In 1860s Madrid, Fabián Conde is a dissolute young man who drives his dishonored identity into a life of seduction and dueling. When he eventually falls in love, changes for good and finds the truth about his family, his two opposite friends give him contrasted advice on what he should do. He chooses and time goes by. Then something unexpected happens that will put him on the brim of loosing everything he has fought for.
Acting
Armando Calvo's smoldering transformation from rake to ruined romantic.
Production
Lavish 1860s Madrid recreation on clearly limited wartime resources.
Director
José Luis Sáenz de Heredia
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Shot during Franco's early regime, this reflects Spain's obsession with honor and Catholic moral reckoning that dominated post-Civil War cinema.
Sáenz de Heredia later became infamous for directing Francoist propaganda, making this earlier melodrama's moral anxieties hit differently in retrospect.
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