El caserío

With Guridi's stunningly beautiful music--one of the best scores in all of zarzuela--the gorgeous Basque village and mountain locations, and the energetically-staged Basque folk dances in traditional costume (the highlights of the movie), it's a bit disappointing that this is ultimately less than the sum of its parts. The reason: bland direction and lack of charisma of the leads (and lousy synchronization of the dubbed singing)...there's a void where the beating heart of the drama should be.