''Beltenebros'', also known as ''Prince of Shadows'', is a 1991 Spanish

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definiti ...

- thriller

mystery film A mystery film is a film that revolves around the solution of a problem or a crime. It focuses on the efforts of the detective, private investigator or amateur Detective, sleuth to solve the mysterious circumstances of an issue by means of clues, ...

co-written and directed by Pilar Miró and starring

Terence Stamp Terence Henry Stamp (born 22 July 1938) is an English actor. Known for his sophisticated villain roles, he was named by ''Empire (magazine), Empire'' as one of the 100 Sexiest Film Stars of All Time in 1995. He has received various accolades in ...

Patsy Kensit Patricia Jude Francis Kensit (born 4 March 1968) is an English actress and singer. Beginning her career as a child actor, Kensit gained attention when she acted in a string of commercials for Birds Eye frozen peas. She went on to appear in films ...

, José Luis Gómez,

Geraldine James Geraldine James (born 6 July 1950) is an English actress. She has worked extensively on television, on stage and in film. She is known for her role as Marilla Cuthbert in the Netflix series ''Anne with an E'' (2017–2019) and as Queen Mary in ...

and Simón Andreu. It was entered into the

42nd Berlin International Film Festival The 42nd annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 13 to 24 February 1992. The festival opened with '' The Inner Circle'' by Andrei Konchalovsky. The Golden Bear was awarded to American film ''Grand Canyon'' directed by Lawrence K ...

where it won the

Silver Bear The Berlin International Film Festival (), usually called the Berlinale (), is an annual film festival held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festival has been held every February since 1978 and is one of Europ ...

for outstanding artistic contribution.

Synopsis

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

, 1962. More than twenty years after the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

has ended, an English

communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

named Darman, who had fought in the

International Brigades The International Brigades () were soldiers recruited and organized by the Communist International to assist the Popular Front (Spain), Popular Front government of the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War. The International Bri ...

, comes back to Spain with the mission to find and kill an infiltrated mole or traitor in the clandestine Communist Party. To find the traitor, Darman begins an affair with Rebecca, a

lounge singer Lounge music is a type of easy listening music popular in the 1950s and 1960s. It may be meant to evoke in the listeners the feeling of being in a place, usually with a tranquil theme, such as a jungle, an island paradise or outer space. The ran ...

and the most expensive and beautiful prostitute in Madrid, who seems to be the lover of the man Darman is looking for. But in this dark post-war

Francoist Spain Francoist Spain (), also known as the Francoist dictatorship (), or Nationalist Spain () was the period of Spanish history between 1936 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death i ...

not everything is as it seems, and Darman must first search in his past before he can find his real enemy, who is looking for him as well.''Beltenebros (Prince of Shadows)''

FilmAffinity FilmAffinity is a movie recommendations website created in 2002 in Madrid, Spain, by the film critic Pablo Kurt Verdú Schumann and the programmer Daniel Nicolás. In 2016, the site listed 125,000 movies and series and had 556,000 reviews writte ...

Cast

as Darman *

as Rebeca * José Luis Gómez as Ugarte / Valdivia *

as Rebeca Osorio * Simón Andreu as Andrade * Aleksander Bardini as Bernal (as Aleksander Bardin) *

John McEnery John Murray McEnery (1 November 1943 – 12 April 2019) was an English actor. Early life Born in Walsall, England, McEnery was the third son of Charles and Mary McEnery (nee Brinson). McEnery's father owned a pickle factory, however whe ...

as Walter *

Jorge de Juan Jorge de Juan García (born 6 June 1961) is a Spanish film and theatre actor, producer and director, known artistically as Jorge de Juan. In 2016 he founded the Spanish Theatre Company (STC) which is the first charity in the history of the Briti ...

as Luque * Pedro Díez del Corral as Policeman *

Carlos Hipólito Carlos López Hipólito (born 1956), better known as Carlos Hipólito, is a Spanish actor with a long stage career. He is perhaps most familiar to a television audience for performances in series such as '' Desaparecida'', '' Guante blanco'', ' ...

as Boite Owner * Francisco Casares as Train Steward *

Queta Claver Queta Claver (24 June 1929 – 3 May 2003) was a Spanish actress, singer, and dancer, known for her "vedette (cabaret), vedette" roles in stage revues. Early life Enriqueta Claver Delás was born in València, Spain in 1929 (some sources give 193 ...

as Dancer Boite * Felipe Vélez as Policeman * William Job as Howard * Magdalena Wójcik as Polish Tango Dancer

References

External links

* 1991 films 1991 crime thriller films Spanish crime thriller films 1990s Spanish-language films Films directed by Pilar Miró Silver Bear for outstanding artistic contribution 1990s Spanish films Films shot in Scarborough Films set in Madrid Films scored by José Nieto {{1990s-crime-film-stub