Dolores Del Rio Movies
Born into an aristocratic Mexican family, actress Dolores Del Rio was the daughter of a prominent banker. After a convent education, she was married at age 16 to writer Jaime Del Rio, whose name she retained long after the marriage had dissolved. The second cousin of silent film star Ramon Novarro, Del Rio was a regular guest at Hollywood parties; at one of these, director Edwin Carewe, struck by her dazzling beauty, felt she'd be perfect for a role in his upcoming film Joanna (1925). Stardom followed rapidly, with Del Rio achieving top billing in several major silent productions, including What Price Glory? (1927), as the French coquette Charmaine, and The Loves of Carmen (1927), in the title role. Since Del Rio spoke fluent English, the switch-over to sound posed no problem for her, though her marked Hispanic accent limited her range of roles. Most often, she was cast on the basis of beauty first, talent second; she is at her most alluring in 1932's Bird of Paradise, in which she appears all but nude in some sequences. Del Rio looked equally fetching when fully clothed, as in the title role of Madame Du Barry (1934). Upon the breakup of her second marriage to art director Cedric Gibbons, the graceful, intelligent Del Rio became the most eligible "bachelor girl" in Hollywood; one of her most ardent suitors was Orson Welles, ten years her junior, who cast her in his 1942 RKO production Journey Into Fear. In 1943, Del Rio returned to Mexico to star in films, negotiating a "percentage of profits" deal which increased her already vast fortune. Enormously popular in her native country, Del Rio returned only occasionally to Hollywood, usually at the request of such long-standing industry friends as director John Ford. Her seemingly ageless beauty and milk-smooth complexion was the source of envy and speculation; from all accounts, she used no cosmetic surgery, maintaining her looks principally through a diligent (and self-invented) diet and exercise program. Even as late as 1960, she looked far too young to play Elvis Presley's mother in Flaming Star. Del Rio retired from filmmaking in 1978, choosing to devote her time to managing her financial and real estate holdings, and to her lifelong hobbies of writing and painting. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1999
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Frequently referred to as the "Princess of Mexico," screen legend Dolores Del Rio was one of the biggest stars her native country had ever spawned. Eventually rising to international acclaim thanks to roles in such unforgettable films as Girl of the Rio and Doña Perfecta, Del Rio's mesmerizing beauty and captivating talent captured the imagination of cinema lovers worldwide. By the time her popularity spread to Hollywood, the world was well-aware of her skills before the camera, but did they really know the woman behind the screen beauty? Take a look back at not only Del Rio's professional career but also her colorful personal life in this documentary that will serve as a warm slice of nostalgia for long-time fans, and a notable introduction to a remarkable screen career for the uninitiated. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
This video documentary looks at the history of Hispanic or Latino stars and pictures in Hollywood, focusing on the last half of the 20th century. Stars such as Jimmy Smits, Antonio Banderas, Sonia Braga, and others discuss their experiences as Hispanic actors. They reflect on prejudices and attitudes, "Latin lovers" such as Valentino, and on how their positions in Hollywood differ compared to previous Hispanic actors. Highlights include excerpts from various movies with Latino actors, stories or themes, including the Academy Award-winning West Side Story (1961), Neptune's Daughter (1949), The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez (1982), Stand and Deliver (1987), and others. ~ Steve Blackburn, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rita Hayworth, Dolores Del Rio, (more)
Hall Bartlett directs the rural drama The Children of Sanchez, based on the novel The Children of Sanchez: Autobiography of a Mexican Family written by Oscar Lewis in the '60s. Anthony Quinn stars as the widowed Jesus Sanchez, a poor farmer struggling to provide for his family in Mexico City. Also starring Lupita Ferrer as Consuelo and Stathis Giallelis as Roberto. This is the last film in the 50-year career of international star Dolores del Rio, who plays the Grandma. Jazz-pop performer Chuck Mangione was nominated for a Golden Globe and won a Grammy award for his original musical score. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anthony Quinn, Lupita Ferrer, (more)
- 1967
A handsome prince searches for love in this whimsical fairy tale. Prince Ramon (Omar Sharif) has been pledged to an arranged marriage by the Queen Mother (Dolores Del Rio), but he balks at marrying a woman whom he doesn't love, and rides away on his horse rather than face the altar. While riding in the woods, Ramon is thrown from his mount, and the wounded prince finds refuge at a nearby monastery presided over by Brother Joseph (Leslie French). Unlike most monks, Joseph has magical powers and can fly when the spirit moves him. The Prince confesses to Joseph that he's been unable to find true love, so the monk puts his powers to work; soon Ramon finds himself awestruck by the beautiful servant girl Isabella (Sophia Loren). Ramon and Isabella fall in love, but her status as a commoner would preclude a marriage between them -- that is, until Brother Joseph does some rummaging through his bag of tricks. More Than a Miracle (also released as C'era una Volta and Cinderella -- Italian Style) was Dolores Del Rio's last dramatic screen appearance for 11 years; she was to act in only one more film, The Children of Sanchez. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sophia Loren, Omar Sharif, (more)
