“Are they men or dolls?”

Overview

Francisco Sanz Baldoví (Anna, 1872-Valencia, 1939), better known as “Paco Sanz” or “ventriloquist Sanz”, was one of the most popular artists in Spain in the first half of the 20th century. In 1918, the Spanish ventriloquist filmed this fascinating documentary (entitled “Sanz and the Secret of His Art”), with the help of filmmaker Maximiliano Thous and his two artisan mechanics, in order to show the extraordinary complexity of the mechanism of his dolls and his ability to handle them on stage.