Manuel Summers

Active - 1963 - 1988  |   Born - Jul 4, 1935   |   Died - Jun 12, 1993   |   Genres - Drama, Adventure, Action

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Biography by AllMovie

Spanish director Manuel Summers graduated from the Instituto de Investigaciones y Experiencias Cinematográficas in 1960. Three years later, Summers made an auspicious directorial debut with Del Rosa...al Amarillo/From Pink...to Yellow (1963), one of the most acclaimed films of the year and a seminal film in the Nuevo Cine Español movement. From there, Summers earned more acclaim with a trio of comedies. In the mid-'60s, Summers changed gears to make Juguetes Rotos/Broken Toys (1966), a bitter documentary that castigated the public for quickly forgetting its idols. The overly serious tone and content resulted in heavy censorship, harsh criticism, and poor box-office returns. Disillusioned, Summers decided he would henceforth only make lightweight, mainstream films. In addition to directing, Summers occasionally acted in films such as Fernán Gomez's Yo la Vi Primero/I Saw Her First (1974), and occasionally wrote screenplays. In addition to his film career, Summers was a popular cartoonist whose work appeared in numerous Spanish newspapers and magazines.