Fernando Casanova Movies

Toro Negro is a standard drama by Spanish director Benito Alazraki about a big failure in a small arena -- a bullfighting arena, actually. When an aspiring toreador from a poor family decides he wants to go all the way with his training, his girlfriend and his buddies do their best to support and encourage him. At the same time, they have not really thought about issues like a true vocation or talent, and neither has he, in fact. The big day finally comes when he has to walk into a bull ring in a small town to face off with his first bovine challenge -- a day the bull will remember with a certain amount of satisfaction. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

The title of this Mexican musical comedy translates to School For Tramps. Singing idol Pedro Infante heads the cast, essaying his usual carefree-vagabond characterization. Though he has nary a peso to his name, Infante nonetheless pursues a successful romance with well-to-do Miroslava (who tragically killed herself just before this film was released). Thanks to the star power of Infante and the public's curiosity concerned Miroslava's death, Esenela de Vagabundos was one of Mexico's biggest box-office hits in 1955. Certain viewers with long memories recognized the similarities between this film and the 1933 Al Jolson vehicle Hallelujah, I'm a Bum. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In El, it is director Luis Bunuel's contention that uncontrollable insanity can grow within even the most rational of men. Spanish aristocratic Arturo de Cordova, outwardly the picture of courtly charm, marries lovely Delia Garces, who is much younger than he. From the honeymoon onward, Cordova imagines that his bride's former lover is spying on them. At first his jealousy manifests itself in short bursts of violence against phantom intruders. But the middle-aged groom's lunacy blossoms, until he is prepared to literally sew his young bride up lest she be accessible to others. Bunuel alternates Cordova's disintegration with his standard attacks upon Catholicism; the church can offer nothing to this unhappy man but empty homilies, leaving him no choice but to lie to himself that he is "cured"--knowing deep down that he never will be. Historian William K. Everson hit the nail on the head when he described El as "the most clinical dissection yet of a paranoic's descent into total madness". Another critic has succinctly described the protagonist as "an Othello with the hero as his own Iago." El, which literally translates as "He", has been released in some markets as This Strange Passion. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This 1949 western focuses on Mexican culture and music. ~ John Bush, Rovi

One of the better crime dramas to come out of Mexico at this time, El Hombre de la Ametralladora features David Silva and Rafael Bertrand as a murderous villain and his evil sidekick. The two carry out a kidnapping, turning a woman (Silvia Fournier) and two children (Rocio Rosales and Lucero Taboada) into hostages. There is no doubt that the hostages' lives are at stake if ransom demands are not met. A tough, wily policeman (Fernando Casanova) starts to track down the kidnappers with every intent of foiling their plot. But as he gets closer and is most in need of back-up, it looks like any rescue is going to lie solely in his hands. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi