On Thieves and Heartthrobs: Variations on <i>Film Noir</i> in the Barcelona Trilogy by Arturo Fernández and Julio Coll (1956-1959)

Abstract

Due to the recent death of Arturo Fernández, this work seeks to study the figure of filmmaker Julio Coll, through their collaboration in three pivotal films of the Spanish cinema of the 50s: Nunca es demasiado tarde (1956), Distrito quinto (1957) and Un vaso de whisky (1959). This «noir trilogy» sets two parallel lines of analysis: the first one traces the representation of social issues in Spain; the second one focuses on the dramatic evolution of Fernández’s early roles. The aim is to identify the thematic, narrative and formal key points of an almost forgotten artist and remember that the beginnings of the famous actor went hand in hand with a very particular genre of our national cinematography. Thus, we will define the collian poetic and its correlation with both Franco censorship and morality and the codes of film noir.