Vertigo of Crime

This excellent short film written by the magnificent filmmaker duo of Luis García Berlanga and screenwriter Rafael Azcona was to be part of a series entitled Los Pícaros (The Rogues) which was never continued. These two artists were responsible for such masterpieces of Spanish cinema as Plácido and El verdugo (The Executioner). Here, Berlanga and Azcona collaborated for the first time, setting the stage for the post-war "Berlanguiana" vision that would develop. José Luis López Vázquez plays Julián, a seedy swindler, who with his cronies tries to sell a streetcar to a rich but naive farmer, a newcomer to the city. High jinx ensue. With this film begins the great stage of Berlanga's filmmaking in which he mixes a little social criticism and notes of anti-clericalism with a great deal of farce.

Guillermo, who is twelve years old, is in love with Margarita, a girl who is a year older than him and who prefers to date more mature boys. Valentín and Josefa, who are in their seventies, dream of escaping together from the retirement home where they live so they can get married.

Four mercenaries, employed by an African country, are responsible for negotiating a purchase of arms. They seize the sum planned for the negotiations and three of them flee to Spain after having abandoned the fourth in the bush. The latter manages to survive and then finds his accomplices who lead happy life ...

Mixing documentary and fiction, Mi firma en las paredes is a portrait of the early days of Grafitti in Spain.