Lorenzo Barcelata Movies
- 1943
All-purpose Mexican leading man Pedro Armendariz heads the cast of Guadalajara. Actually, Armendariz' role is secondary to that of singing sensation Lorenzo Barcelata, whose tunes are the main "raison d'etre" for this easygoing musical romance. The story concerns a ranch hand (Armendariz), who falls in love with his boss' daughter (Esperenza Baur). Alas, the girl has been promised to another man (Jorge Velez) whom she doesn't care for. This standard plot device leads to a joyous climactic double wedding, though it takes ever so long to get there. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Pedro Armendáriz
- 1938
Popular South-of-the-Border recording artist Tito Guizar stars in the romantic semi-western Rancho Grande. Guizar plays a carefree charro who falls in love with beautiful senorita Esther Fernandez. His best friend Rene Cardona, unaware of Guizar's feelings towards Fernandez, seduces her himself. What follows requires our hero to do some heavy emoting, hardly a Guizar specialty but here carried off quite well. If the film is better directed than the usual run of Guizar vehicle, it's because Fernando De Fuentes was a better than usual director, as proven by his subsequent efforts. Rancho Grande was honored with an award at the 1938 Venice Film Festival. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Tito Guizar, René Cardona, Sr., (more)
The 1937 Spanish-language romantic drama La Zandunga unfolds against the backdrop of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec Fruit Fair, where a young woman named Lupe finds herself being romantically wooed by three men at once: octogenarian Don Atanasio, local boy Ramon, and the sailor Juancho - an out of towner with whom she falls passionately in love. Unfortunately, Juancho must go away for an indefinite period of time, and Lupe - uncertain if he will even return per se - decides to marry Ramon instead. Then Juancho returns, complicating matters immensely for the young woman and forcing her new husband to make an extremely difficult decision. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi
Having begun his directorial career in 1932, Fernando De Fuentes had four years' experience -- and ten pictures -- under his belt when he helmed the Tito Guizar musical vehicle Alla en el Rancho Grande. The film has been hailed by historians as the vanguard of the Mexican "Charro"-movie genre, which concentrated upon singing cowboys, golden-hearted bandits and fair senoritas. Popular radio singer Guizar is cast as itinerant ranchhand Jose Francisco, who falls in love in spite of himself with duckling-turned-swan Cruz (Esther Fernandez). It's essentially a Cinderella story, with a bit of Mexican "action dancing" and even cockfighting thrown in. On the strength of the enormously successful Alla en el Rancho Grande, Tito Guizar went on to even bigger stardom, and was still at the top of his profession as late as the 1980s. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Tito Guizar, Esther Fernandez, (more)
- 1936
She-Devil Island wastes no time getting started -- with a group of barroom revellers dancing the "bamba." This harmless exercise rapidly degenerates into a brawl, whereupon several pearl divers make their escape. The scene then quickly shifts to a remote island, populated entirely by gorgeous, Amazonian females. Inevitably, the pugnacious pearl divers invade the island, leading to any number of romantic entanglements. The story concludes on a surprisingly somber note, but not before the audience has been treated to several censor-baiting sequences of the female cast members swimming in the nude. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Carmen Guerrero
Rating Systems
Blockbuster
BLOCKBUSTER name, design and related marks are trademarks of Blockbuster L.L.C.
2013 Blockbuster L.L.C. All rights reserved.
Portions of Content Provided by Rovi Corporation. 2013 Rovi Corporation.