"A preoccupation with pureza de sangre-purity of blood of race-can be traced back at least as far as the Inquisition in Spain. In the tense, fragile years of the Republic, it became a leading slogan of the Right, who used the notion of some mythic Spanish race as the basis for their fight against all 'foreign' influences. Like so many other Republican era films, Clara the Brunette celebrates a notion of community that cuts across class and, in this case, racial lines. Clara (Imperio Argentina) is a gypsy servant to a prominent young judge. The judge is offered several advantageous matches with women of his social station, but his heart belongs to Clara. A huge box office success which more than any other film established the cult of Imperio Argentina, Clara the Brunette presents a gentle dream of a simple, pre-modern Spain in which social harmony, not class conflict, was the order of the day; within a few months, the dream would be forever shattered." -Richard Peña