Dancing in the sun: The musical as touristic hook in ‘Honeymoon’
Lidia Merás,
Sarah Wright
Affiliations
Lidia Merás
Dr. Lidia Merás serves as a member of the editorial staff of Secuencias, a peer-reviewed film journal published by Universidad Autonóma of Madrid. Merás has co-edited four volumes of Desacuerdos. Sobre arte y política en la esfera pública (MACBA, 2004-2007) and is currently a visiting researcher at Royal Holloway, University of London, where she undertakes research on Hispano-British co-productions of the 1950s within the project The World of Films: A Transnational Vision of the Industry, Professionals and Film Culture in Spain (1930s-1950s)
Sarah Wright
Dr Sarah Wright is Reader in Hispanic Studies at Royal Holloway, University of London and author of The Trickster-Function in the Theatre of García Lorca (Támesis, 2000), Tales of Seduction: The Figure of Don Juan in Spanish Culture (I B Tauris, 2007, 2012), and The Child in Spanish Cinema (Manchester University Press, 2013), as well as articles on Spanish cinema and cultural studies. She is currently collaborating with Dr Lidia Merás on Hispano-British co-productions of the 1950s within the research project The World of Films: A Transnational Vision of the Industry, Professionals and Film Culture in Spain (1930s-1950s) led by Professor Valeria Camporesi of the Universidad Autónoma, Madrid.
The British/Spanish co-production Honeymoon (Luna de miel, Michael Powell, 1959) is a curious case of an export for foreign audiences that won the Technical Grand Prize at the Cannes Film Festival yet was a commercial failure. Taking this now forgotten film as a case study, we will investigate the musical genre from a transnational perspective. Recently restored to its original length, Honeymoon includes compositions by Manuel de Falla and Sarasate, as well as performances by ballet dancer Ludmilla Tchérina and Spanish dance star Antonio (Ruiz Soler), both choreographed by Léonide Massine. We examine the interplay between national and transnational elements in a musical that tries to emulate the success of The Red Shoes (Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger, 1948) by putting it in the context of the Spanish cultural and economic policies of promoting the country.
