Technical data
- Title: MÁS BONITA QUE NINGUNA
- Year: 1965
- Production: Cámara P.C
- Country: Spain and Argentina
- Direction: Luis César Amadori
- Cast: Rocío Durcal, Luigi Giuliani, Gracita Morales, Tomás Blanco, Pedro Porcel.
Description and synopsis
This Spanish musical and romantic comedy was a national symbol of its period, bringing together many characteristics of the most official and commercial Spanish cinema at the time of its release. It tells the story of a couple in love who are keeping important secrets from each other, which end up coming out and bring an unexpected twist to the plot. The film didn’t stray from the strict canons of Franco’s censorship, with the dictatorship and the weight of the church very much present.
The main mission of the film was to launch the career of Rocío Dúrcal, a “child prodigy” who went on to develop a successful musical career, especially in Mexico. The film was one of the biggest box-office hits in Spain in its year of release and the songs featured the collaboration of Los Brincos, a very prominent Spanish group in that decade.
Más Bonita Que Ninguna (More Beautiful Than Any Other) also served to promote the new tourism adventure on which the country was embarking and to present the Canary Islands’ excellence in this sector. Under the direction of the Argentinian Luis César Amadori, some of the film was shot in Gran Canaria, although the scenes shot in Lanzarote were particularly outstanding, with El Charco de Los Clicos in El Golfo and Timanfaya standing out.
In the Lanzarote scenes, Rocío Dúrcal appears accompanied by Heraclio Niz, a local legend who had a very special relationship with cinema. Gifted with a powerful physique and striking for his large size, Niz had an outstanding career as a young man in Canarian wrestling, where he was known as the ‘Pollo de Arrecife’ (Rooster of Arrecife). After triumphing in this sport that has ancestral roots in the islands, Niz became a local policeman, becoming an island celebrity due to his charismatic personality, to which he added a prolific film career, collaborating as an actor and extra in more than 20 films shot in the Canary Islands and also in the production of many other films. The Filmoteca Canaria considers the Lanzarote-born Heraclio Niz to be one of the most prolific Canarian filmmakers of his time. He became close friends with prominent show business and political personalities, and his friendship with Julio Iglesias is especially well known.
