rafael Gil, and Marcelino, Pan y Vino , by Ladislao Vajda , is among the best titles in religious cinema, a genre that was widely used in our cinema at that time.

His most important film was Surcos , from 1951, which narrated the vicissitudes of a rural family that moved to live in the capital, and had a hard time. As Nieves Conde belonged to the Falange, he was not suspected of being hostile to the regime, which allowed him to make the most accurate and sharp criticism of Spain at that time, describing the main sociological problems. The film has always been compared to Italian neorealism, although Nieves Conde’s film only resembles Rossellini’s or Visconti’s films due to its social themes.

Nieves Conde’s own favorite film was Los peces rojos , one of the best police films shot in our country. Arturo de Córdova played Hugo, a failed writer who has relationships with Ivón, a choir girl. During a stormy night, Hugo’s son falls into the sea and is swept away by the ocean current. A commissioner investigates the case. From that film on, the director would constantly change genres, shooting titles like Forbidden to fall in love , adaptation of a stage comedy by Edgar Neville . Other of his films are El diablo también cria , Don Lucio y el hermano pío or Cotolay , where Vicente ParraHe played Saint Francis of Assisi. The most curious film of his filmography was The Prehistoric Sound , also known as The Sound of Death , a prehistoric monster movie. After La revolución matrimonial and Las señoritas de mala compañía , he brought Volvoreta , the novel by Wenceslao Fernández Flórez , to the cinema , for which he personally wrote the script. Nieves Conde’s last works before retiring were Más allá del deseo and Casa manchata .