May I Borrow Your Girl Tonight? (Spanish:Préstamela esta noche) is a 1978 Spanish-Panamanian musical comedy film directed by Tulio Demicheli and starring Manolo Escobar, Perla Faith and Antonio Garisa.King & Torrents p.138
Plot Manolo is the trusted valet of Riccardi, an internationally renowned opera singer. Although Manolo shares his employer's passion for singing, he lacks the voice necessary to pursue a career as a performer and lives largely in the shadow of Riccardi's fame. His circumstances change when he falls in love and encounters Indalecio, an eccentric inventor who offers him an unusual opportunity to fulfill his ambition of becoming a singer.
Indalecio has developed a device capable of transferring one person's singing voice to another. He proposes that Manolo secretly borrow Riccardi's voice while the opera singer is asleep, allowing Manolo to perform with the voice he has always wanted. The experiment succeeds, but the arrangement creates a difficult problem: Manolo must repeatedly obtain Riccardi's voice without waking him and return it before Riccardi notices anything unusual.
As Manolo attempts to balance his new singing career, his relationship with Rita and his obligations to Riccardi, the invention leads to a series of comic complications. His newfound ability gives him the chance to step out of his employer's shadow, but maintaining the deception becomes increasingly difficult as the people around him become involved.
Cast Manolo Escobar as Manolo Perla Faith as Rita Antonio Garisa as Indalecio Narciso Ibáñez Menta as Renzo Ricciardi Gilda Haddock as Anita Mary Santpere as Rosa Alejandro Ulloa as Sr. Perelló Rafael Hernández as Taxista María Vico as Sra. Ray Gustavo Re as Pianista Marilyn Pupo as Julia José Sazatornil as Mr. Ray Florencio Calpe as Epifanio Asunción Vitoria as Hermana de Julia Rosa Flores Emilio Pozo José Antonio Vilasaló José María Cases Mercedes Monterrey Muniesa Manuel Bronchud as Vecino Luis Induni as Comisario
Production The film (revolving mostly around Escobar) was shot in Benidorm.
Critical reception The film has received limited critical attention in later film-reference sources. Decine21 gave Préstamela esta noche a rating of 4 out of 10 and criticized its plot as implausible and its humor as weak, while describing Tulio Demicheli's direction as conventional. A 1994 television listing in El País described the film as a comedy and made a brief, dismissive comment about Manolo Escobar's performance. La Vanguardia's film database currently lists the film with a rating of 5.2 out of 10, although this is a database rating rather than a contemporary professional review.
References
Bibliography John King & Nissa Torrents. The Garden of Forking Paths: Argentine Cinema. British Film Institute, 1988.
External links