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.
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
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.
Four Spanish women of very different origins and motivations work in Paris as handmaids.
Enrique is a thirty-year-old lawyer who is married to Ana. Apparently he is a normal man who has only one obsession: the commercials. He feels a real passion for the erotic world of the ads either in billboards, trash cans, public transport, magazines or television. The continuous publicity bombardment ends up leading him towards a neurosis that changes his personality.
A German scientist takes refuge in an unnamed South American country, and finishes the development of a weapon of mass destruction. Lesky, is assistant, is paid by a Chinese spy ring to abduct the scientist, and appropriate the weapon. Super agent Z7's mission is to find them and prevent that, which he does - at a cost of a number of lives.
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.
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 guys live without working quite well using thousands of tricks and fakes. But they soon change their attitudes when love arrives at their hearts.
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.
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
Bernabe (José Sacristán) works as an artistic director for a publicity firm but his avocation is fawning after his bosses, sleeping with whomever might advance his career, and ignoring his wife. Life continues on in this vein until he meets a young model whom he invites up to his boss's temporarily vacant country house, pretending the house belongs to him. Not very far away, bulldozers and other machinery are clearing the beautifully wooded area so construction can start on an amusement park. Little does Bernabe realize that his potential new conquest is a seriously fanatical environmental advocate, and she arrives at the house with friends, gets Bernabe high and "out of it," and then she and her friends proceed to trash the construction machinery. Once Bernabe comes around again, he finds out what has happened, loses heart for his planned sexual escapade, and begins to appreciate his wife for the first time.
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.
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.
Julio and Timoteo operate a private detective agency that specializes in cases relating to partners who cheat on their spouses.
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
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.
