Silver Screen Spain (on the road with Thelma)

SITGES is one of those towns that invite you to make films and, in fact, stars such as Errol Flynn have filmed there. On 22 May 2021, the Sal D’or at the

Although he is probably best known for A Hard Day’s Night and his contribution to the Superman films, Richard Lester made seven movies in Spain, each of which is a minor classic.

The TV film Monsignor Quixote was Alec Guinness’s last Spanish movie, and the only one in fact about Spain. Monsignor Quixote is a novel by Graham Greene, based on ‘Don Quijote,’ made

If like me you like history and the cinema, and you love Spain, you might like to try this little quiz. To check if your answers are correct, you can mail me

Spain is truly the European Hollywood, with over 900 English language films shot here over the years, many of them epics such as Doctor Zhivago, Lawrence of Arabia and Indiana Jones and

Stephen Spielberg was influenced as a student by David Lean, who directed most of ‘Doctor Zhivago’ and a great part of ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ in Spain. In fact, one of Spielberg’s unrequited

San Sebastian wasn’t originally on our agenda, but we were tired of the meseta heat and treated ourselves to a bit of Cantabrian coast with a solid cinema pedigree. Desire (1936) was

In Remember Me (2019) Bruce Dern fakes Alzheimer’s to get into a residence where an old flame is suffering the real thing. Filming took place in Madrid, (Villanueva de la Cañada and

Urbasa is an open, green space in the north of Navarre, where many film makers have taken advantage of the lush greenery and the abundance of loose horses, cows and sheep. Actually

Finally we realised an old ambition, to visit the Sad Hill cemetery, where the final shoot-out takes place in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966). As in the film there

In the Samuel Bronston epic El Cid fights for a Spain in which Moors and Christians can fight (sorry live) together in harmony. In reality he was at one time happy to

The church of Niembro has been used for many Spanish films and two English language films, and its location on the ría (a tidal river) lends it a special atmosphere. The House

As I was saying, the owner of the hotel in Las Fraguas gave us some good information, and the next day we went in search of one suggestion, the redwood forest of

It’s not unusual that a film by one of Spain’s top directors, Alejandro Almenábar, should be filmed in Spain; what is unusual is that it stars Nicole Kidman, was produced by Tom

Fine Gold (1989) is a strange film, and one aimed at showcasing Rioja wine more than anything else, although it does include a 74 year old Stewart Granger and that nasty lizard

I’m not especially hostile to monarchy per se, but when King Felipe VI’s visit to Haro coincided with mine, it was inevitable that if either of us was going to be inconvenienced,

Today was a white line day; hundreds of kilometres on the road and not much to show for it, unless you consider killing a baby deer an achievement. I’m not one to

Thelma arrived at an unusually deserted Alicante airport and we were off on the road to Cuenca for the first day of our odyssey, promoting the idea of cinema tourism in empty

“During my 40 years in Spain, I have always found that the best thing about this country are its villages (pueblos) and its people (pueblo). Who said Spanish is confusing? In the

Arnold Schwarzenegger first came to our attention as Conan the Barbarian, a film made in 1981 in various parts of Spain. Decades later Arnold returned to Spain to shoot scenes from the

When is a castle not a castle? When it’s a park, obviously! Barcelona doesn’t exactly spring to mind as the setting for The Castle of Fu Manchu (1969), and yet that’s where

Two mythical maidens have made movies in Spain, and they both went by the name of Hepburn, although they were unrelated. Katherine Hepburn, who out-acted Humphrey Bogart in the African Queen, played

They say that history has a way of repeating itself, and film locations certainly prove the point. One of the films that had a big influence on Spain’s role as a primary,

I have stayed at four Paradors so far, never as a paying guest but always invited to give a conference. However, I suspect that on my upcoming road trip with Thelma, we

In July 2020 Thelma and I will undertake our second road trip, leaving Valencia on the 9th and visiting a number of important cinema locations. Our first stop will be Cuenca, one