Acting
Emma Penella
Born March 2, 1930 · Madrid, Spain
Died August 27, 2007 · aged 77
Manuela Ruiz Penella known as Emma Penella (Madrid, March 2, 1931 - Ibidem, August 27, 2007) was a Spanish film, theater and television actress. Daughter of the politician Ramón Ruiz Alonso and Magdalena Penella Silva, granddaughter of the composer Manuel Penella Moreno, great-granddaughter of the also musician Manuel Penella Raga, sister of the also actresses Elisa Montés (1934) and Terele Pávez…
Known For
Thesis · 1996Thesis
★ 7.51996
MovieHorrorThriller
While working on a thesis about audiovisual violence, film student Ángela finds a snuff video where a girl is tortured until death. Soon she discovers that she was a former student in her university, and that the authors of the video are not very far either.
El crimen de Don Benito · 1991El crimen de Don Benito
★ 4.41991
MovieDramaCrime
July 18, 1902. A woman and her daughter are brutally murdered in the Extremaduran town of Don Benito. Everybody knows the depraved town boss was responsible, but nobody dares to declare against him.
El amor brujo · 1986El amor brujo
★ 6.91986
MovieMusicDrama
In a Gypsy village, the fathers of Candela and José promise their children to each other. Years later, the unfaithful José marries Candela but while defending his lover Lucía in a brawl, he is stabbed to death. Carmelo, who secretly loves Candela since he was a boy, is arrested while helping José and unfairly sent to prison. Four years later he is released and declares his love for Candela. However, the woman is cursed by a bewitched love and every night she goes to the place where José died to dance with his ghost.
Our Father · 1985Our Father
★ 5.01985
MovieDrama
The story of a Spanish Cardinal who is told he only has one more year to live. He decides to return to his hometown, after an absence of 30 years, to sort out his affairs.
Pídele cuentas al rey · 2000Pídele cuentas al rey
★ 5.62000
Movie
Fidel, an Asturian miner, after the closure of the mine where he works, decides to walk to Madrid with his family, to ask the king why the Constitution is not met, specifically the article that points out that all the Spanish citizens have the right to have a decent work. Will the king receive him?
Bulgarian Lovers · 2003Bulgarian Lovers
★ 5.62003
MovieDramaComedy
Graying Spaniard Daniel has a healthy budget for indulging in the finer things in life. Daniel's favorite luxury is playing sponsor to younger men amid the lights and sights of Madrid's gay club scene. After Daniel shares a night with handsome Bulgarian emigre Kyril, he finds himself consumed with an insatiable lust for the charismatic foreigner. But, as their relationship takes shape, Daniel's latest conquest reveals his own manipulative tendencies.
Scano Boa · 1961Scano Boa
★ 10.01961
Movie
Fedra, the Devil's Daughter · 1956Fedra, the Devil's Daughter
★ 7.01956
MovieDrama
Estrella, a wild young woman, is lusted after by every man and therefore hated by the female community.
Movies
Thesis · 1996Thesis
★ 7.51996
MovieHorrorThriller
While working on a thesis about audiovisual violence, film student Ángela finds a snuff video where a girl is tortured until death. Soon she discovers that she was a former student in her university, and that the authors of the video are not very far either.
El crimen de Don Benito · 1991El crimen de Don Benito
★ 4.41991
MovieDramaCrime
July 18, 1902. A woman and her daughter are brutally murdered in the Extremaduran town of Don Benito. Everybody knows the depraved town boss was responsible, but nobody dares to declare against him.
El amor brujo · 1986El amor brujo
★ 6.91986
MovieMusicDrama
In a Gypsy village, the fathers of Candela and José promise their children to each other. Years later, the unfaithful José marries Candela but while defending his lover Lucía in a brawl, he is stabbed to death. Carmelo, who secretly loves Candela since he was a boy, is arrested while helping José and unfairly sent to prison. Four years later he is released and declares his love for Candela. However, the woman is cursed by a bewitched love and every night she goes to the place where José died to dance with his ghost.
