This year is the 90th anniversary of the first movie ever shot in the Canary Islands.
“The Thief in the White Gloves”, by José González Rivero and Romualdo García de Paredes, considered the first Canary film, was released on September 6th 1926. To celebrate its 90th anniversary Filmoteca Canaria has scheduled a new screening of the film September 25th at 7:30 pm at Paraninfo de La Laguna, as part of the Tenerife International Film Music Festival (FIMUCITÉ) program.
Filmoteca Canaria, part of the Culture Area in the Canary Islands Government, will offer this screening with live music performed by the pianist Sophia Unsworth, as part of FIMUCITE X, to be held in different spaces in Tenerife from September 23rd until October 1st, sponsored by Cabildo Insular de Tenerife, the Canary Islands Government and Santa Cruz de Tenerife City Council.
“The Thief in the White Gloves” was shot between January and August 1926 in emblematic places such as Quissiana Hotel, the former Casino de Tenerife, in Santa Cruz, Camino Largo in La Laguna or Casino Taoro in Puerto de la Cruz, among others.
It is a black and white silent movie with added color. The original version is 137 minutes long, the screened one is significantly shorter due to the disappearance of the second film roll in the fifties. It was premiered along two days as a series of 13 episodes at Teatro Leal in La Laguna as well as in Parque Recreativo de Santa Cruz de Tenerife in September 1926.
It was performed by Angelina Navarro, Romualdo García de Paredes, José Miguel Mandillo, Rodolfo Rinaldi, Pedro Rodríguez Bello, Guetón Rodríguez Melo, Carlos Reyes González de Mesa, Antonio E. Varela, Juanita Morales, Pedro Martín Valiente and Marisol García de Paredes Ferrer.
Synopsis
David Henry is a retired banker who lives with his daughter Ketty near London. Henry receives a letter from “The Hooded” telling him that he is to steal a family diamond necklace during the party that will take place that same night at his mansion. The banker goes to his lawyer and detective Tom Carter, who will try to catch The Hooded. However, they fail to avoid the necklace’s theft.
Directors
José González Rivero was the director, camera and film editor while Romualdo García de Paredes, was in charge of the art department, production, script and casting.
Rivero was born in Cuba but lived in La Laguna, where he was a businessman and managed both Parque Viana and Teatro Leal, while García Paredes, ten years younger than Rivero, collaborated with various newspapers.any artificial light, not even in interiors.
Theirs was a handcraft movie. All the technical processes of development and cutting the rolls, together with the coloring were made in the photographic lab Rivero had at home in La Laguna. We should also highlight that the whole film was shot without the use of any artificial light, not even in interiors.