Catherine Hubscher, who washes the shirts of young Napoleon and other soldiers fighting the Revolution, falls in love with Sergeant Lefebvre. Circumstances bring Lefebvre a noble title and even more -- Napoleon decides to make him the local ruler over a large territorial fiefdom. But trouble brews when Madame Sans-Gene, now elevated to the nobility along with her man -- cannot keep her frank observations under control.
As in the novel of the same title from Camilo Jose Cela, "La Colmena" is a sad composition with the stories of many people in the Madrid of 1942, just the postwar of the spanish civil war. The main theme of the film is the contrast between the poets, surviving close to misery under the Franco's regime, and the winners of the war, the emerging class of the people that makes easy money with illegal business.
Four Spanish women of very different origins and motivations work in Paris as handmaids.
The frog test confirms Julita is pregnant. This is usually a great news. In this case, no. She is a victim of premarital sex, and he, Paco, a mechanic who, according to some theories of French biologist, explained by a podiatrist friend, will not be liable. Don Ramiro, the father of Julia, is a liberal-minded man, but when his daughter tells him that she will have a son who will not parent, seeking the solution of fatherhood in his gun regulation.
Carmen leaves her husband Julio to go live with an intellectual who has made a career in the United States. While, Julio goes away to live of rent to house of an aristocrat come to less. After meeting several colorful characters, Julio decides to recover Carmen.
Cayetana, her boyfriend Paco and Venancio, her foster brother, commit small thefts and, from time to time, spend a few days in jail. Until they meet with Federico, a thief who has traveled abroad and convince them that using European methods success is guaranteed. Paco then decides to act scientifically and seizes a hospital surgical equipment. When they want to realize, poor Venancio is forced to give an injection to a dentistry patient and, even worse, Paco has to pull out a tooth. And all that, before entering the operating room
KGB authorities abduct two criminals (Franco and Ciccio) who look exactly like missing spacemen and pretend they are the returning cosmonauts. They launch them in a rocket, so that they can land in public view, leading the populace to believe it was the original space craft that has returned. The two criminals look so much like the astronauts, they even fool the wives of the astronauts. Later however, the original spacecraft returns to Earth undamaged, and the plan goes all to pieces. In the end, Franco and Ciccio stay in Russia and the real astronauts relocate to Italy.
Carlos, a widower in his forties, lives with his daughter Lolita and his sister Merche. He is a candidate to Spanish Court's Proctor, so frequently travels outside Madrid. During one of those trips, he is forced to return at home precipitously, because his sister informed him that Lolita has left the house to live with some friends.
Two penniless Italian buskers want to go to the USA but get on the wrong ship and end up in South America in a concentration camp where they are rescued by American parachutists from. Afterwards they become big shots in the States but their dream comes to an end : they are sent to fight in Vietnam
Two guys live without working quite well using thousands of tricks and fakes. But they soon change their attitudes when love arrives at their hearts.
In 1916, while Europe was in the middle of First World War and Spain was enjoying the advantages of being a neutral country, eroticism was called voluptuousness and Senator Duke of Daroca, despite his ancient lineage, fell completely in love with a famous cabaret singer, Rosario "La Criollita", which was a scandal. At that time, it was doubted that decent women had legs - But this mystery was resolved a decade later, when the roaring twenties arrived and, with them, the sensual Lupe Cardoso
Spain, late 19th century. When, in a time of great political instability, Flora, a beautiful young woman, starts working in a ministry doing a job that supposedly only a man can do, a great scandal breaks out.
Miguel is a young Spanish naval engineer in love with an American student of History of Art. When she becomes pregnant, she decides that the easiest solution to her situation is to marry her civilly. However, in Spain in the 1970s, prior to the passage of the Divorce Law, the only way to do so is to apostatize the Catholic Church. For Miguel, a believing devotee, taking this step involves a deep inner conflict.
Juana and Francisca are serving at the Stevens house, an American couple. Both of them have a boyfriend, one is an egg-carrier and the other is a transporter with his own motorcycle. And both with a totally totalitarian and macho concept regarding male-female relations. The girls also have two American suitors assigned to the American Base of Torrejón, friends of their masters. Thus, without almost pretending, the two girls will find themselves in the midst of the jealous Spaniards and the beefy Yankees.
Julio and Timoteo operate a private detective agency that specializes in cases relating to partners who cheat on their spouses.
Doña Pura, don Benito and don Augusto are three venerable old people who usually coincide each month in the queues of the mutuality windows to collect their pension, an opportunity they take advantage of to talk about life. When they learn that the old don Felipe, an acquaintance, is very sick and is alone and without money for a decent funeral, they decide to ask for a loan to help him, but, as they do not grant it, they decide to rob the savings bank. To do this, they will plan everything thoroughly and manufacture a homemade explosive.