Our Father · 1985Our Father
★ 5.01985
MovieDrama
The story of a Spanish Cardinal who is told he only has one more year to live. He decides to return to his hometown, after an absence of 30 years, to sort out his affairs.
Pídele cuentas al rey · 2000Pídele cuentas al rey
★ 5.62000
Movie
Fidel, an Asturian miner, after the closure of the mine where he works, decides to walk to Madrid with his family, to ask the king why the Constitution is not met, specifically the article that points out that all the Spanish citizens have the right to have a decent work. Will the king receive him?
Bulgarian Lovers · 2003Bulgarian Lovers
★ 5.62003
MovieDramaComedy
Graying Spaniard Daniel has a healthy budget for indulging in the finer things in life. Daniel's favorite luxury is playing sponsor to younger men amid the lights and sights of Madrid's gay club scene. After Daniel shares a night with handsome Bulgarian emigre Kyril, he finds himself consumed with an insatiable lust for the charismatic foreigner. But, as their relationship takes shape, Daniel's latest conquest reveals his own manipulative tendencies.
Scano Boa · 1961Scano Boa
★ 10.01961
Movie
Fedra, the Devil's Daughter · 1956Fedra, the Devil's Daughter
★ 7.01956
MovieDrama
Estrella, a wild young woman, is lusted after by every man and therefore hated by the female community.
The Executioner · 1963The Executioner
★ 7.61963
MovieComedyDrama
An undertaker gets married to an old executioner's daughter and, although he doesn't like it, must continue the profession of his father-in-law after his retirement.
The Eyes Leave a Trace · 1952The Eyes Leave a Trace
★ 6.31952
MovieCrimeDrama
Martin, a frustrated lawyer who sells perfumes, is reunited with Robert, an old, bright fellow student, and falls in love with his wife. One night Robert enlists the help of Martin, because he believes he has killed a man who was about her lover. Martin sees an opportunity ...
Viento de cólera · 1988Viento de cólera
★ 4.31988
MovieAdventure
Two soldiers accompanied by two women enter the Baztán valley on horseback. They are deserters from the army of the Indies who are fleeing to Italy. They arrive to claim the inheritance of one of them, León de Balanza, Captain in Peru and soldier without fortune. They are looking for old Balanzategui who works the land of his ancestors. The old man's refusal to distribute the farmland's land causes a serious conflict.
Carta a una mujer · 1963Carta a una mujer
★ 6.51963
MovieDrama
Flora and Carlos have a marriage of convenience. Realizing that she did not love him, Carlos joined the Blue Division and soon disappeared in Russia. Flora lives with a famous conductor, but they have not married because the death of Carlos has not been formally communicated. But one day, a mysterious character who turns out to be an old enemy of his husband, sends Flora a message telling that her husband will return.
The Search · 1966The Search
★ 6.01966
MovieCrimeDrama
Manuel Jacques Perrin is a young man from the country who tries to make it in Madrid in this somber melodrama. He struggles to survive in the unforgiving city where only the strongest will prosper. Manuel defends himself and kills a murderous thief in a fight then quietly waits for the police to reach the scene of the crime.
Truhanes de honor · 1952Truhanes de honor
★ 8.01952
MovieDrama
Mar de luna · 1995Mar de luna
★ 10.01995
MovieDrama
Story of impossible love between a knight and his sister. From them born a son who is repudiated by the gentleman, who takes him to live with monks in a monastery. When the boy grows up, escapes from the monastery to see the world and especially the sea. On the way he meets a peddler who teaches him to function in life.
Golden Goddess of Rio Beni · 1964Golden Goddess of Rio Beni
★ 8.81964
MovieAdventure
An aviator of a commercial line disappears in the Brazilian jungle. Two friends organize an expedition to find him. As if there were not enough dangers in the Amazon, three members of the expedition have another goal: to steal a golden goddess.
The Tobacconist of Vallecas · 1987The Tobacconist of Vallecas
★ 6.31987
MovieComedyDrama
Leandro, an unemployed mason and his friend, Tocho, attempt to rob a tobacconist in the Vallecas district of Madrid, but Mrs. Justa, the tobacconist, impedes it alerting the neighbors who notify police. Inside the shop, the confrontation between the two friends and their 'hostages', the tobacconist and her niece Angeles, is relaxing, and a budding sympathy arises between them.
