Or I'll Dress You in Mourning

From the City of Light to the Suit of Lights with the authors of Is Paris Burning? as they trace the rise of matador El Cordobes from anonymous, impoverished boyhood to fame and multi-millionaire. Collins and Lapierre have again chosen a magnetic subject but this less complex story is less appropriate to their multi-view method which stretches to represent the suffering and glory of Spain. In the small Andalusian town of Palma del Rio ruled by the autocratic landowner Don Felix Moreno, a ragged boy saw a stereotyped film of bullfighting that changed his life. He fought Moreno's bulls by moonlight until, to avenge public humiliation for orange stealing, he killed his seed bull and was exiled; there followed the years of struggle as one more malctilla trying to make it. Finally Rafael Sanchez, Manolete's manager, pawned the family jewels to bring him into the arena--at Palma. "I'll either buy you a house or dress you in mourning," he told his sister Angetita. The saga of El Cordobes' emergence is framed by his great Madrid debut in the rain against half-blind Impulsivo. A story custom-made for the films and a substantial part of their earlier wide audience.