- 1966
Jason McCord (Chuck Connors) heads to Los Angeles to deliver a gold shipment worth $50,000. At the same time, Mexican teenager Juan Molinera (Jose DeVega) dreams of reviving the memory of notorious bandido Joaquin Murietta. To do this, Juan intends to steal the gold in Jason's possession--a task in which blood must inevitably be spilled. Heading the guest cast as Juan's grandmother is celebrated Mexican actress Dolores Del Rio, still dazzlingly beautiful at the age of 60. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
John Ford's last western film, Cheyenne Autumn was allegedly produced to compensate for the hundreds of Native Americans who had bitten the dust in Ford's earlier films (that was the director's story, anyway). Set in 1887, the film recounts the defiant migration of 300 Cheyennes from their reservation in Oklahoma territory to their original home in Wyoming. They have done this at the behest of chiefs Little Wolf (Ricardo Montalban) and Dull Knife (Gilbert Roland), peaceful souls who have been driven to desperate measures because the US government has ignored their pleas for food and shelter. Since the Cheyennes' trek is in defiance of their treaty, Captain Thomas Archer (Richard Widmark), who agrees with the Indians in principle, reluctantly leads his troops in pursuit of the tribe. While there was never any intention to shed blood, the white press finds it politically expedient to distort the Cheyennes' action into a declaration of war. Thanks to the cruelties of such chauvinistic whites as Captain Oscar Wessels (Karl Malden), the Cheyennes are forced to defend themselves--and whenever Indians take arms against whites in the 1880s, it's usually misrepresented as a massacre. Only the intervention of US secretary of the interior Carl Schurz (Edward G. Robinson) prevents the hostilities from erupting into wholesale bloodshed. Based on a novel by Mari Sandoz, Cheyenne Autumn is a cinematic elegy--not only for the beleaguered Cheyennes, but for John Ford's fifty years in pictures. It is weakest when arbitrarily throwing in a wearisome romance between Richard Widmark and pacifistic schoolmarm Carroll Baker, who out of sympathy for the Indians has joined them in their 1500-mile westward journey. When the Warner Bros. people decided that the film ran too long, they chopped out the wholly unnecessary but very funny episode involving a poker-obsessed Wyatt Earp (James Stewart). Contrary to popular belief, this episode was included in the earliest non-roadshow prints of Cheyenne Autumn; the scene was excised only when the film went into its second and third runs in 1966 (it has since been restored). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Widmark, Carroll Baker, (more)
The unbeatable combination of both Dolores del Rio and Libertad Lamarque co-starring in this three-hanky melodrama about the self-sacrificing love of a mother makes this otherwise unexceptional film a people's favorite. Lamarque plays the mistress of a married man and del Rio has the role of his wife. After the husband dies in an auto accident, the mistress survives the crash and later gives birth to their son. The grieving widow agrees to adopt the boy as her own -- on the condition that the mistress bow out of the picture completely. She agrees and so it is settled, until many years later when the repenting birth mother wants to get to know her now-grown offspring. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Libertad Lamarque, Dolores Del Rio, (more)
Tensely directed by Don Siegel, Flaming Star is the grittiest of Elvis Presley's post-Army films. Elvis plays Pacer Burton, a half-breed youth in the old West, torn between loyalty to the whites, as represented by his father (John McIntyre), and the Indians, represented by his mother (Dolores Del Rio). A series of brutal Kiowa raids, and the subsequent reprisals by the white settlers, sorely test Pacer's fortitude. Though offered moral support from his loved ones, Pacer is forced to work things out himself. The film was based on a novel by Clair Huffaker. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elvis Presley, Steve Forrest, (more)
- 1959
Four of the best-known, most popular actors in Mexican cinematic history star in this drama about the Mexican Revolution by equally well-known director Ismael Rodriguez. Maria Felix is Refugio and Dolores Del Rio is Chabela, two women who love the same man and who are both equally dedicated to fighting in the revolution. Pedro Armendariz is Valentin, their lover, and an aging Emilio Fernandez is Antonio. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maria Felix, Dolores Del Rio, (more)
- 1959
Soldiers of Pancho Villa is the English-language title for the Mexican historical epic La Cucaracha. The matchless Maria Felix stars as a patriotic young woman whose admiration for Villa borders on the fanatical. Maria rallies her countrymen to stand by Villa in his fight to wrest control of Mexico from the oppressive aristos. Dolores Del Rio also appears, leading one to muse about the degree of tension that must have existed on the set between two of Mexico's most gorgeous actresses. Emilio Fernandez and Pedro Armendariz round out the all-star cast. Shown but fitfully on American television in the 1960s, Soldiers of Pancho Villa was frequently showcased on the Univision cable service of the 1980s and 1990s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
The Mexican comedy Reportaje follows the wacky adventures that ensue when a man offers a large reward to the journalist that can uncover the best news story that occurs during New Year's Eve. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