Black Humor · 1965Black Humor
★ 6.01965
MovieComedy
A unique black comedy consisting of three episodes on the same theme: death. In a circus, trapeze artist Wilma is going to get rid of a rival during a "magic act" performed by an amateur. A strange widow comes to inquire about the services of a new marriage agency. A peasant woman tormented by a bug in her ear barges into a healer's house.
The Shadow Battalion · 1957The Shadow Battalion
★ 5.81957
MovieDrama
Dreams, hopes and passions of the inhabitants of a populous and humble tenement in Madrid. Among them, an inventor who invents always what is already invented, a composer, a hostess, a locksmith, a delivery of a pastry ...
El Quijote de Miguel de Cervantes · 1992El Quijote de Miguel de Cervantes
★ 8.51992
MovieComedyDrama
Miniseries version of the first half of Cervantes' famous novel.
First Surrender · 1971First Surrender
★ 3.81971
MovieCrimeDrama
Giallo about a man plotting to kill his wife for her money.
Badmen of the West · 1964Badmen of the West
★ 9.01964
MovieComedyWestern
I Brutos arrive in the town of Fresno during a gunfight and mistakenly think it is a celebration of their arrival and start shooting their guns and kill all the villains and the town undertaker. They take over the undertaking duties but bury the bodies in an Indian burial ground upsetting the local Indian tribe.
Condemned to Hang · 1953Condemned to Hang
★ 6.11953
MovieDramaAdventure
Andalusia, Spain, 19th century. The roads are infested with bandits who sow panic among travelers. Although most of them are ruthless killers, Lucero is a true champion of the disinherited.
The Regent's Wife · 1974The Regent's Wife
★ 4.81974
MovieDrama
Adapted from the novel of the same name by Clarín, which narrates the difficulties of Ana Ozores to adapt to the sordidness of life in Vetusta, a provincial city of northern Spain inspired in Oviedo. The young Ana, married to a retired regent, lives oppressed by the provincial hypocrisy and the mystical fears of an absorbing religion. Sexually dissatisfied, beset by constant erotic dreams, she reveals in her confessional her intimate torments, and her confessor begins to feel a morbid passion for her. At the same time, Álvaro Mesía, a Don Juan, intends to seduce Ana.
TV Shows
La que se avecina · 2007La que se avecina
★ 8.12007
SeriesComedy
La que se avecina is a Spanish television comedy created by Alberto Caballero, Laura Caballero and Daniel Deorador. The TV-series focusing around the inhabitants of Mirador de Montepinar, a fictional building located on the outskirts of a big city. Both its storylines and cast are heavily based on Aquí no hay quien viva, which ended when Telecinco bought Miramón Mendi, the series production company.
The episodes debuted on the Telecinco network, and were later rerun by the same network as well as cable/satellite channels FactoríaDeFicción and Paramount Comedy. The series debuted in 22 April 2007 and became popular thanks to its funny characters, witty script, use of catchphrases and capacity to integrate and poke fun at contemporary issues; the program presents a caustic satire of many of the 'types' found in Spanish society.
The name of the show involves wordplay, as "vecina" is the Spanish word for neighbour.
No One Could Live Here · 2003No One Could Live Here
★ 8.42003
SeriesComedy
A caustic satire of many of the 'types' found in Spanish society.
Goya · 1985Goya
★ 8.01985
SeriesDrama
Blasco Ibáñez · 1997Blasco Ibáñez
★ 6.81997
SeriesDrama
A biography of a visceral republican, from his literary and political beginnings in Valencia until fame led him to travel the world and enjoy life's pleasures.
Juncal · 1989Juncal
★ 6.61989
SeriesDrama
The world of bullfighting seen through the unforgettable adventures of a likeable rogue. A serious goring forced José Álvarez "Juncal", a famous bullfighter from the 1950s, to leave the bullfighting world, but it left him with a distinguished limp.