Director Alejandro Galindo directs the legendary Delores Del Rio in a classic drama from the Golden Age of Mexican cinema that portrays political change in Mexico through the microcosm of one family struggling with tradition in a time of change. Liberal farmer Pepe has arrived in Santa Fe to visit his aunt, Dona Perfecta. While he's there, Pepe is eager to teach the traditional-minded townspeople a new way of living. Unfortunately for Pepe the people of Santa Fe aren't eager to embrace change, and when the citizens begin to voice resentment Pepe is forced to seek refuge with his sympathetic aunt. Dona Perfecta is just as traditional as any of the other townspeople though, and only suffers Pepe due to the fact that he is family. When Pepe and his cousin Rosario fall deeply in love, the situation quickly comes to a head. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Emilio Fernandez directs Dolores Del Rio and Pedro Armendariz in a classic tale of family and obsession. Raimunda's daughter Acacia hates her stepfather Esteban, and in order to escape her suffocating home life she's accepted a marriage proposal from a man she doesn't even love. But Esteban has become obsessed with Acacia, and in order to ensure that she doesn't leave he's plotting to murder the girl's unsuspecting fiancée. As Esteban's true nature emerges, mother and daughter must band together to support one another and make sure that their family bond remains strong even in the darkest of times. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- 1949
La Casa Chica is a sad little tale about two sad little people. Dolores Del Rio, still dazzlingly beautiful at 45, stars as Amalia Estrado, an intern at the National University medical school in Mexico City. Amalia becomes the assistant to a research scientist (Roberto Canedo), who is engaged to marry wealthy social lioness Lucila del Castillo (Miroslava Stern). Be that as it may, Amalia and the scientist fall in love, but fate, that cruel jester, is against them from the start. In the honored Hollywood tradition, La Casa Chica shows the audience that adultery is bad but fun while it lasts. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dolores Del Rio
- 1948
- NR
The Fugitive was shot on location in Mexico by that country's premiere cinematographer, Gabriel Figueroa. Henry Fonda plays a Christ-like priest in an unnamed Latin-American country where religion has been outlawed. Though incognito in a backwater village, Fonda cannot help but seem more spiritual and mystical than those around him. Meanwhile, another fugitive, homicidal-bandit Ward Bond, stumbles into the village. Bond and the beautiful Dolores del Rio, whose illegitimate child has been secretly baptized by Fonda, conspire to help the priest escape. Once Fonda is on safe ground, he is implored by police spy J. Carroll Naish to return to the village, ostensibly because Bond is dying and wishes to have last rites. Fonda is captured and sentenced to death, but is willing to forgive the repentant Naish for betraying him. The priest dies a martyr, and the outpouring of public grief proves to the authorities that simply outlawing religion will never subjugate the hearts and minds of the people. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Henry Fonda, Dolores Del Rio, (more)
- 1948
Oscar Wilde might have been amused to learn that his epigrammatic stage comedy-drama Lady Windemere's Fan was filmed in Argentina in 1947 under a title which translates as The Story of a Bad Women. Agelessly beautiful Dolores Del Rio stars as the bewitching Miss Erlyne, a woman "with a history", as they used to say. Without ever revealing her true identity, Miss Erlyne manages to save the virtue and good name of her daughter (Maria Duval), who has grown up to become Lady Windemere. In so doing, Miss Erlyne sacrifices her own opportunity for happiness in the arms of Lord Arthur (Francisco de Paula), but she manages to make her exit with head held high and a smile on her lips. Lady Windemere's Fan was previously filmed under its own title by Ernst Lubitsch in 1925; it would be remade as The Fan by Otto Preminger in 1949. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dolores Del Rio
The lovely Dolores Del Rio has an acting field day in the Mexican La Otra (The Other). Del Rio plays twin sisters, one the wife of a millionaire and the other a poverty-stricken manicurist. Seething with jealousy, the manicurist kills her wealthy sister and takes her place. Little does the "bad" sister know the mess she's inherited from the "good" sister-who as it turns out wasn't so good after all. Scripted by Hollywood veteran Rian James, La Otra was remade in 1964 as Dead Ringer, with Bette Davis taking over the Dolores Del Rio part (or parts); this film in turn was remade as the 1986 Ann Jillian TV movie The Killer in the Mirror. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dolores Del Rio, Victor Junco, (more)
- 1945
Mexican helmer Emilio Fernandez's unusual period drama Las Abandonadas (The Abandoned) unfurls in Mexico at the turn of the 20th century, where a young bride-to-be is suddenly jilted by her chauvinistic fiancé. Bereft of a partner, she must support herself and her son and take on the difficulties of single motherhood. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pedro Armendáriz, Dolores Del Rio, (more)
The title character is a young woman (Dolores DelRio) who is shunned by local townsfolk because her mother once posed naked for an artist and was stoned to death because of the incident. She must consider the consequences while making a similar choice. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dolores Del Rio, Pedro Armendáriz, (more)
